Interview: Dream Wife Reflects on Their Evolving Style and SXSW Experience

Guitarist Alice Go and bassist Bella Podpadec reminisce on the band’s start while discussing their latest single, “Hot (Don’t Date a Musician),” and the empowering SXSW community. 

Writing and Photos by Carolyn Parmer

Dream Wife made their way into the British and international rock scenes in 2018, and the UK-based band has no plans to slow down. Having mastered the art of mashing angsty screams and sweet, slow vocals into the same song, lead singer Rakel Mjöll, guitarist Alice Go, bassist Bella Podpadec and drummer Alex Paveley are necessary additions to punk rock. Afterglow sat down with Go and Podpadec to discuss the band’s SXSW performances, musical influences, and plans.

Afterglow: How and when did Dream Wife form?

Alice: Well, we were all studying various forms of art at the University of Brighton in the UK. Um, I mean, I dunno when that was, about a few years ago now.

Bella: Back in the times.

Alice: Me and Bella… grew up in Somerset in the UK so we knew each other from [playing] in Battle of the Bands together.

Bella: Yeah, we met in the Midsummer Battle of the Bands. 

Alice: But then you lived with Rakel in Brighton. Yeah. Is that kinda how she got woven into the picture? 

Bella: Initially it was just like a bit of a joke about wanting to travel, but feeling like you needed a purpose and we were like, “let's form a band and go on tour.” Rakel kind of wove it in with her [sic] uni stuff and yeah. It was only meant to be this really short-term kind of fixed period experiment, but it got a bit carried away. And now, the better part of a decade later here we are, on our way to album three, very much in love. 

So how has the music evolved genre-wise? You know, it started off as a short term thing but now you’re onto your third album... 

Alice: I mean, like when we started out we used a drum machine. It was just like us three in a drum machine, and it was all very kind of DIY. But over the years –- well, I shouldn't say over the years – it became kind of apparent that maybe as a live act, real drums would be so much fun. 

Bella: But we're a rock band, we're a heavy rock band, and it's hard to do that without a real drummer. So we're absolutely blessed with Alexander Pavley, our Wonder Boy. We settled quite quickly on this sort of fairly ferocious, but fairly pop, kind of fairly danceable rock music. That was where our first album landed and we circled back around to that. I think we've done a lot of distilling of what it is that is really exciting and vital and alive about the space in between us as a group. So I think this new collection of songs that we are releasing soon is really exemplary of that. 

Alice: Yeah. And I think it's been something that's become more and more apparent the longer we've played together. The live show is like the heart of the band and certainly with the new material, it's definitely been about encapsulating that live energy and that sense of fun and raucousness that comes with a Dream Wife live show. And it sounds like it should be super simple to get that down on record because it's kind of the raw ingredients, but actually it's kind of hard to get something that feels true to the live show. But I feel like with the last couple of songs we've released, that comes across more than in other stuff we've released before, and I think we're all really happy with the vibe and the sound coming through with the new material. 

Bella: One of the ways we managed to do that was Alice producing the record. There's no one that knows what it is that we wanna do so intimately. 

Alice: Like we know that, we know the story of this is a live band and kind of getting that across on record, it felt like it had to come from us. So I think we're really proud with the way that's come about, and the new material.

That's awesome. I was listening to some of y'all’s songs before this. Tell me about your new single “Hot” and what that means to you, and if there was any funny story about how that came to be or what you hope listeners take from it. 

Alice: I mean, we're at SXSW right now and it feels especially true. 

Bella: Yeah, everyone is really hot. But like also, you know, if you were to fall in love here, chances are you would never see that person ever again, and that's kind of a vibe. But musicians are silly and sexy and very flaky and always going on tour. Alice is actually engaged. 

Alice: I'm engaged!

Awesome! So have y'all had SXSW performances this year so far? 

Bella: Not yet. We got our first two today.

How are you feeling about that? 

Alice: Really good! We're playing the British Music Embassy at midnight. 

Bella: We've all been in bed by like 10 every day. 

Alice: We're gonna have to drink some energy drinks I think, to stay up for that one. 

Alice: It's been really fun to just enjoy the festival for the past couple of days. But I think to actually get down to playing shows, that's why we're here. And I think we're all really excited to get on stage and perform. 

