The Last Dinner Party have responded to accusations of being “industry plants”.
The London five-piece have given a new interview with Variety, where they opened up about being frequently criticised as “industry plants”. The term is loosely defined as an artist who presents themselves as independent and self-made, whilst secretly having music industry support and/or financial privilege.
In response, frontwoman Abigail Morris said: “We all had friends who were in bands in that scene in London – I feel like that’s the only connections we had. Like, ‘Oh, my mate’s in a band, so he can suggest us to play at this pub or we could open for this guy’s band that we know.’
“I think it’s so funny – it is kind of old-fashioned, which is why I think people were like, ‘Something must be going on!’ No, that’s literally how the music industry works.”
Morris went on to compare the band to Oasis‘ rise to fame after watching their documentary Supersonic. “I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ because it’s a year after their first gig and they’re releasing their debut album. They weren’t industry plants, and neither are we.”
Morris also said she believed such allegations were being lobbied at the band due to misogyny.
“A lot of people are acting like we’re the first people to do this, which is so not true because there are so many other female and non-binary-led bands in London, and before us. It’s just people don’t know about it in the mainstream,” she said. “I think that’s where this comes from, people not realising that there’s more where we came from.”
The band originally responded to industry plant allegations in April last year, calling them “a nasty lie”. “We weren’t put together like a K-pop girl group, we’ve known each other since we were 18 as we met during freshers week, there are videos of us playing live as an unsigned band all last year and we got signed from those,” they wrote on social media.
“If you don’t like our music, or our vibes, that’s okay! But it’s not fine to accuse us of not writing these songs or existing as a band in our own right. None of us have famous or industry parents either, shock horror!”
The band recently released their debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, which NME gave four stars: “Some may choose to posit the band’s success as an antidote to the intense scrutiny – about their rise, appearance and decision to make music without a ‘serious’ intention – they’ve received in their early career.
“But take all of that away, and you’re still left with fantastic songs that are easy to embrace and return to. It’s hard to miss all the things they’re doing right.”
