The Mancunion interviews Dream Wife’s guitarist Alice. We discuss their second record ‘So When You Gonna’, their upcoming tour and Gorilla date on the 25th of March, working with an all-female team, and more!
Dream Wife will be embarking on a UK tour this month, with a date at Manchester’s Gorilla on 25th March. The Mancunion sat down with Alice, the London based trios’ lead guitarist, to discuss the new album, what the band are working on currently and
‘So When You Gonna’ is the only record to reach the top 20 of the UK’s album charts to be produced by an all non-male engineering and production team. Reaching a massive number 18 in the charts Dream Wife made huge leaps during lockdown and certainly plan to continue that momentum with this live tour.
Already having been rescheduled from last April these live dates have clearly been long awaited and not just by the Mancunion team! Dream Wife will also be joined by the wonderful Lucia and the Best Boys white-hot Glaswegians that have just come off tour supporting Dirty Hit records’ Wolf Alice. Their show at Gorilla on the 25th is going to be something undeniably special.
Alice described working with an all-female engineering crew as “incredibly comforting”, and that the decision led to the creation of a “safe space of mutual understanding that certainly did affect the album”. It certainly is an interesting feature of the album and one I’m sure we will see more non-women bands adopting in the future.
Personally, I can’t recommend ‘So When You Gonna’ enough. To new listeners, the project is best described as the marriage of garage-punk guitars with dance pop vocals. Upon first hearing this description I wouldn’t blame listeners for being sceptical of the project and its sound, but the combination of these juxtaposing elements culminates into something beautifully individual.
I was delighted when Alice mentioned that the 11-track project was written for a live setting and that this tour will be the first time that the tracks had probably been brought out onto the road, bar a few warm up shows and festivals last summer. Infuriating catchy, my favourite track from the album has to be ‘Hasta La Vista’ an earworm of a track that’s vocals will stay with you for months.
I expect this band to go onto great things and could see them on tour with Wet Leg very very soon, get down to Gorilla on the 25th or you’ll sorely regret it in a years’ time.
You can view our full interview below, where Alice and I go onto discuss who the band wish they could have inspired, their local tour supports, international women’s day and more.
Reece is the Mancunion’s Music Editor, leading the team covering Manchester’s music scene and beyond. He is also an editor at Music Is To Blame, an independent music publications and has written words for WHATWESPEW the Manchester punk collective.
Now Head Rep for the record label Scruff of the Neck and the host of The Northwest Emo Show he continues to deliver articles on the very best music Manchester and the UK has to offer. He also features his own photography within his articles, working with the likes of Slowthai, Enter Shikari and Wargasm.
