21st Century Music: Dum Dum Girls
21st Century Music are playlists and profiles that focus on artists that have released their music since 2000. These highlight new(er) acts that continue the sound and spirit of the older acts that are the focus of Ceremony. Click on the streaming service of your choice below to listen to the playlist as you read along.
In today’s music world the selection of music and artists is voluminous and scattered. The number of artists issuing music these days is staggering and impossible to keep up with. In my youth I knew the names of every song, album, and artist in my collection as they were carefully considered before going to the store and laying out money, and then listened to studiously once at home. When I made mixtapes for listening while on the go, they were assembled with care and purpose.
Today, when I hear a song I like it is added to my streaming library and the artist may be acknowledged but not usually locked into the memory bank. Most of my casual listening at home and in the car are randomized playlists from my library, so I get a constant mix of the familiar and the new. Therefore, songs constantly play in which I’m not aware of who they’re by, and as a result I frequently have to check on the performer when a song demands my attention by calling itself out from the rest of the playlist due to uniqueness or higher quality. One such artist that has prompted such checks on a regular basis has been Dum Dum Girls.
Dee Dee, before the band
Though its name suggests a band, Dum Dum Girls has essentially been the solo effort of Kristin Welchez (nee Gundred), who has further layered the pseudonyms by performing under the name, Dee Dee, or even Dee Dee Penny after she adopted a publishing typo in NME magazine. She began recording in her bedroom in Los Angeles in 2008, self-releasing an EP, Dum Dum Girls, on Zoo Music, the label she ran with her husband, Brendan Welchez of the band, Crocodiles. It was accompanied by a single, “Longhair,” released via HoZac (Horizontal Action) Records. Her artist name was a tribute to both The Vaselines LP, Dum Dum, and Iggy Pop’s song, “Dum Dum Boys.” The limited pressing of the EP and the single gained some attention and led to her signing with famed indie label, Sub Pop, in July 2009. Before recording with the label, a second EP, also titled Dum Dum Girls, was first released in late 2009, It was also referred to as Yours Alone, based on the track of that name and likely to separate it from the first EP. It was released on Brooklyn based label, Captured Tracks, as a vinyl 12”.
Dum Dum Girls first LP was 2010’s I Will Be, written and entirely performed by Dee Dee, except for a cover of Sonny Bono’s, “Baby Don’t Go.” Renowned producer Richard Gottehrer took her home recordings and polished them up in the studio along with mixing by Alonzo Vargas. Gottehrer’s career spanned back to the ‘60s, having co-written legendary hits like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy” while working as a song writer in the Brill Building and as part of the FGG/Strangeloves team (with Bob Feldman and Jerry Goldstein), and as a producer through the ‘70s and ‘80s for the likes of Blondie, Richard Hell, Dr. Feelgood, and the Go-Go’s. In 1966 he co-founded Sire Records with Seymour Stein. Dee Dee also had help performing on the LP from her husband and from Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The LP was similar to those contributor acts, sticking to a noisy, feedback laden mix of guitar, electronics, and quick beats. The songs hewed to the punk ethos with quick, pop-styled tunes. At just under 29 minutes in length over eleven songs, the album ran through a homogenous sound, each a variation on the sonic theme. It was catchy though and spawned three singles, “Jail La La,” “Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout,” and “It Only Takes One Night.” First released in vinyl by HoZac, it was given a broader release by Sub Pop and put Dum Dum Girls into the mix of emerging alt-indie artists.
Dum Dum Girls, the 2nd line-up (L to R): Dee Dee; Bambi; Sandra Vu; & Jules Medeiros
Just as I Will Be was being released, Dee Dee assembled an all-female band to tour with featuring Jules Medeiros on guitar, Bambi on bass, and Frankie Rose (of Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, and Beverly) on drums, though she was soon replaced by Sandra Vu. However, Dee Dee continued to record solo, issuing a single, “Stiff Little Fingers” (not sure if that was a reference to the Vibrators song or the Irish punk band, or neither) in late 2010, followed by another EP, He Gets Me High, in March 2011. The EP featured a cover of The Smiths’, “There Is A Light that Never Goes Out,” and kept up the quick-paced, noise-pop tunes of the first album but with a little more variation. “Wrong Feels Right” and The Smiths cover had stronger pop structures and “Take Care of My Baby” showed a subtler side, a sign of strength that would come to mark Dum Dum Girls’ best efforts. Gottehrer was this time joined by Sune Rose Wagner as co-producer, who was from The Raveonettes, a very like-minded act. This duo would produce all future Dum Dum Girls releases.
