Dream Wife are keeping London’s punk spirit alive

Dream Wife: We met at art school in Brighton when we were all studying different forms of visual art. To us, the name Dream Wife was a fun wordplay. It’s a name that people tend to remember, some sort of shock value. It’s a commentary on the objectification of women. The stereotype American dream package; having the dream house, the dream car and the dream wife. But women aren’t objects. Women have so many different sides and don’t just fit one mould. A pretty ridiculous trope. We were enjoying playing around with it.

DW: We are surrounded by a completely inspiring creative scene in London right now. Some of our Brighton friends moved to London after graduation and the groups expanded. Ione Gamble’s Polyester Zine introduced us to wonderful people and creatives. Musically there’s a really special vibe happening in the city. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at the moment.

DW: When we first formed this band it was a very loose thing, it could take any form, and that felt really liberating to us all at the time. To this date, we still try to keep this open attitude to what this band is. However, we are definitely a fully functional rock band at this point, while still regarding aesthetic decisions as an equally important part of this process. We have a great team of people who are helping us because they love the music and believe in this project. It’s not just us three anymore, which is exciting knowing you’re all in this together.

DW: We write in different ways, sometimes we jam something through in the practice room, or other times one of us will bring an idea to the table. Either way, once the song is put into the realm of the Wives, the song always takes its own form. There is a chemistry between us and what we all bring musically. With this collision of energies, our own experiences will always work their way into our songs one way or another.

DW: It’s rock n roll with an occasional soft spot. We do have a retro quality about our sound, all of us are very informed and influenced by the 70s, Bowie, glam rock, punk, Blondie. A lot of what our parents were listening to when they were little angsty teens.

DW: It’s an interesting topic and female bands at the moment seem quite split on what stance to take. There is a fair amount to be said for bands choosing to reclaim the term and wear it as a badge of honour but at the same time, ‘Girl Band’ is so hugely linked to (often) more manufactured singing groups operating in a hugely commercial pop market and probably having minimal involvement in songwriting. These implications can feel reductive and be limiting to a group like ours; we are three friends, three musicians, writing and performing music together, having had no initial agenda to form an all-girl group, it just happened that way. We want to be taken as seriously as our male peers and not reduced to our gender.

DW: We are three fire symbols. Power trio.

DW: We had a great time! The stage we were playing on was made out of loads of winding branches; it felt like we were deep in the forest!

DW: Last Halloween we put on a Graveyard Party at Moth Club, with support from of our favourite acts; Emily Franklin, Garden Centre and Nova Twins. People really got into the graveyard theme, and some brought cardboard gravestones along and held up makeshift crucifixes when we played ‘F.U.U.’ It felt like the perfect spooky celebration with all of our friends, everyone got totally sweaty, crowd surfing and we just had the best time. That will be a hard show to top.

DW: It’s our debut album and is sounding like the rock n roll party of our dreams…We just can’t wait to show everyone.

DW: We’re in the midst of finishing this debut album. It’s pretty exciting and busy. We are touring the UK in October, so we are all majorly looking forward to taking the all these songs we’ve been working on and taking them on the road. Let them live. It’s all about the live shows.