With Gwen Stefani off pursuing solo stardom, her No Doubt bandmates tentatively began working on new musical ideas in 2015 and found a natural kinship with Davey Havok, the front man of California emo rockers AFI. After meetings at vegan restaurants in West Hollywood and secret jam sessions, Havok sent song outlines to Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young and Dreamcar came together starting crafting a sound that came from '80s new wave pop and synth pop.
Despite already having a long-established fan base and 30 years of experience, they grew the band in a traditional, organic way, living together in an apartment and practising in a lo-fi rehearsal room before heading out to play small, sweaty club venues across Los Angeles. After releasing their first single 'Kill for Candy', their break-out performance was at the Coachella Festival in 2017 and their self-titled debut album followed shortly afterwards. With an uplifting, flamboyant spirit and big, new romantic melodies, it bared little resemblance to either the ska-pop of No Doubt or the hard rock of AFI, but was well-received by fans and drew comparisons to Duran Duran, David Bowie and Talk Talk.
