Music Q&A:
Haunted Hearts

Duo Dee Dee Penny (Dum Dum Girls) and Brandon Welchez (Crocodiles) may be husband and wife but that hasn’t stopped them finding a creative marriage in this dreamy indie side project. Welchez talks about their new album Initiation and their respective bands’ European tours this summer.

Is your musical partnership different to the way you operate in your bands?

I’m maybe more used to working as a duo because me and my Crocodiles compatriot Charles collaborate on the majority of what we do, whereas Dee Dee does Dum Dums herself. That being said, it was a pleasure and very easy to write these songs together. I think there has always been a mutual respect and influence taken from what the other one has been doing.

Has having your own label, Zoo Records, made you feel more confident about your place in the music industry?

The music business has been a pretty brutal place. I’ve had a lot of fun and have been able to do a lot of things I never would have been able to do otherwise, but I’ve definitely met plenty of scumbags along the way. I think it’s an interesting time to be a musician because the means of production are falling back into the hands of the people responsible for the actual creation.

Will you be performing Haunted Hearts material during the joint dates?

No. We won’t have time to rehearse anything properly as we’ll be too focused on our respective bands ahead of that tour. We will play eventually but we don’t want to rush it; we just want to make sure that when we play live it’s up to our standards and not some rush job.

Do you get more nervous about festival shows than your own?

No, I don’t sweat festivals at all. The bigger the crowd the less nervous I am typically. Plus most festivals have people doing everything for you: moving your gear, attending to your every need .

Do you ever look at the tour schedule and plan to do anything particularly touristy?

I love being in Europe but I’m always excited to see something new. I’ve never been to Northern Ireland, Hungary or Greece. Sometimes I do touristy stuff but I’m usually too hungover.