Evelyn Kutschera and I found ourselves in a still empty foyer in front of a small stage at the Gaswerk Kulturzentrum, her preparing her cameras and me just enjoying my Club Mate. A little while later, Tupfen, an indie band from Zurich, came on stage to set up their instruments for the show. We didn’t have to wait much longer for them to kick off the night with beautiful guitar playing from Simon on lead guitar and singer Janic. Their sound was carried by Marie’s smooth basslines and Rahel’s steady drumming.
The place slowly filled up, and people stepped a little closer to witness Tupfen’s first-ever performance. Even though singer Janic claimed they were nervous, I doubt the audience even noticed. Everyone seemed to be wrapped up in the band’s sympathetic and harmonic presence. Their sound ranged from peppy to slower songs with emotional lyrics in German. I think everyone present would agree that their first performance was a success.
Dream Nails, a punk/riot grrrl band from London, came on with great energy, telling everyone right off the bat to leave any negative things that’s been going on in their lives at the door. Which seemed to work, at least for me. Maybe it also had something to do with the portal-opening horseshoe ritual or something. Who knows.
With their new album You Wish, Dream Nails thematise the fear of technology and AI taking over, prevalent in the song Organoid, for example, as well as the state of the world and counteracting that by being weird, heard in their song This Is Water.
I find that Dream Nails made everyone feel safe and like they belonged at their concert. Still, them being a punk band, there was some righteous rage, especially during their song Kiss My Fist, which embodies LGBTQ+ people being fed up with the hate crimes against them when they’re just trying to live their lives in peace.
Mimi on vocals and bass, Anya on guitar, Lucy on drums, and Alex, who supported the band on guitar and keyboards, harmonised perfectly with each other. Plus, those basslines were nice and heavy, which sounded awesome.
Towards the end of the show, the band talked about art as a form of resistance and encouraged the audience members to start their own bands. So don’t mind me—I know what I gotta go do, and perhaps you felt a little of that inspiration yourself.
