The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection saw Long Beach, New York-based, highly danceable, alt-rockers Family Dinner just last year when they opened a sold-out Ukie Club for Oso Oso, our local buddies Carly Cosgrove, and Kicksie, but they’re already preparing to return, as tonight they’re kicking off a tour supporting Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, which will have them at The Foundry this coming Monday, May 20th.
Despite their debut EP having just dropped in 2021, Family Dinner have already shared bills with an impressive array of artists, including Bloc Party, The Lemonheads, Grouplove, Bayside, and The Dirty Nil. In fact, they just recently returned from a UK tour, including a jaunt with Really Big Really Clever before a handful of shows opening for The Movielife and Crime in Stereo.
“Going to the UK in general was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life,” Family Dinner vocalist Natalie O’Keeffe tells me during a recent phone chat when I ask her about some of the highlights of the band’s still burgeoning career. Although, she also admits, “Any time someone comes up to the merch table and tells me I’ve impacted them in any way, it changes my life!”
Last year Family Dinner announced their signing to Other People Records (home of our phriends in Soft Blue Shimmer), who Natalie tells me have been treating the band exceptionally well: “They’ve been great to us, and we’ve really loved the artists from the label that we’ve played with.” The label is set to release Family Dinner’s debut full-length (which had them join The Movielife’s Brett Romnes and Vinnie Caruana in the studio) in the relatively near future (with some announcements coming very soon…)
Natalie says she and the band are super excited about these dates with Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and that she and husband/Family Dinner guitarist Michael O’Keeffe were big fans of English hardcore outfit Gallows, which Turner fronted from 2005-2011. When I ask what can be expected of Family Dinner’s live show, she admits, “From what other people have told us, whenever we’re onstage, we are having fun, and we look like we’re having fun!”
Although the Live Nation-owned and operated Foundry seems like a far cry from the hyper-D.I.Y. Ukie Club, Natalie tells me that, for Family Dinner, it’s rarely the space itself that determines how much they enjoy a given show: “For me, it’s not so much about the venue or the room, although having good sound makes us feel more comfortable and confident onstage. It comes down to the crowd, whether you’re in a shitty basement or a big room, if people are dancing, I’m happy! That’s the hope!”
*Get your tickets here.
