Pillars of Influence: Five essentials that inspire She’s In Parties
While named after goth stalwarts Bauhaus’ 1983 single, She’s In Parties dwells in an infinitely more colourful, radiant, and sugary plane than the original post-punk esoterica.
Artfully blending shoegaze swirl and shimmering indie pop, She’s In Parties steps into a bolder terrain of buoyant optimism than before, upcoming third EP Are You Dreaming? scoring the quartet’s wide-eyed jump from Essex’s ancient Colchester city to London’s beckoning metropolis. The stirring tundra are still present on recent single teases across the title track, ‘Fallen’, and ‘Same Old Story’, all sparking with the fraught nerves that surround one of life’s fierce U-turns.
God knows we needed it. Like an arm of solidarity piercing through the contemporary malaise to lift you up, She’s In Parties wafts away the inert blues to conjure some of the magic that comes with yesteryear’s new wave canon, evoking The Cure and Cocteau Twins at their most direct, but spiking the affair with a sparkle that pulls the gang from nostalgic rehash. There’s a cleansing renewal to She’s In Parties, proffering a cheer of contemplative light that pulls you into their world and leaves you charged to take whatever the world has waiting to throw at you.
With such a mini-universe that Are You Dreaming? looks set to offer a gateway to, we caught up with Katie Dillon from She’s In Parties fresh from their jump to London and explored the eclectic influences and personal cherishment that have paved the way for their piquant rush of alt-rock surge.
She’s In Parties’ five pillars of influence:
Hayley Williams – ‘Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party’
Kicking off with the latest album from former Paramore singer, She’s In Parties bestowed high praise on the much-awaited third solo album.
“Hayley Williams has always and will always continue to inspire me,” they firmly state. “From her stage presence to longevity to humbleness and ongoing activism, I will always look up to someone like her. This album was incredibly raw for her lyrically, and I’m in awe of her ability to write such interesting and fresh melodies”.
It’s a reception that much of the music world seemed to agree on, fans and critics alike declaring Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party a minor sensation, and likely to top many of the end-of-year record roundups. For She’s In parties, Williams’ art pop offering penetrates with an even deeper permanence, “This is now in my top ten albums of all time”.
‘Once’
“A film starring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, with music written by both of them, the band confess. “I think some of the best songwriters of the 21st century”.
Directed by John Carney, 2007’s Once explores the romantic frissons between the two struggling musicians, who both played together in the folk duo The Swell Season, as they cross paths amid the streets of Dublin, the capital of She’s In Parties’ singer Katie Dillon’s home country.
“The rawness and pureness that this film has,” the band reveals. “The warmth you feel when you watch two normal people be brought together by the love of music and the journey they go through. Watching this movie when I was roughly nine or ten years old is what began my first steps to songwriting, and it continues to inspire me to this day. When I feel unmotivated, I put that film on to bring me back to my roots”.
Homer – ‘The Odyssey’ (adapted by Simon Armitage)
Commissioned for BBC radio, playwright Simon Armitage retold ancient poet Homer’s epic tale of Captain Odysseus’ war-weary travels back home via sirens and cyclops as a revised form of dialogue between the titular hero and the various gods, monsters, and unruly seamen he’s in charge of.
“I first read this book this year (2025), and it really opened my mind to the great storytelling that Greek epics have,” the band tells.
Such poetic narratives from antiquity also prodded the left part of She’s In Parties’ brain. “It inspired me to be more creative and think more outside the box,” they further. Fantasy is a form of escapism, and that’s quite important to me personally, as life gets too much sometimes. So it’s important not to let it get to me and enjoy the pleasure that escapism gives me without running away from the pressures of life”.
Other artists’ live sets
There’ something magnetically gripping about watching a band, be it a lifelong love or a new act, totally killing it live and flaunting that special alchemy coursing through the group, whereby, for that night at least, they’re the greatest band in the world.
Such a marvel is something She’s In Parties keenly indulging in, as both a fellow artist and simply a fan, “I don’t think this is quite random, but watching other musicians’ live sets on YouTube, specifically tiny desk concerts or their Glastonbury sets”.
It’s as good a lesson as any other, learning from the greats and taking notes from the ultimate test of any band’s mettle, as well as forming some of the most mythologised chapters of rock and pop lore. “It gives me the urge to wanna make it there too, and I also appreciate raw talent that comes from them playing everything completely live, and that inspires me even more”.
Charity shopping
As well as offering a healthy dose of retail therapy, She’s In Parties’ penchant for charity clothes shopping also serves as a key component of their visual identity, perusing the various charity shops in the band’s downtime for that special clobber befitting any given conceptual fancy.
“I get inspired by trying on different clothes, putting different looks together, and imagining myself on a stage,” they say. “Looking the part is a big thing for me, as it makes me feel good when I go on stage and a bunch of people are looking at me”.
Aesthetic commitments guide Shes In Parties’ essential presentation, cobbling a new look in the run-up to a new EP, just as any honourable alt-rock band should. “When we go through different release campaigns, I get to conceptualise a whole look for the band and myself, and make that come to life when I go to charity shops”.
