A Conversation With Swiss Pleasure...
Swiss Pleasure on reclaiming 'It's My Party'
"Allowing some of the song's underlying rage to emerge." That is how Swiss Pleasure describe what they set out to do with their cover of Lesley Gore's 'It's My Party', which came out in October.
Agathe, Alea and Claire formed the band in Berlin five years ago, with music at the centre of their lives and an intentionally FLINTA* line-up that protects expression history has too often sidelined. Their influences run from dream pop and post-punk to stoner, psych and jazz. After a debut EP in 2024 and shows across Germany and Europe, they are heading into a new era, with more songs planned through the rest of 2026.
We asked them about the cover, about Gore's legacy, and about where the band goes next.
You started working on 'It's My Party' back in 2024. What made you want to cover it in the first place?
It was definitely a mix of several things. We obviously liked the song but there was more to it… Its iconic vibe, the theme that still felt very relatable and the fact that we felt we could bring something extra to it, something that would honor who Lesley Gore was both as an artist and as a human, a queer icon at a time when it was much more difficult not to fulfill societal expectations.
The original sounds so bright and cheerful. When did you first hear the bittersweet side underneath?
Looking at the original lyrics, they’re already quite bittersweet and contrast with the cheerfulness of the original recording. It’s hard to say if it was something we intentionally wanted to bring out in the song or if it was just the end result of us taking the song and adapting it to our style, but we definitely felt that it had this unexplored side to it.
How did the three of you go about making the arrangement more melancholic? Did it come together quickly or take a lot of trial and error?
Most of our songs take a bit of trial and error. We’re quite meticulous in our process when it comes to arranging songs, exploring harmonies, creating tension and release etc. It’s quite normal that we’ll work on a song for a few months and then put it to the side for a few months before coming back to it and hearing it with fresh ears. It’s My Party was no different, especially when it came to the structure, which differs quite a bit from the original, and the ending.
Was there a moment in the process where the song suddenly clicked for you?
Once we added the ending to the song it felt like the whole thing clicked. We had this brooding, morose song and it needed a release and some cacophony. We added the ending, which gave all of us some space to let loose, and it felt like it rounded the whole thing out.
Lesley Gore has clearly meant a lot to you. What is it about her openness and advocacy that continues to inspire you?
Gore never hid her sexuality and advocated for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights and visibility despite the social taboo at the time. The fact that she stayed true to herself and used her platform to try to speak highlight important social issues in the face of a society that was systemically far less tolerant than today speaks to her courage and sets a positive example for those still fighting injustices today.
Your influences run from dream pop and post-punk to stoner, psych and jazz. Which of those found their way into this cover?
I think it's any listener’s guess, really even if the dream pop and post-punk vibes transpire a bit more, in our opinion. The drums part in the outro, specifically, was created with Dave Grohl’s work on Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows” in mind.
Leen Al Shemaly made the cover art. How did that collaboration come about, and what did you want the artwork to say?
We collaborated with Leen when we released our very first EP. She photographed our release party, resulting in these beautiful, grainy, sepia shots which we felt transcribed our energy as a band and the euphoria of that night to a t. And we thought it matched exactly the atmosphere of our cover.
You've played shows across Germany and Europe. Do you see this cover working in a live setting?
We’ve already played the cover a few times live and it’s worked maybe even better than expected. It’s been our experience that as soon as people hear the opening refrain, in spite of the changes we’ve made to the song, they start to sing along. It’s always a lovely feeling when that happens (especially as we always pay homage to Lesley Gore and her advocacy before starting the song).
You've got more songs coming through the rest of 2026. What can listeners expect from this new era?
We’ve been in the studio recording some songs that we’ve been working on and playing live for a while. Our writing process in general has matured and we’re focusing a lot more on the song structures, harmonies and arrangements (also thanks to the fact that we’re continuing to record with our go-to engineer, Freddy Corrazini at Butterama Studios - someone who understands our sound and is always helping us refine our music). Since we’re only three people we’re more and more searching for ways to add to the arrangements that don’t necessarily involve adding a whole additional instrument (especially where we can recreate those things live) - for example, one thing you can definitely expect on upcoming songs are some denser vocal harmonies and more stereo bass and guitar set-ups.
Outside music, you're into literature, cinema, sports, travelling and politics. Which of those feeds into your songwriting the most?
Politics features and influences our music most predominantly, along with some elements of literature and cinema. The nature of our band is inherently political and on top of that we’re all quite politically engaged in different ways.
