Dee Dee and the Dum Dum Girls

Former indie rock band the Dum Dum Girls released an album in 2011, Only in Dreams, that basically saved my life during late 2011 and all the way through 2012. The record is a masterpiece, a supersonic slice of dream pop heaven on earth. Spearheaded by the group’s singer and songwriter Dee Dee Penny (real name: Kristin Gundred), Only in Dreams is largely a collection of songs Dee Dee wrote while grieving her mother’s illness and subsequent death. I went through a life changing health issue in 2011 and it completely rearranged everything for me. I think differently ever since then. At first it was completely disordered thinking, as I worked through the long, arduous stages of grief for most of 2012. I came out the other side filled with more hope than I ever imagined possible at the time, and listening to Only in Dreams on constant repeat during those couple of years was a huge reason I was able to heal, emotionally. Dee Dee’s words lived in my head full time, offering a way out of grief by first accepting that it’s okay to not be okay, and then to work through those emotions with hard-won purpose. Her lyrics were naked and raw, while the music was often bright and shimmering, and that juxtaposition really spoke to me when I needed it most.

I genuinely can’t even imagine how I would’ve dealt with my trauma without the comforting, challenging, and ultimately hopeful words written and sung by Dee Dee/Kristin. These lines from “Heartbeat (Take it Away)” were and still are especially resonant:

How do I come around
After all that has gone down
I strain to hear the sound of my heartbeat

How can I tell myself
If I can’t tell anyone else
I’ll stick my thoughts on the shelf ’til tomorrow

Oh Oh Oh Oh
I don’t know where to go to get away from this sorrow

Take it away, take it away, take it away, take it away

That sums up living with trauma pretty well, doesn’t it?

I was already a fan of Dum Dum Girls in 2011, having loved their debut album the year before. I followed their career pretty closely for the brief amount of time it lasted—the group basically ended in 2016, and Gundred has pursued other projects since. So, even before I developed such a deeply personally relationship with Gundred’s music (she was the driving force behind everything in Dum Dum Girls), I was a fan thanks to the glorious retro-inspired sound she crafted with the Dum Dum Girls. Their commitment to a strong visual aesthetic always caught my eye too. Dum Dum Girls usually dressed all in black (not always, though)—black leather jackets, tight black tops, tiny black skirts and hot pants, black tights and nylons, and sky high black heels. I’ve always had a weak spot for all-female punk or rock bands, and when the Dum Dum Girls appeared they immediately became my prototypical all-female band, the one which perfectly captures every element required to check all the girl group boxes for me.

So, while their music is first and foremost what I’ll always love about them (and miss dearly since their disbandment), their staggeringly sexy aesthetic elevates them to absolute perfection for me. While hardly a household name, Kristin Gundred will always have a seat at the rock goddess table that resides in my head, right alongside Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde. Her deadpan facial expressions belied the impressive depth in her lyrics and also in her voice—sexy, soothing, and emotive, she could sing the phone book and I’ll listen intently.

Check out their music when you get a chance, and for now enjoy an abundance of astonishingly hot pictures, mostly of Dee Dee in action onstage. Her bandmates (the lineup changed a few times) are also incredibly photogenic, but it’s hard for me to pry my eyes off Dee Dee. I think you’ll quickly see why I’ve been harboring a not-so-little crush on her for the past fifteen years. Along with her appealing style and voice, it’s my personal connection to her best album that makes this crush extra special. In her grief, she helped me process my own grief. Her music saved my life.