The Brag

Dum Dum Girls
Letting Go
By Krissi Weiss

Getting ready to tour an album internationally can create a lot of apprehension for any band, but it’s especially true for lead Dum Dum Girl, Kristen Gundred. The band released their second album Only In Dreams this year, with the album acting as a diary of sorts for Gundred, documenting what was an extremely difficult 2010. Following the success of Dum Dum Girls’ debut I Will Be, Gundred found herself stuck in a hectic touring schedule away from her husband (Brandon Welchez of noise-pop band Crocodiles). Meanwhile, her mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and 2010 turned out to be the last year of her life.

Gundred is still emotional about the fact that she spent so much of that year away from her loved ones. “I was listening to a lot of The Cure and it was the worst year of my life, so that contributed greatly to what I was writing,” she explains, her voice still swamped with sadness. “I was dealing with personal things but also having to travel and do a lot of work for the band. With my mother’s diagnosis – well, that experience was within the context of touring a lot and working really hard. It was a rough and very much disconnected year, which is pretty well represented on the album. There is a strong sense of being at a distance from where I wanted to be.”

Produced by Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, The Go-Go’s, and the Dum Dum Girls’ debut) and Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes, Only In Dreams was always going to be a darker album than the upbeat adolescence of I Will Be. The two producers were charged with taking Gundred’s heartbroken songs and giving them that Dum Dum Girls edge; the album has been criticised for not being as “fun” as the debut, but how could it have been? Only In Dreams is an extremely authentic, confessional account of personal, emotional experiences.

Gundred explains that the recording process was a challenging time for her; she tells me it’s only recently that she has felt like she’s started to deal with her mother’s death. “I did not cope or process what was going on very well at all,” she explains. “We recorded the album two months after my mother had passed away, and I was in a lot of shock. As much as I felt I put a lot of sincere emotion into the recording process, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was debilitated from it. There were a few songs that I had a lot of trouble recording, because I [could] remember when I wrote them. A song like ‘Coming Down’, which is literally about taking a lot of drugs

to dull things – well, playing that song recreates that emotion that I was going through. A song like ‘Hold Your Hand’ I wrote virtually immediately after finding out about my mother, and I can remember those emotions so vividly. We are in the process of preparing to tour the album and [whether or not] playing the shows will be a problem, well, that’s something that I am not really sure about.”

It has been hard for Gundred to decide exactly what to focus on this year. With Only In Dreams recorded in January, the band had to leave that project behind to tour their EP, He Only Gets Me High. “It was a little strange because we recorded this album prior to the EP’s release,” she says. “So we did this album and then I spent a month in New York mixing it and then we had to go on tour for the EP. We re-mastered the album three times with different mixes, trying to get it right. We then took a hiatus over the summer, partially intentionally and partially by accident, so then we had to come back to the songs on this album, which was a little strange. The timing of recording, releasing and touring can be peculiar.”

Being a touring musician is not normally on the top of most parents’ wish lists for their children’s careers, but Gundred says that her mother was extremely proud of her. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, so they are both happy that I am getting somewhere – they gave up, years ago, thinking that I would move onto something else,” she says. With earlier attempts as a musician proving to be far less successful than Dum Dum Girls (most notably as drummer and singer for Grand Ole Party), Gundred seems to have finally found her musical home as Dee Dee. She says that the songs on I Will Be were essentially the first collection of songs that she had written entirely herself – it’s the first time she has taken such complete control. “I’ve been trying to do this forever, basically, and this is the first time I have ever made it this far,” she says with relief. “The people I play music with are the ideal group for what we do; it’s a pretty rewarding experience compared to other projects I’ve been in. I am extremely grateful that we’re getting to do this and, at least at this point, this is what I do and I don’t have to work another job.”

The success of a band’s sophomore album will usually determine whether they will go on or fade into oblivion, and so far it seems that Dum Dum Girls will be around for a long time yet. Gundred has proven that even in the face of massive adversity, she is still able to create music and stay focused as an artist. I ask why she feels that this project has been the one to succeed beyond the ultra-underground. “I don’t know,” she says, trailing off for a moment. “I’m sure timing has a lot to do with it. Not from an egotistical standpoint, but this is the first project that I have been involved in that is entirely mine, and I have a very strong drive to do well with this. This band is everything to me and I am compelled to do this. I can’t not do this.”

What: Only In Dreams is out now through Sub Pop/Inertia
With: Gotye, Xavier Rudd, Salmonella Dub, Stanton Warriors, LTJ Bukem, Hanggai, Jim Ward, Hanni El Khatib, The Holidays, Eagle & The Worm, Canyons, Oh Mercy, Ball Park Music, King Cannons, Husky and more
Where: Peats Ridge Festival – Thursday December 29 at 7.30pm, on the Bellbird Stage
When: December 29 – January 1
Sideshow: Monday January 2 @ Oxford Art Factory