Bella: Yesterday we went to see Be Your Own Pet play, who we like. They were one of the first bands that we ever spoke about when we first met, when we were like 16. We've been literally waiting half our lives to go see them. So it felt really amazing to get to see them and hang out with them.

Alice: It was a real moment.

I'd love to hear more about how it feels to be back at SXSW, if you ever have more of those moments where you think, “Oh my gosh, I'm surrounded by these people that I listened to?”  

Alice: We saw Sunflower Bean yesterday. We toured with them in America, pre-pandemic, and they're just really great people and to see how their live shows come on since… it feels like touching base with friends again. It's just so fun.

Bella: And then we've also met so many up-and-coming UK bands ... We saw Gen and the Degenerates play the other day. That was really sick, and it's really cool, locating ourselves with this kind of continuum and community of rad, heavy bands. It’s amazing, just wandering around and getting the bump into everyone.

I love the energy of SXSW, like any concert I go to I just love that energy. I'm curious, when y'all were growing up, were y'all instantly playing instruments or singing or did it kind of take a while?

Alice: My early memories of friendships with people [were] always very centered around music in a big way. And I think even for us, we both loved music and that was a big part of our bond when we were teens meeting at Battle of the Bands. It's always been quite woven in with that sense of community and friendship and sharing in creation together.

Your Spotify biography says that y'all aim to make music in a world still propped up by patriarchal systems and I love that message. Which of your musical influences  take that message as well?

Alice: I feel like when we were younger, Le Tigre, Peaches, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, be your own PET, bands that when we were teenagers it was like seeing these amazing, strong women rocking out and doing it their way. I think that was always super inspiring to us, people going against the grain. Peaches is the prime example of that, just saying whatever she's gonna say and like doing it on her terms. That's always been really inspiring, I think. People like that really have always been a big inspiration to us.

So when people come to a Dream Wife concert, whether that's at midnight, at SXSW or on your next tour, what do you want them to get out of that performance? 

Alice: Certainly for us, even just for us playing live and sharing our music with everyone, there's always a sense of solidarity through live music. I think if people can feel part of that moment with us and with each other, that's a big thing that we always want people to feel at our shows. But generally with live music, that's what is so important about it, that coming together of people through music and sharing in that and kind of respecting each other through that. Yeah, I would say solidarity.

Bella: With heavier shows, there's opportunity for a real cathartic experience as well. I really hope people get to scream and jump around and shake their bodies and crash into each other… I grew up loving moshing, like I really love mosh pits. I got so much out of that, just bodies slamming against each other. The first mostly-women mosh pit that I was ever in was when we played with PINS. It was really, really amazing to be in a space that wasn't just bashing up against creepy guys. And so I think, hopefully, a kind of space to experience that mosh pit, sweaty, glammy vibe without feeling creeped on, to feel safe and embodied and wild and sweaty and sexy and silly. Then we get to do that together, and it's an honor to get to hold space for that stuff.

Yeah, I love that. Definitely no creepy men needed to add to that experience. I saw on y'all's Instagram, it looked like y'all are just kind of having fun around Austin, like someone rode a mechanical bull. Can you tell me about that? 

Alice: I know! That was a highlight. That was a highlight. You (Bella)stayed on the mechanical bull for a while. You did really well. 

Bella: Have you ridden a mechanical bull?

I have not. I know that I need to. There are like a million in Austin. 

Bella: Yeah, you absolutely do, come on!

Alice: I thought maybe it might be some kind of Texas rite of passage or something to ride a mechanical bull.
Bella: I thought they didn't let you be an American if you didn't ride the mechanical bull.

Maybe I'm just missing out (laughs), but I'm glad that y'all are back here getting to experience Austin and SXSW again. Was there anything else that y'all wanted to add?

Bella: Yeah, that's where it really is what it is. But also we've got an album coming out in June. It's gonna be great. You should listen to it then. And we're really hoping to come back and tour in the U.S. — in the fall, as you guys would say, autumn as we would say. But touring in America is really, really so much fun. Fingers crossed that's gonna happen.

You can follow Dream Wife on Instagram and Twitter, and stream their music on Spotify and Apple Music.

This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.