\n<\/p>\n
One drunken evening in 2019, Abigail Morris and Georgia Davies rushed into a discount store in Brixton, south London, and bought a cheap notepad to write down their band\u2019s manifesto.<\/p>\n
At that point, the rock group, then called the Dinner Party, only had three members, and had never actually rehearsed any songs. But Morris and Davies \u2014 the singer and bassist \u2014 knew exactly how they wanted to look and sound: \u201cGothic,\u201d \u201cIndulgent\u201d and \u201cDecadence\u201d were at the top of their list.<\/p>\n
As the English literature students went from pub to pub, they added to their proclamation, including modest ambitions (playing shows with hip British bands) and more grandiose aims (\u201cWe want to be role models for younger girls\u201d).<\/p>\n
Later in the evening, Morris accidentally cut herself on a broken glass, and dripped blood onto the notepad. \u201cI was, like, \u2018This is perfect!\u2019\u201d Davies recalled in a recent interview. The splatters emphasized the pair\u2019s vision for a band teetering between the beautiful and the grotesque.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Some four years later, this meticulous yet playful approach has helped Davies and Morris achieve some of their goals. Now called the Last Dinner Party, the theatrical rock group \u2014 which also includes Emily Roberts (lead guitar), Lizzie Mayland (rhythm guitar) and Aurora Nishevci (keyboards) \u2014 has this year become Britain\u2019s buzziest new band.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In January, the group \u2014 whose sound is often compared to the sweeping pop of Florence + the Machine \u2014 topped the BBC\u2019s Sound of 2024<\/a>, a much-watched annual poll, which has previously anointed Adele and PinkPantheress.<\/p>\n At a time when rock bands often struggle for attention, the Last Dinner Party has broken through by taking a surprisingly traditional route, prioritizing touring, rather than producing social media-targeted hits. A North American tour<\/a> starts Thursday, including sold-out dates at New York\u2019s Webster Hall on March 26 and Brooklyn Steel the following day, as well as the Coachella festival in April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Morris said this approach, with which the band has gone from playing pubs to selling out 5,000-capacity London theaters, would help them sustain a career. \u201cThere\u2019s no longevity in having a viral song blow up,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not how you build a community.\u201d<\/p>\n A striking visual aesthetic, though, can help. The band\u2019s fashion sense is magpie-like, taking inspiration from various historic eras and fantastical styles. Last fall, the group set dress codes for a British tour<\/a> and although it\u2019s stopped that practice, at a recent London gig, dozens of younger audience members donned outfits including floral headdresses and corsets, inspired by band\u2019s theatrical imagery.<\/p>\n Even those who didn\u2019t dress up seemed all in. The comedian Kerry Godliman, 50, said she\u2019d become a fan after her daughter came back from a festival raving about the group. \u201cI love the grandeur of it, the camp archness of it, the theatricality of it,\u201d Godliman said. The fact that the band is made up of women and a nonbinary person is \u201cstill such a rare thing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n After releasing its debut single, an expletive-filled love song called \u201cNothing Matters<\/a>,\u201d in spring 2023, the Last Dinner Party\u2019s ascent has been so fast in Britain that, on social media, some observers have accused its members \u2014 who are all in their mid-20s \u2014 of being \u201cindustry plants,\u201d<\/a> brought together by record label executives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Roberts, the guitarist, said she found such suggestions \u201cquite sad,\u201d as if people \u201cdon\u2019t want to believe that a young female and nonbinary band can be successful.\u201d The reality is less dramatic, Morris added: She has been an aspiring rock star since her teens<\/a> at a Catholic school, where she developed \u201ca crushing need to be adored by everyone at all times at whatever cost.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She met Davies at college in London; the other three band members were also music-obsessed students in the British capital, who Morris and Davies gradually brought into their fold.<\/p>\n With Britain in and out of lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic, the nascent band initially couldn\u2019t play live, and honed its sound instead: moody, grand indie-pop, topped by Morris\u2019s swooping vocals. By the time of its first show in November 2021, Morris said the members had \u201crehearsed so long, we were fully formed.\u201d By its fourth show, at an out-of-the-way venue<\/a> on a south London industrial park, record labels were deluging the band with messages. (It eventually signed with a major, Island Records, and made a 70-page presentation to explain its vision to the label\u2019s marketing team.)<\/p>\n James Ford, who\u2019s worked with Depeche Mode, Jessie Ware and Blur, produced the group\u2019s debut, \u201cPrelude to Ecstasy,\u201d which arrived last month. He said in an interview that when he walked into the studio and saw the band members with a full string section and horn players, he thought, \u201cI haven\u2019t seen this kind of belief from a band, and also from the people behind them, in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the back of my head, I was like, \u2018This is either going to go really well or be a total disaster,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tara Richardson, the band\u2019s manager, said the group\u2019s theatricality gives fans a release from the bleak political and economic climate in Britain at the moment. \u201cPeople want escapism,\u201d she said: \u201cThey need an out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In interviews at a Mediterranean cafe in North London, four of the group\u2019s members stressed that even if their music is escapist, it isn\u2019t removed from contemporary concerns. The album includes \u201cThe Feminine Urge<\/a>,\u201d with lyrics sneering at men who think women exist only for their entertainment, and \u201cBeautiful Boy<\/a>,\u201d attacking male privilege. \u201cThis isn\u2019t just corsets,\u201d Morris said. \u201cIt\u2019s Trojan horse pop music.\u201d<\/p>\n A swift ascent in music can be bewildering. Mayland, the guitarist, said that some recent experiences like attending award shows had felt like living \u201cinside a TV, this isn\u2019t real.\u201d<\/p>\n But Morris and Davies, the band\u2019s first two members, said they remain focused on the artistic vision they imagined on that drunken night in Brixton.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fun to commit to a bit and follow it through to its logical extreme,\u201d Davies said. For now, it\u2019s becoming the world\u2019s favorite new band.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n