Q&A: She's In Parties Presents A Spectacle Of Depersonalization Turned Celebration With New EP, ‘Puppet Show’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SYDNEY TATE ☆
HOW DO WE FEEL SURE, DEFINED, OR GENUINE IN A WORLD OF PERFORMANCE? She’s In Parties asks earnestly in a deluge of soaring lead lines and true respectability with their second EP, Puppet Show.
While the London-based band has previously described their creation process as a near battle (albeit friendly), the result is a welcomed triumph of newness and homage in one. Puppet Show explores a universe of nothing promised, where constructed image feels required of anyone in a digital age and lines of authenticity are blurred more than a car windshield with no wipers in a rainstorm. The resulting sound is as tralatitious as it is a eureka moment for anyone needing a new cult favorite.
She’s In Parties is embarking on the age-old quest of staying true to oneself and having no apology in tow. This collection of songs is bound to delight listeners whether they’re in it for the heart — i.e. lyrics detailing personhood in a maze of pageantry — or the head — sugared synthesizers and trusty guitar solos at all the right moments.
Luna had the pleasure of discussing the ebbs and flows of inspiration, the perils of brainrot, and the newest Fontaines D.C. album with the band amidst their latest release and first headlining tour. Keep reading to join the party.
LUNA: If you could only listen to one song from Puppet Show for the rest of your life, what would you choose and why?
KATIE: Let’s all do this on three, two, one.
The members reply at the same time with varying answers.
MATT: I said “The Times” so me and Herbie will do it then.
KATIE: [Charlie and I] said “Ballads” - the last song on the EP.
CHARLIE: It’s the best one.
KATIE: No, they just have different feelings.
HERBIE: I think I’d be extremely depressed for the rest of my life if I had to [only] listen to “Ballad.”
HERBIE: With “The Times,” I can get that, but I can also get nostalgic, happy vibes, so I'm cool with that. If I have to listen to “The Times” forever, I've got all the emotions.
LUNA: A lot of the themes in the EP are about putting out an image that doesn't match on the inside or performing under duress. Do you have any outlets outside of music that you turn to for self-expression?
MATT: I used to skateboard but I don’t anymore.
HERBIE: I do the same. I ain't old yet, but I'm kind of falling out of it. I spend a lot of time in nature.
KATIE: Sometimes regular life can get in the way in terms of having to work. For me right now, I'm working a lot, and then got the band side, and that's the expressive way to do things. I like doing some Sudoku actually.
CHARLIE: Video games.
LUNA: How has your personal style changed since you were 15?
KATIE: Oh wow, I mean, that age range is a very, very changeable time for everyone.
CHARLIE: 15 is way too long ago for him (Charlie points at Matt, Matt smiles). It’s over a decade!
HERBIE: I mean, in general, by vibes, EPs, styling, the way we go on stage, that sort of thing has changed so much since we first started. We did 90s for a bit. We've always wanted to have a really kind of 80s Top of the Pops vibe, but we've just never really gotten very good at that (laughs). We’re trying with this one, but I'm literally wearing a Meshuggah t-shirt, so it's not going very well.
KATIE: We started off quite shoegaze-y, so I was doing quite flowy dresses and all that kind of stuff…our styles kind of evolved with our music.
LUNA: Do you believe that, conceptually, social media can be good?
KATIE: It's a good way to promote yourself, if you can't afford to have a big business or invest in a big business, in a lot of ways, there's a lot of people who have creative outlets and they want to promote themselves in that way, so that's probably it, and connecting with people.
HERBIE: I was going to say, if you've got family or friends across the country, that's always a big way to keep connected, but I think recently, or in the last 10, 15 years, it's all become very mind numbing.
CHARLIE: Brainrot.
LUNA: Do any of you have a favorite sandwich or soup combination?
CHARLIE: I love a chicken, bacon, avocado.
HERBIE: If I’m making a sandwich I’ll do a baked BLT, man, that’s easy.
MATT: I’d prefer soup instead. Carrot and coriander soup with a nice sourdough.
KATIE: Probably a lentil soup or something. I think I'd go for soup as well, especially this time of year. Now I'm thinking of soups because it’s been cold.
LUNA: I'm sorry to do that to you (laughs). What is the best live performance you've ever seen?
KATIE: Paramore is my favorite band ever in the whole entire world, in the whole entire universe. They would probably be my favorite live performance [since] they’re my favorite band. Hayley Williams is an incredible performer, just putting that out there.
MATT: I went to see Foo Fighters recently, and I've always wanted to see Dave Grohl play, so that was pretty good. (Herbie is giving Matt the middle finger)
CHARLIE: I really liked when I went to watch The Killers. They were really good.
