MORE THAN A TREND

“I always try to do something new on every record. I played guitar differently when writing and demoing these, and I wanted to expand on the extra layers of guitar I sort of tried on End Of Daze—not so much the layers and layers of reverb and E-bow, but a faster version of texture.”

(Prologue: This interview was conducted 6 years ago back in 2014 and was originally featured in print issue #37.)

It’s been a bumpy couple of years for Dee Dee Penny, leader of L.A. and New York-based Sub Pop act Dum Dum Girls. After the loss of her mother to cancer, she came down with vocal problems, halting the follow-up to the band’s highly acclaimed second studio album, Only in Dreams.

“I watched my mother die over the course of a year and then threw myself into my work instead of grieving properly. My head was completely fucked, and the wake of that still follows me, though at a greater length behind now,” she says. Throwing herself into her work led in part to those verbal complications. “The reality of touring in a band like ours is that you tour a lot, and there isn’t really any time to take care of yourself provided. You just have to make the best of it on your own, which can prove difficult.” She continues, “I had to fight—and am still doing so—to get it back, a very real and motivating struggle.”

On the bright side, there was a silver lining to these problems. “It did allow me to spend more time with the songs, though, to fix a few up that were not right at the initial recording.” Those songs, written for the band’s latest studio album Too True, were produced by longtime collaborator Richard Gottehrer and The Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner. Speaking of Richard, Dee Dee states, “The work we’ve done together has progressed, but his enthusiasm and studio spontaneity has remained—if you read interviews with Blondie or The Go-Gos about their experiences working with him, it sounds the same.”

When asked whether there was a fear going into this new record based on all the positive feedback of the last one, she says, “I always appreciate when my work is well-received, but it’s not the reason I do it. I suppose I feel the pressure of wanting to continue to live my life as I do, being blessed to carve out a life as an artist, but I just try to do my thing and leave the business side of it to my label and management.”

Touching on the differences between Too True and previous work, she says, “I always try to do something new on every record. I played guitar differently when writing and demoing these, and I wanted to expand on the extra layers of guitar I sort of tried on End Of Daze—not so much the layers and layers of reverb and E-bow, but a faster version of texture.”

Recorded in a New York apartment as well as East West Studios and the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Too True is just another layer for the complete visual aesthetic Dee Dee and Dum Dum Girls are trying to provide through their shows. “It’s the whole thing; the press photos, the album cover, the videos. There’s a cohesive approach to them, which I’ve not previously had. I brought in my friend and fellow musician Tamaryn to creative direct Too True—I asked her to help match the aesthetic to what I felt was a new sound.”

While claims have been made that Too True was inspired by Nick Cave’s famous letter to MTV in 1996 requesting his nomination for Best Male Artist in the Music Awards be withdrawn, Dee states that it’s not the case. “It was not inspired by that letter—I just felt compelled to point out that letter in case people weren’t familiar. I relate to the way he discusses his inspiration; he reveres and protects his muse.” And when asked if she would do the same if there was a future Dum Dum Girls nomination she says, “I have no misconceptions I will be nominated, so I don’t have to worry about that.”

Even though Dee Dee and Dum Dum Girls have quickly risen to success in the past couple of years, Dee Dee still remains levelheaded about the whole thing. “I started writing and recording as Dum Dum Girls in 2008, so it’s been nearly six years of existence and five years of very actively touring and recording, so I wouldn’t say it’s been a short amount of time or an overnight thing. We did get caught up in that initial ‘lo-fi’ wave craze back in 2010, so while that attention initially helped me get off to a good start, where we are now has been a direct result of working hard to build off that into something more concrete than a trend.”

Words: Blake Garris