After the Party

After the Party is the fifth studio album by American punk rock band The Menzingers, released on February 3, 2017, through Epitaph Records. Despite the album's limited commercial success, peaking at No. 67 on the Billboard 200, it received a positive critical reception and is considered by many publications and music critics to be one of 2017's best punk rock and overall albums. Background and production The Menzingers went on a co-headlining tour with MewithoutYou in November 2015 in support of their fourth album Rented World (2014). Vocalist/guitarist Greg Barnett was hoping that following the tour's end, the group would "wind down and start work on the next record." The group took a break in November and December, before spending January–March 2016 writing After the Party. From the start of the writing process, Barnett became aware that the album would be "a love letter to our twenties." The band took a break from writing to perform a couple of shows, which Barnett referred to as "that little extra push" near the end of the writing process. The group began recording in April for a period of five and a half weeks, ending in May. The band worked with Will Yip at Studio 4. Composition The band intended to create a "fun" album where, according to Barnett, "you throw it on a jukebox in a bar and be fucking punk the whole night." At the same time, they wanted to retain the "integrity" with the storytelling aspect of their songs. Vocalist/guitarist Tom May described the album as "us saying, ‘We don’t have to grow up or get boring—we can keep on having a good time doing what we love.’" Dan Ozzi of Noisey wrote that "Lookers" features Barnett "looking at an old photo of himself with someone, and longing for the youth captured within." Collin Robinson of Stereogum wrote that "Bad Catholics" is about "balancing the messiness of being human with the virtuousness impressed upon us by societal, religious, and personal beliefs." The track was originally planned for release on a split, until "all of a sudden, everybody just started falling in love" with it, according to Barnett. Barnett referred to the title-track as the "central emotional epiphany" of the record, "written in images." Barnett wanted to "use imagery as unexciting as the sludge in the bottom of a coffee cup to tell a bigger story."