HERBIE: Oh, it's gonna sound so f*cking drag, but I'm not gonna lie, in 2017 at the Latitude Festival, the headliner was the 1975. (group laughs) It was so good. My little 16 or 17 year old self was absolutely having a great time, so I can’t be mad at that, you know? We’ve seen a lot of great bands doing festivals and stuff.
CHARLIE: Alvvays were great.
HERBIE: Alvvays were cool — we saw them in Bristol.
MATT: Palace were really good.
LUNA: Are there any songs that you've been obsessed with recently?
KATIE: Fontaines D.C.’s new album. I'm sorry, I’ve been listening to it nonstop. Every single day, I listen to it on the train on the way here.
HERBIE: “Death Kink” might be my favorite on there.
KATIE: I like “Bug.”
HERBIE: “Bug” is cool.
KATIE: And “In The Modern World.”
CHARLIE: I watched The Bear recently and I've had “Let Down” by Radiohead stuck in my head for the last two weeks. Nonstop, it’s just there.
HERBIE: Another great album is Heavy Jelly by Soft Play. On that album, they have a song called “Everything and Nothing,” which is just heartbreaking. It's so beautiful. He’s shouting and singing at the same time. It’s odd. It’s so cool. It’s folky, I like folk music.
LUNA: When I was listening to Puppet Show and I got to “The Man,” I started thinking of the movie 13 Going On 30 (group laughs). What's your favorite coming-of-age movie?
MATT: Mid 90s.
KATIE: Stand By Me, that movie with the four young lads finding a dead body.
HERBIE: Breakfast Club. That's kind of simple, but there's so many good ones. Yeah, I didn’t even think about Mid 90s until you said it. That's a great film.
LUNA: How does performing songs from the EP live feel different from recording?
MATT: Most of them are more uptempo and jumpy [live].
HERBIE: “Puppet Show,” I think we played it in Brighton for the first time ever.
KATIE: A lot of things went wrong.
HERBIE: A lot of things went wrong, right? Then we played it in London [and Paris] and it was f*cking awesome. That felt really good.
LUNA: Is this your first headlining tour?
HERBIE: Now that I think about it, our last tour was with Bleach Lab. This is our first ever headlining tour. I actually didn’t even really think about that, that’s pretty cool.
KATIE: It’s going to be awesome, hopefully. I hope people come to the shows. We’ll see.
LUNA: Do you have any plans for an album after this tour and EP release?
KATIE: Well, let me be frankly honest with you. Being a musician or any creative, you go through writing blocks. Right now, I’m in a bit of that because I just moved to London.
There will be something. There's nothing right now, but there will be. I'm just being honest.
HERBIE: We're not worried!
KATIE: Yeah, but there's no point being like, “Oh, yeah, it’s going well and great,” but that's what happens. That's what's going on, but that is the dream. We would love to do an album.
CHARLIE: We are writing. There is writing happening.
KATIE: Charlie's writing, we have an album’s worth of writing, but it needs to be cohesive.
HERBIE: We have to keep turning it into an EP.
LUNA: What is your process like when you’re making music together [as a group] — from idea to lyrics to fruition?
HERBIE: Charlie once described it in an interview before.
CHARLIE: I said fistfighting.
MATT: A clashing of heads…slightly.
HERBIE: Not even in a malicious way. We all have our own ideas. It is very collaborative. Either Charlie or Katie or Matt will come to the studio, we have an idea and we’ll build on that. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. Usually we’ll try and play it in a rehearsal setting then try to add lyrics and build on it.
CHARLIE: I’ve got so many ideas.
LUNA: I’m always curious because some people have everything planned out for years, whereas I feel a little similarly [to you all.] I can’t really force myself to be inspired. Everyone's different. Sometimes you meet people who have it all figured out, but that's not how we work.
HERBIE: We’re not perfect. Nothing's ever going to be perfect. That's just being human. Nothing has to be [perfect].
KATIE: We're all individual people. We’ve all got individual lives and we’re coming together when we can come together and collaborating. When it works, that's when you know.
LUNA: If there's anyone who will be reading this who has never listened to She’s In Parties before, how would you say — if you like this thing, definitely listen to us?
MATT: If you like The Cure.
CHARLIE: Wolf Alice.
KATIE: If you like a variety in music, you will like this. If you like a band that can’t describe their own music, you will like this. So many people come up to me asking, “How would you describe your music?” because they go and try to listen to it and I’m thinking um, indie, alternative, but it’s rock, but it’s 80s, and there’s shoegaze in it, and I don’t know. Just listen.
LUNA: Is there anything else that you wanted to add?
CHARLIE: Please buy tickets to our shows, it would be really nice.
HERBIE: Slowdive I will support you at Brixton.
Puppet Show is out now.
