The Last Dinner Party: "We’re really excited to start the tour on a really high note in Dublin. The crowds are just so into it at all times"

London art-rock five-piece The Last Dinner Party are arguably the hottest band of the past couple of years. In 2024, they were recipients of the prestigious BRIT Rising Star Award and winners of the BBC’s annual ‘Sound Of…’ poll.

Upon its release, their record Prelude To Ecstasy debuted at No.1 in the UK – scoring the biggest opening week for a debut LP by a band since 2015, while also becoming the fastest-selling debut album by a group on vinyl this century. And, most recently, the group put out their acclaimed sophomore effort, From The Pyre.

Celebrating the release, the band will soon be embarking on a huge run of Irish, UK and Australian tour dates, set to kick off in Dublin’s 3Arena, for which the band’s Abigail Morris and Lizzie Mayland are “so excited”, they tell me on a sunny Wednesday morning.

“When my friends asked me,” Mayland says, “I was like: you’ve got to come to the Dublin show. Best crowds!”

“We always have the best shows in Ireland,” Morris adds, “every single time. We’re really excited to start the tour on a really high note in Dublin. The crowds are just so into it at all times, it’s always so much fun. And if you’re having fun in the crowd, then we have fun, and it feeds off each other.”

This positive image of Irish crowds, I suggest, might be due to their December 2023 appearance in Dublin, when, following their opening slot for Hozier that very night, The Last Dinner Party played a midnight headline show in The Workman’s Club – a much smaller-sized venue than their usual shows, even at the time.

“We often cite it, in interviews, as the best gig ever,” Mayland agrees. “The highlight of our career! It was so incredible. The energy was crazy. Emily crowd-surfed, and Abi also did, for the first time ever.”

“First and only time!” Morris jumps in. “Never done it again!”

“It was after we supported Hozier,” Mayland reminisces, “and we had to stay up ‘till midnight, so we were in the dressing room, singing along to Fleetwood Mac, to stay in the zone. We got a bit drunk and then went on stage, and it was the most amazing crowd. And they were all there for us!

“After just doing a support show as well, on such a big scale, to be in that sweaty room, and really feel that excitement, was so special. I’ll never forget that gig, it was so good.”

Credit: Laura Marie Cieplik

Speaking in previous interviews about their new record From The Pyre, the band had talked at length about wishing to avoid the “sophomore trap”, of wanting to top your debut, or, worse, to recreate it. Now that the album is officially out, how do they feel about it?

“I think we feel we’ve achieved what we wanted to do,” Morris says. “Which was to make a record that felt exciting and good for us. Because we didn’t want to make any effort to recreate anything from the first record, or even think about, what can we do that’s better?

“I don’t think that’s a healthy way to go about your own art,” she continues. “We just put the first record in a box and thought, ‘What do we want to do now?’ What would be interesting and exciting and challenging for us?’ And that was the precedent we set.

“We were like: let’s just see what we can do. Let’s try new things and experiment and make something that we really love. And I think we’ve achieved that.”

One of the most prominent and delightful themes of TLDP’s discography is their use of colorful imagery and characters to speak of very real and personal issues, reframing them as stories or fairytales.

“Sometimes, the truest thing is writing a myth or a character,” says Morris, “because it can reveal something that normal phrases can’t. Like ‘This Is The Killer Speaking’, I think, is the most character-based song on the record, because I wrote it when I was really upset that I’d been ghosted. I could have written a song that was explicitly about that, and about me feeling sad and rejected and angry.

“But really, what I felt was more complicated, was: I am sad and angry, but I’m also kind of really excited and inspired by this pain.”

Another common and revered motif of the band’s songwriting lies in their use of Catholic imagery to explore queer love, sexuality and feminist themes, particularly notable when considering Morris and Mayland’s Catholic upbringings.

“That’s a thing we’ve both used, in our songwriting, to reframe and understand what it means to grow up in the Catholic Church and to reckon with your faith now,” Morris expands. “I don’t think I would say that I’m not a Catholic anymore – it doesn’t really resonate with me to be like, ‘Yes, I am religious and I am Catholic’, but it’s always going to be part of my identity and how I was raised.

“And, apart from anything, using Catholicism to talk about sex is a really strong way of writing and a timeless, classic thing.”

Above all, if there was one way I would describe TLDP’s brand of art-rock, it would be “gorgeously theatrical”, reminiscent of the best glam-rock icons of the past. Is there a form of escapism associated with this high-energy performance?

Morris agrees, but adds that “it’s not escapism in the sense of closing your eyes and pretending that this is happening and retreating into fantasy. Artistically, it’s the way we’re choosing to interpret the world.”

On From The Pyre, the track ‘Riffle’ jumps out as one of the most politically motivated efforts, with Mayland saying that “it was initially a more broad song about wars that are waged by men, and the effect it has on the people on the ground. I was thinking about the Crusades, and Palestine as well. But I started writing it a while ago, the verses first. And then, as the situation in Palestine got even worse, the choruses became more explicit.

“It’s kind of a place to go and shout,” they add, “about the hopelessness and pain and powerlessness that I feel in this country, and the way the UK government is not representing a lot of people, especially on this topic. It came from sitting in my flat feeling totally powerless and needing to do more than just journal about it or donate money.”

The topic of Palestine has been close to the band’s heart over the past two years. This very summer, they took a strong stance in support of Irish band The Mary Wallopers, after their performance at the Victorious festival was cut short following their display of a Palestinian flag. Soon after, The Last Dinner Party, accompanied by the likes of The Academic and Cliffords, pulled out of the festival.

“We were in London in the morning,” reminisces Morris, “about to drive over, and Georgia had a friend who was there, telling her about what was going on. Georgia called us and we had a big discussion about it. But it was very clear that the right decision for us was to pull out, there wasn’t really any argument about it.

“The discussion was more about – how do we do it? What’s the best way to use our voice in this situation? It was really a no-brainer, because we completely denounce any festival or any company that will silence people like that on this issue. And it’s just shocking that it would happen.”

• From The Pyre is out now. The Last Dinner Party play the 3Arena, Dublin on Friday, November 14.