Milton and The Devils Party - History

History

Robinson and Graybill met while pursuing their doctorates at the University of South Carolina. When both ended up at Widener University, they decided to form Milton and the Devils Party.

The band played its first show on July 5, 2002 at the Philadelphia venue Club 218 on South St. The original lineup included Robinson, Graybill, guitarist Pat Manley, and drummer Martin Evans. After building a small following consisting mostly of Robinson and Graybill's students at Widener University, the band went into the studio with New Jersey producer Harris London to record its first album, What Is All This Sweet Work Worth? The self-released CD featured 12 songs and received some impressive critical notices upon its release in 2004. Jonathan Takiff of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, "As you'd suspect, their lyrics have an edge, but the spirit of songs like 'End of the Affair,' 'Perfect Breasts' and 'Ugly American' is more sarcastic punk than high-falutin' poetics. And the band's propulsive, power pop music offers the sweet-and-sour whiff of an Elvis Costello or R.E.M. anthem." Philadelphia Weekly wrote, "The Philly quartet's debut What Is All This Sweet Work Worth? finds singer/songwriter/bassist Daniel Robinson charmingly channeling the bee-stung sincerity of Elvis Costello and Matthew Sweet." The greatest strength of the band appears to be the literary quality of the songs: as a reviewer for Glorious Noise put it, "What Is All This Sweet Work Worth?, the first album from Philadelphia's Milton and the Devils Party, combines lyrical complexity with powerful pop hooks. But this is no snotty adolescent parade of undergraduate pseudo-intellectualism. Sharp and catchy, this CD deserves a broad audience". The title of the album comes from a line in Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Love's Philosophy." One song, "To Jane", is derived from poems Shelley wrote to Jane Williams.

In 2006, the band released an "expanded and revised edition" of What Is All This Sweet Work Worth? on the New Jersey power-pop label FDR. This version contains two additional songs and enhanced arrangements of the original tracks. Reviews were mixed: one reviewer found a spiritual allegory in the songs and another found it to be "banal" and "familiar". The re-release received only slight press attention, some of it strongly negative. The band did have some success on college radio.

In 2007 the band signed with Philadelphia indie label Transit of Venus, label home of The Trolleyvox. With new drummer Bob Falgie replacing Evans, they recorded their second album in the fall of 2007. How Wicked We've Become was released in September 2007 and was produced by Brian McTear, who has produced The A-Sides, Matt Pond PA, and B.C. Camplight. With this album the band began to reach a wider national audience and received more positive reviews. Allmusic gave this album three and a half stars, describing it as having an "'80s college rock feel" and comparing Graybill's guitar playing to Peter Buck and Johnny Marr. The band also played its first showcase at CMJ's Music Marathon in October 2007.

The band in 2007 also contributed a cover of The Kinks' "Victoria" to the FDR label compilation About a Girl, featuring covers of songs with women's names in the title.

In the summer of 2008, while still promoting How Wicked We've Become, the band began recording its third album, again with McTear in Philadelphia. For several years the fate of this album remained unknown.

On 20 December 2008, the band played a show to celebrate Milton's 400th birthday at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

In May of 2012, the band performed an entire set of songs by R.E.M. in recognition of the latter's disbanding at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia.

In the fall of 2012, MDP launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to release their third album, recorded in 2008, "You Must Contribute, Brain!" The title of the album comes from a poem by poet Robert Southey that Robinson adapted as the song "Brain!" This album was released by the band on 19 February 2013.