A Night With Picture Parlour...

Words by Emily Whitchurch

Photography by Briony Graham-Rudd

Exuding an irresistible air of laidback swagger onstage, you wouldn’t have known it was Picture Parlour’s first headline tour. Katherine Parlour (vocals and guitar) and Ella Risi (lead guitar) have honed an addictive sound that straddles indie rock, glam rock and classic rock’n’roll, delivering an electrifying live set at The George Tavern towards the end of July to match.

“This whole run of shows has felt so new to us” Parlour admits before the final night of their Grassroots Venue Tour at the George Tavern in east London. “Usually we go on stage with something extra to prove because you’re trying to win over an audience that doesn’t really know who you are, so it feels so magical to get onstage and see that people are there for you.”

"We took the time to reclaim our narrative and not just ride the train feeling like someone else was pushing it."

Before its London finale, the tour took Picture Parlour to the likes of Luton and St Leonards-on-Sea rather than the typical circuit of cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. “We will play those, that’s inevitable as you grow, but this was so important,” Parlour says firmly. “There are artists that don’t take the time, but if you can, play that show in a town! It’s the same for promoters and managers and labels. Everyone needs to think, ‘how did we all get here?’”

Local independent music venues up and down the country have been under significant financial strain in recent years, with one closing every fortnight in 2024. “It’s an issue that we’ve cared about since day dot. We just wanted to do something that could help,” Risi explains. “We’d speak to people who were like, ‘we don’t get many gigs around here’, but they've been some of our favourite shows,” adds Parlour. “Just playing a show nourishes local scenes and reminds people to go to those venues.”

Picture Parlour were perfectly suited to the intimate, lively atmosphere of the George Tavern, maxing out its 150-person capacity as the audience packed in from the front of the low stage right to the back of the wood-panelled bar. “Small venues are more intimidating but I get the buzz because you can see people’s faces and get into the crowd,” Parlour says. “We obviously love playing big shows because you feel like you’ve made it, but as a fan of music, all of my favourite shows have been in smaller venues.” Though in a way, garnering such enthusiastic crowds in smaller, often overlooked venues across the country also feels like a sign that the band are making it. “That’s true,” Risi smiles. “And that’s been one of the craziest things because we expected it to be empty – some of these places we’d never heard of. But it was so fun and so buzzy.”

One of the buzziest moments of the set was the duo’s latest release, Talk About It. A punchy anthem for letting go and caring less, Risi’s effortlessly groovy guitar riff swept the crowd up in a frenzy, accompanied by Parlour’s exuberant vocals. But the track had far humbler beginnings. “It was kind of a joke, we were just messing around,” Risi says of the song’s initial iteration. Their friends, however, were significantly more enthusiastic about its potential. “So then it was like, for fuck’s sake we have to play it now,” Parlour laughs. “But it’s genuinely become our favourite part of the set, especially on this tour where some people haven’t been to shows before. It’s nice to have one song where, whether you’ve heard it or not, people are going for it and can pick up the words.”

That infectious panache of Talk About It was captured in a carefree music video filmed across the neon nights of Tokyo. “There’s a director I love called Wong Kar-wai from Hong Kong and a film by him called Fallen Angels, and it’s insane,” Parlour says of the video’s cinematic influences. “It’s just two lonely people spending the night in a megacity and it’s sad but also euphoric and nostalgic and hazy. I remember saying to Ella when we found out that we could go to Japan that we’ve just got to find one person with a camera and we’ll do it.”

That one person was videographer Kenshu Shizuka, who also happens to be from Hong Kong and Japan. “He was just phenomenal. We’d never met him before and we just bonded over Won Kar-wei,” explains Risi. “It was just me, Ella, and him and we spent two days together and got pissed and went to a karaoke bar,” Parlour recalls. “It’s our favourite thing we’ve done so far, which is crazy because it had the least preparation. It was a tiny idea and a stranger, and it definitely felt like a moment.”

In terms of ‘moments’, the band’s debut single, Norwegian Wood, was a euphoric close to the night, showcasing Risi’s dazzling guitar melodies alongside Parlour’s smoky vocal growl. The track was an instant success when it came out in 2023 and remains their most streamed, but this didn’t come without its challenges. “We’ve had a difficult year just for the simple fact that it felt like we ‘burst onto the scene’ even though we’d been working away for years. We felt like we were up against it,” says Parlour. Having released their first EP in June 2024, Picture Parlour retreated for a while before making a striking return this April with the bombastic 70s-inspired single Who’s There To Love Without You?, which shone onstage with its catchy chorus and ebb and flow of playful riffs. “That’s why we took the time to reclaim our narrative and not just ride the train feeling like someone else was pushing it. Now, we’re feeling really chill, self-composed, and confident with what we’ve got.”

“During that time, we were able to go and record new music and it was so nice after such an intense and overwhelming year to just step back and get it all down,” Risi adds, hinting at the duo’s exciting next chapter. “That’s also why the independent venue tour was so important to us because it was like, what are we doing this for?” Parlour explains. “Are we doing this to chase the train or do we just fucking love making and playing music? And that’s the case, so it was a no-brainer to do this tour and reconnect.”

Reconnection was in no short supply as Parlour descended into the crowd for Neptune 66, a fiery number driven by Risi’s punky psychedelic-tinged melodies. I wonder if coming back to releasing music and performing live puts some of that pressure back on. Parlour grins, “Absolutely not. In the beginning we felt the pressure but now it’s like, who gives a fuck? We’re the ones making the songs, we love what we do so if other people don’t, maybe you’ll like the next one!”

“We’ve got a couple of surprises in the set,” Risi tells me before the show. “We’ve gone rogue and put three new tracks in there so hopefully people enjoy that!”. ‘Enjoy’ turned out to be a vast understatement. A stripped-back version of the unreleased Travelling Show weaved a compelling tale of runaway circus antics as the crowd swayed to its easy-going, piano-led groove. A searing cover of Patti Smith’s Because the Night was equally well-received, proving a perfect match for Risi’s elaborate guitar work and Parlour’s gritty drawl: “because the night belongs to lovers, because the night belongs to us,” she sang emphatically. And the night was well and truly theirs, as Picture Parlour delivered a triumphant performance from start to finish that capped off their first headline tour with unforgettable flair.

Reflecting on the impact of their grassroots tour, Parlour says, “I want people to feel excited about music and excited about independent venues, to know that artists are there and we care. We’re always going to play, we’re not going anywhere. Rock’n’roll is still going! I just want people to be as excited as I am about the scene right now.”

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