ME: So the first song I heard by you guys was Stranger Feelings and I was immediately blown away by your voice, Lacey. It’s certainly unique but in a really beautiful mesmerising way. Did you ever do singing lessons or training or was it something that was very natural for you?
LACEY: Thank you for being so kind. Singing has always been something I've enjoyed, but I was pretty timid about doing so publicly until I was a senior in high school and on. I did take one semester of vocal performance in college - I was just about to fail out and needed some classes to pad my GPA, so I took a vocal course and it was one of the best things I've ever done. Highly recommend lessons/instruction if one can swing it.
I’m aware the band was kind of born around 2013 (if I’m right) and now, entering 2020, you’ll have been together as you are now for seven years. Has the journey been easy for all of you when it comes down to making music, performing, and everything else that comes along with being a band?
We don’t think it’s probably ever easy. For us, we’ve gone through several lineup changes, equipment failures, local ambivalence, road blocks here and there from life happening. Performing can be fun but we’d be lying if we said it didn’t take a toll on a body, mentally and physically. Making the music is probably the easiest part of it - that’s what makes all the hard stuff alright.
Lacey you’re in a band of full of males, does that become hard or are you used to it/happy to be?
L: I'm actually gender fluid. I think it's become a big misconception that I’m “Dreamgirl,” and that bothers me sometimes. Within the dynamic of the band, my gender doesn't matter. The only time I become hyper-aware of how I present is when I receive unwanted male attention at our shows. But, luckily, since my bandmates are also male, I can usually coast on their perceived ownership of me and the creepy dudes will respect them when they come to my assistance.
I did not know that, apologies! But it's really awesome that you all have that bond with one another. With a band predominantly made up of males, why the name Dreamgirl?
It was just an idea we could agree on, and no one else had used it yet. The name embodies the sound of the music.
Lacey you also have a little solo project coming up, I saw from your recent insta post. Are you excited for that?
L: It's a mixed bag! One one hand, I'm very excited to share my personal music. It's a lot more grief-inspired than what I write for Dreamgirl. On the other hand, it's scary to be vulnerable and put something out on my own.
One thing I have not asked anyone yet is about festivals! Have you been to any this year or going to any next year that you’d absolutely love to perform at or maybe even have performed at in the past?
We played Tropicalia in 2019 and it was a lot of fun, very cool to play alongside so many great bands. Our friends in Kansas City put on a great festival called ManorFest, which we’ve loved playing for some years. 2020’s lineup is going to be wild!
If there was one place in the world you could perform in and only there for the rest of your life, where would you choose?
We haven’t played everywhere yet, and we’ve got so many more places to go, so we’ll get back to you when we have a better idea on how to answer!
Is there a place as a band that you guys have yet to visit and perform?
Someday we hope to play outside of the U.S., never done that before.
What was the first experience that made you kind of sit back and think ‘damn. people like our music’ because you also had 11.5 million streams on Spotify this year which is a crazy number!
Probably when “Teenage Blue” hit 1 millions streams. We had a party. Or the first time we saw/heard someone cover one of our songs on YouTube. It’s surreal and so awesome, like who ever would have thought?
Finally, I love to go off on a random one so: what’s your favourite word ever that’s been used in one of ur songs (all of you individually)?
Ian: “girls” from “Weekend 4 The Girls” Skylar: “Let’s” from “Sweet Thang” Austin: “Get” from “Sweet Thang” Lacey: “Physical” from “Sweet Thang”