At 19 years old, Debsey Wykes stood in front of a sold-out crowd at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, her knees “literally knocking with fear”, as she puts it. It was the end of 1980 and Dolly Mixture were supporting the Jam for a second time, having piqued the interest of Paul Weller. Despite the shaky start, the teen trio made it through the set to appreciative applause. “Everyone is your friend when you support the Jam,” Wykes recalls in her new memoir, Teenage Daydream: We Are the Girls Who Play in a Band.
Dolly Mixture paired girl-group harmonies and pop sensibilities with scuffed-up combat boots and charity shop dresses. Their intricate arrangements remained playfully punk, displaying a songwriting craft well beyond their years. Although beloved by the Undertones and John Peel, as well as becoming the first group to release a single on Weller’s label, Respond, the band never found the success of many of their peers. “I think people were confused,” says Wykes. “One: we were girls, and girls often didn’t play in bands. And if you’re not dressed in jeans and leather, you must be crap and cute. There was no subtlety allowed.”
