I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 4, 2023] The Last Dinner Party / Mothermary

I heard about The Last Dinner Party a few weeks ago.  Right around when I found out they were doing a very short US Tour and Philly was one of the places.

I was intrigued by their gimmick, but also by their music.  And I snagged a ticket even though I knew we had tickets to see The Head and the Heart. I figured this would sell out and I’d rather not be able to go because I had something else to do than not be able to go because it was sold out.

So what is this band about?  Well, they dress as you see here, and they play a kind of “art-rock bombast” with a “distinctive baroque-pop sound and look.”  Lead singer Abigail Morris sings in a very aristocratic way with very long vowels.

And they dress up.  Often in corsetry and baroque outfits.

Because, yes, they are all university students.  And there are few things more fun than British University students starting a band.

But their songs are more than gimmicky. They are catchy and Emily Roberts is a killer guitarist, with a nice touch and a good sense of soloing.  Aurora Nishevci plays keys, Lizzie Mayland plays rhythm guitar, Georgia Davies on bass.  I’m not sure who plays drums.

Abigail: Georgia and Lizzy and I met right before we went to Uni in London and we just built our whole friendship by spending our first year going to gigs and talking about it. We started thinking about forming a band and I met Em (Roberts, lead guitar) through a mutual friend who recommended her as the best guitarist he knew. We then brought in Aurora Nischevi (keys) and the result is an incredibly powerful line-up of musicians. We’ve all become friends through that.

So we opted to go to The Head and the Heart, but I can only hope that when The Last Dinner Party comes back next year it will still be at a fairly small place (likely Underground Arts).

And I hope they bring Mothermary with them.  I hadn’t heard of them, but their story is pretty interesting

Identical twins Elyse and Larena Winn were raised in in Missoula, Montana, the youngest members of a massive Mormon family. Elyse left at age 20 and Larena followed close behind, reunitng with her sister to become MOTHERMARY.  After nearly three years of scattered singles — starting with an ethereal rendition of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and two Madonna covers — they’ve shared their debut album, I Am Your God, out via Italians Do It Better.

They are pretty fascinating characters and their live show sees them in bras and underpants and little else.  I’m not sure how much I love the music (although their Madonna cover is pretty cool), but what a stage show (they baptized people with the merch, which includes panties).

I enjoyed our show so I’m not bummed I missed out on this, but what a show to miss.

Sahwin recorded the full show

Trespassers Will Be Shot recorded a bunch of songs from both The Last Dinner Party and Mothermary and you can see them here: