The White Tie Affair was a pop band from Chicago, Illinoisconsisting ofChris Wallace, Sean-P, Tim McLaughlin and Ryan McLain. In early 2007, the band signed with Epic Records/Slightly Dangerous and released their debut album, Walk This Way in April 2008. The album contains the band's two singles, "Allow Me to Introduce Myself...Mr. Right" and "Candle ", which have been featured on MTV's TRL and The Hills.
History
The band signed with Epic Records/Slightly Dangerous in 2007 and began touring with such artists as Secondhand Serenade, Making April, Innerpartysystem, Metro Station, The Medic Droid, and Kill Hannah. In the fall of 2007, the band recorded their debut album, Walk This Way, at Annetenna Studios in Burbank, CA. In January 2008, bass player Jeremy Johnson left the band and was replaced by Ryan Cook, who also left the band in February 2009. In March 2008, the band was invited to perform at the annual "Pajama Party" at the Playboy Mansion. That summer, TWTA joined the 2nd Annual True Colors Tour for the show's Midwestern leg, sharing the stage with Cyndi Lauper, The B-52's and Rosie O'Donnell. TWTA also headlined several dates of Kill Hannah's Hope for the Hopeless tour during this time, along with The Medic Droid. That fall the band was part of Playboys Girls of the Big 10 Tour and was featured in a fashion spread in the magazine's November issue. TWTA was also featured on episode six of MTV's The Hills. In December 2008, the band's remix of "All Black" was included in Good Charlotte's Greatest Remixes release. In 2009, the White Tie Affair toured with Secondhand Serenade and served as the opening act for Lady Gaga, who started her first solo North American tour, The Fame Ball Tour, in March. Following the Lady Gaga tour, the band would take part in Van's 2009 Warped Tour. The White Tie Affair would join bands such as Thrice, NOFX, 3OH!3, All Time Low, Cash Cash, and Alexisonfire at the summer-long music festival. In October 2009, The White Tie Affair hit the road for their headlining tour along with Every Avenue, Stereo Skyline and Runner Runner. In 2010 the drummer, Tim McLaughlin left the band shortly after their headlining tour, The Traveling Talent Show. There was no permanent replacement for the band's drummer. Although the band recorded their second album that was set to be released in the fall of 2010, it remains unreleased. On April 13, 2010 the single "You Look Better When I'm Drunk" was released. In an online interview which took place June 8, 2012, it was revealed that the White Tie Affair had broken up. In August 2012, Chris Wallace posted on Facebook that he would release his debut solo albumPush Rewind in September 2012.
Commercial debut
On April 22, 2008, the White Tie Affair released its major label debut, Walk This Way. The album contains the singles "Allow Me to Introduce Myself...Mr. Right" and "Candle ". Produced by Matt Mahaffey and Jeff Turzo of Wired All Wrong, the album was recorded at Annetenna Studios in Burbank, CA. in the fall of 2007. The music videos for "Mr. Right" and "Candle " debuted on No Good TV in the spring of 2008 and were also featured on MTV's TRL. The uncut director's version of the two videos reached 400,000 views on YouTube, and was the most watched YouTube video on March 29, 2008. In December 2008, director Jon Watts filmed a new video for "Candle " which featured Jessica Lee Rose, as well as cameos by Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte in the tour bus scene. Watts has previously filmed videos for numerous bands including Death Cab for Cutie and the artist Fatboy Slim.
Live show/style
The band has been critically acclaimed for their dynamic live shows. Many of TWTA's songs are dance songs which the band performs with a kinetic energy that thrives off of audience interaction. An article from the Chicago Sun-Times describes the sound:
There’s a chance the White Tie Affair is on the cutting edge by adopting that “has a beat and can be danced to” mentality. “In my opinion, it seems like music is leaning toward that,” Wallace says. “Hellogoodbye and Justin Timberlake kind of let us know that it was OK to do that. That took the pressure off and paved the way for us to do what we love without falling in line with a scene. The White Tie Affair sounds like a fusion of Timberlake and AFI working together to create pop for the PlayStation generation. – Kyle Koster, Staff Reporter, Chicago Sun-Times.
In an October 31, 2008 New York Times review, music critic Jon Pareles wrote that The White Tie Affair's style was "leaning toward new-wave guitar and mixing apologies with come-ons." In early 2009, "The Price of Company" was used in advertisements for the movie Miss March. That March, they were featured in the Verizon Wireless's Rhapsody commercial with their song "Candle ". In April 2009, the band was also featured in .
