The White Tie Affair

The White Tie Affair (also known as TWTA) is an American pop band from Chicago consisting of vocalist Chris Wallace, guitarist Sean-P, drummer Tim McLaughlin, and keyboardist 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 two singles, "Allow Me to Introduce Myself... Mr. Right" and "Candle (Sick and Tired)", which have been featured on MTV's TRL and The Hills

The band signed with Epic Records/Slightly Dangerous in 2007 and began touring with artists including Secondhand Serenade, Making April, Innerpartysystem, Metro Station, The Medic Droid, and Kill Hannah. In June and July 2007, the band went on a cross-country U.S. tour alongside Fireworks.^[1] In the fall of 2007, the band recorded their debut album, Walk This Way, at Annetenna Studios in Burbank, California. In January 2008, bass player Jeremy Johnson left the band and was replaced by Ryan Cook, who quit in February 2009.

In March 2008, the band was invited to perform at the annual "Pajama Party" at the Playboy Mansion. In the summer of 2008, 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 headlined several dates of Kill Hannah's Hope for the Hopeless tour during that time, along with The Medic Droid. That fall, the band was part of Playboy's Girls of the Big 10 Tour and was featured in a fashion article in the magazine's November issue. The band appeared on episode six of the fourth season of The Hills on MTV. In December 2008, the band's remix of "All Black" was included in Good Charlotte's Greatest Remixes release.

In March 2009, the White Tie Affair toured with Secondhand Serenade and were the opening act for Lady Gaga on her first solo North American tour, the Fame Ball Tour. After the Fame Ball tour, the band went on Van's 2009 Warped Tour. The White Tie Affair joined bands including Thrice, NOFX, 3OH!3, All Time Low, Cash Cash, and Alexisonfire on tour.

In October 2009, The White Tie Affair began their headlining tour along with Every Avenue, Stereo Skyline, and Runner Runner. In 2010, shortly after their headlining tour—The Traveling Talent Show—drummer Tim McLaughlin left the band. He was never permanently replaced. The band later recorded their second album which has not been released despite being set to come out in the fall of 2010. On April 13, 2010 the single "You Look Better When I'm Drunk" was released.

In an online interview^[2] on June 8, 2012, it was revealed that the White Tie Affair had broken up. In August 2012, vocalist Chris Wallace posted on Facebook that he would release his debut solo album, Push Rewind, in September 2012. In October 2020, the band began posting cryptic photos on their social media accountgs^[3] eventually releasing a finished version of the previously unreleased demo, "Seasons", which was a fan favorite from their headliner tour.

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 (Sick and Tired)". Produced by Matt Mahaffey and Jeff Turzo of Wired All Wrong, the album was recorded at Annetenna Studios in Burbank. in the fall of 2007. The music videos for "Allow Me to Introduce Myself... Mr. Right" and "Candle (Sick and Tired)" debuted on No Good TV in the spring of 2008 and were also featured on 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 (Sick and Tired)" which featured Jessica Lee Rose, as well as cameos by Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte appearing in a tour bus scene. Watts had worked with Death Cab for Cutie and Fatboy Slim.

The band has received acclaim for their dynamic live shows. Many of TWTA's songs are dance songs which elicit audience interaction. Kyle Kloster from the Chicago Sun-Times said:

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.

In an October 31, 2008 review in The New York Times, music critic Jon Pareles wrote that The White Tie Affair's style was "leaning toward new-wave guitar and mixing apologies with come-ons."^[4] In early 2009, "The Price of Company" was used in advertisements for the movie Miss March. In March 2008, they were featured in Verizon Wireless' Rhapsody commercial with the song "Candle (Sick and Tired)". In April 2009, the band appeared in Soundcheck Riders.^[5]