It’s rare to see a band share the on stage chat as much as Dream Nails do – a proper team effort to make sure the room is still with them and that they say what they want to say. After nine years as a band, but with a revolving line-up, perhaps that’s how they’ve evolved to survive.
Tonight, there are three in the band – one fewer than in their Instagram profile picture – and it sort of makes sense that there’s someone missing. Bassist Mimi Jasson does a top job of playing and singing, but between vocals there’s an easier energy. Splitting those duties with another person could send their performance up a notch or two.
Promoting their new album ‘Doom Loop’, they win over the crowd with tunes like ‘Ballpit’. Their angular, often obtuse DIY punk rock offers consistent, edgy fun.
Drummer Lucy Katz gives away a pair of drumsticks to someone in the audience, as the band urge everyone in the room to start a band.
In comparison, Dream Wife feel more polished, cooler, more… untouchable. Yet at the same time, they’re also here to party and are unafraid to make things intimate.
Alice Go (guitar) and Bella Podpadec (bass) are boundlessly energetic, meaning if you ever tire of watching the magnetic Rakel Mjoll on vocals, there’s plenty else to visually carry this cool, rhythmic punk rock package.
Whichever of their three albums they pluck a tune from, the momentum never drops. Tunes like ‘Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)’ and ‘Hasta La Vista’ are songs born for singing with easy-to-pick-up hooks. ‘Somebody’s guitar line is as mesmerising now as it ever was, and the words “I am not my body, I’m somebody”, sadly still as worth repeating.
Rakel’s vocal talent should not be underestimated behind the magnificent racket. A few times tonight she is reminiscent of 90s Gwen Stefani – breathy, urgent and pitch perfect.
A cover of t.A.T.u.’s ‘All The Things She Said’ is preceded by storytelling about Alice’s recent engagement to journalist Daisy Jones. It’s a sweet moment.
Finishing with a pair of rallying cries, a chorus of “Have some f***ing empathy” snarls through the room in ‘Leech’, and the “bad bitches” come out screaming in ‘F.U.U’.
With such an abundance of great songs, the only real bone to pick when the lights go up is that we didn’t get a few more.