The next album, Only in Dreams, was recorded with the full band making for a more fulsome and engaging sound. Songs moved through greater changes in tempo, melodies, and breaks, and at 36 minutes over ten songs, provided a little more room to breathe. Released on Sub Pop in September 2011, the LP was generally well regarded by critics and brought greater attention to the band. The stronger pop feel, more polished sound with less noise and stronger guitars resulted in a sound more akin to another favourite act of mine, Best Coast. The standout on the album was the sparse sounding, achingly beautiful, “Coming Down,” a song that melts me every time. At over six minutes in length it was epic compared to the rest of the Dum Dum Girls’ canon. While the quick songs on the LP still tended to blend together, it was the slower songs that gave the act a more identifiable personality. The LP’s closer, “Hold Your Hand,” brought the pop sensibility of the fast songs into a slower vibe.
Dum Dum Girls, 3rd line-up: Jules, Malia, Dee Dee, & Sandy
Before 2011 closed out, Bambi left the band to be replaced by Malia James. The next release was the EP, End of Daze, in September 2012. It included leftover tracks from the Only in Dreams recordings, including a cover of Strawberry Switchblade’s, “Trees and Flowers,” along with two new tracks that included, “Lord Knows,” which was issued as a single and provided another exemplary offering of the expansive, moody sound a la “Coming Down.” It was “Coming Down” and “Lord Knows” that drew me to Dum Dum Girls and demanded attention every time they appeared on my randomized playlists.
Dum Dum Girls’ third LP, Too True, was released in January 2014, still on Sub Pop and once again produced by the Gottehrer/Wagner duo. The slightly longer sixteen-month gap between releases was due to larger touring demands and, as a result, the need for Dee Dee to rest her strained vocals before recording. She had also started a side act with her husband called Haunted Hearts. Too True was recorded mostly as a solo effort by Dee Dee and without the band, though Sune Rose Wagner provided some instrumentation. The LP was the most complete, accessible, and polished effort to date for Dum Dum Girls. The pure pop, mid-tempo grace of “Are You Okay?” was unlike anything heard before, bearing little resemblance to the noise-laden songs of the first works. “Cult of Love” and “Too True to Be Good” sounded like offspring of a Blondie-Siouxsie pairing, and again there was a down-tempo, hook-filled single, “Lost Boys and Girls Club,” to carry the album (as well as offer some taste of noise-pop). The album closed with a slightly less sparse, but still moody, slow tune, “Trouble Is My Name.”
Malia, Sandy, Dee Dee (blonde during the time of Too True), and Jules
After touring for Too True was done, during which Andrew Miller was added on guitar, Dee Dee announced in 2016 she was setting Dum Dum Girls aside to start a new act, Kristin Kontrol (another moniker she’d used for her personal email, combining her first name and a tease given to her by friends based on the band, Skull Kontrol), which would pursue a dancier, more electronic sound. An LP, X-Communicate, was issued under that name in 2016 along with a couple additional singles in 2016 and 2017. Whether Dum Dum Girls is to be revived is an open question, and given the strong and alluring evolution of the act over its three LPs and four EPs, I certainly hope to hear more from this exceptional 21st Century artist.
Dum Dum Girls with Andrew Miller on board
The Playlist - song \ album (year)
Yours Alone \ Dum Dum Girls (Yours Alone) EP (2009)
It Only Takes One Night \ I Will Be (2010)
Jail La La \ I Will Be (2010)
Wrong Feels Right \ He Gets Me High EP (2011)
Always Looking \ Only in Dreams (2011)
Coming Down \ Only in Dreams (2011)
Teardrops on My Pillow \ Only in Dreams (2011)
Hold Your Hand \ Only in Dreams (2011)
Lord Knows \ End of Daze EP (2012)
Season in Hell \ End of Daze EP (2012)
Cult of Love \ Too True (2014)
Are You Okay? \ Too True (2014)
Lost Boys and Girls Club \ Too True (2014)
Trouble Is My Name \ Too True (2014)
