AWAY FROM THE NOISE
DREAM NAILS TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF... My name is Lucy and I’m the drummer of London-based, queer, feminist punk band Dream Nails. ‘You lot don’t seem very punk!?’ is a sentiment we often hear on tour and it makes us curious - what does Punk look like? To these folks, typical punk behaviour clearly does not consist of pre-show lunges and Lucozades, nor kicking back afterwards with a Sleepy Tea™ and a charcoal face mask, but we leave the cocaine and Jack Daniels for the posers and the pissers. We’ve got work to do, and we need to be on the top of our game to do our message and politics justice. Aside from this, caring for yourself is Punk. Looking after your body, mind, soul and spirit is Punk as Fuck. We’re not interested in the
outdated notion that erratic, TV-out-the-window, burnout behaviour is cool or aspirational. Get a life! These nasty excesses are a bastion of the old boys club of punk, one that is self-destructive and individualistic. We care about each other, our communities, our peers, the world - and to do this most effectively, we gotta look after ourselves! Exercise is a particularly empowering way of taking care of yourself, and the reasons we do it have nothing to do with the patriarchal beauty standards we firmly eschew. Our recent single, ‘Jillian’ is a homage to queer US home-workout icon, Jillian Michaels, as two of the band discovered strength training through her ‘30 Day Shred’ DVD’s. The song (as well as being an absolute banger) encapsulates our attitude to 23
exercising - it’s about finding strength on your own terms, in your own space and within the capabilities of your own body. We want people to blast it during their workouts and revel in the heady rush of self-acceptance and endorphins that make you feel strong in ways beyond the physical. So, a message to anyone tempted to chuck a TV out the window anytime soon: chuck on our new album instead, roll out a yoga mat, stretch it out, and do something sweet and good for your beautiful bodies! Dream Nails’ self-titled debut album is out on 28th August 2020 on Alcopop! Records (UK/Euro) and Dine Alone (North America). Their headline UK tour is scheduled for March 2021. Photography by Marieke Macklon
