The hottest band in Britain

The Last Dinner Party talk to Elizabeth Aubrey as they head to Glasto for the first time

- Elizabeth Aubrey

IT’S a stifling hot day on London’s Brick Lane, and new music sensations The Last Dinner Party are sweating buckets, having carried their instruments across town for rehearsals. They play Glastonbury for the first time this weekend.

“It’s a childhood dream come true,” says the band’s bass player, Georgia Davies, downing an icy drink.

“Last minute they were like ‘Do you want to do it?’ and we were like ‘Yes,’” adds lead singer Abigail Morris. “We never thought we’d get there this soon. We thought maybe next year, but here we are.”

In case you’ve somehow missed it, the quintet released their debut single Nothing Matters back in April and quickly became the most talked-about band in Britain. Critics and fans were united in declaring it song of the year and the band’s distinctive baroque-pop sound and look has been compared to heavyweights like Queen, Kate Bush, ABBA and David Bowie. The single has already racked up four million streams.

It wasn’t long, however, before the trolling started. Some accused them of being manufactured, others said they were industry plants. Many said they were nepo babies — the children of music industry parents — while others accused them of not writing any of their own music. None of these things are true, they say.

“It’s just bulls**t!” Davies laughs. “We wrote this music together and we came up with the whole vision. We don’t have anything to hide. People can do their little Twitter think-pieces, but they’re just not true.”

“We’re real friends,” Morris adds. They met while at different London universities (some studying music, some English literature) and bonded over music, seeing gigs together.