Dream Nails’ mission extends outside of their music. “It will always be the case that we love writing banging tunes and playing shows, but our music is a vehicle for our politics,” Lucy says. “Without that, we don't see much point in doing what we're doing.”
That also involves making zines, which they’ve done to accompany each release. The current issue, which the band will be selling online and at shows, is a joint effort between Dream Nails and their fans, who had not heard the record when they contributed. The zine, organised around the theme 'time is a circle', contains the lyrics for Doom Loop along with articles, recipes and cartoons.
“People wrote about their family, concepts of queer time, how they were coming out [of] their own circles and finding release and revolution,” Anya says.
Dream Nails have also been bringing zines to new audiences, using their Arts Council England funding to host zine workshops for LGBTQ+ youth groups across the country. “It's been a lot of fun,” Lucy says. “Teenagers are really sassy.”
And they’ve also been doing workshops to empower young musicians. “Another branch of what is really important to us as a band is demystifying the music industry and helping tool up anybody who wants to be in a band and has something to say, just making them feel a bit more confident that they too can do it,” Lucy says.
Anya sums up the band’s outlook with, “We're just having a laugh and trying to change the world in any way that we can.”
“Queer punks are here,” Ishmael concludes. “Black punks are here. Trans punks are here. And we're just doing the thing that we love and want to do. Just back us, we back ourselves.”
Doom Loop is released on October 13 via Marshall