Interview: Dick Move Speak About Their New Album 'Dream, Believe, Achieve'

Today is officially Dick Move Day in Aotearoa New Zealand. The hugely popular, hard-gigging Tāmaki Makarau punks have launched their third album Dream, Believe, Achieve via 1:12 Records and Flying Nun Records, tying a ribbon on a phenomenal two years which has seen them support Foo Fighters and Amyl & The Sniffers and regularly tour abroad. Produced by Peter Ruddell and engineered by De Stevens, the team of Lucy Suttor, Lulu Macrae, Hariet Ellis, Justin Rendell and Luke Boyes are toasting their fiery new collection of protest anthems with a nationwide tour starting tonight at their hometown hub Double Whammy, with Ruddell's group Sulfate supporting.

Grip the physical edition of Dream, Believe, Achieve from good record stores / at the gigs, watch the brand new video for 'Shut Your Mouth' directed by guitarist Ellis and made with support from NZ On Air, and read onwards for our illuminating chinwag with lead singer Suttor...

Dick Move - Dream Believe Achieve - Album Tour

Friday 14th November – Double Whammy, Auckland w/ Sulfate, Buzz, CCTV
Saturday 15th November – The Yard, Raglan
Sunday 16th November – Under the Bridge, Tauranga (all ages)
Friday 21st November – Space Academy, Christchurch
Saturday 22nd November – Yours, Dunedin (all ages)
Saturday 22nd November – Pearl Diver, Dunedin
Friday 28th November – San Fran, Wellington
Friday 5th December – Western Springs Garden Community Hall, Auckland (all ages)
Saturday 6th December – Beer and Loathing, Whangārei

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Chris Cudby: Congratulations on the new record. Three albums in five years, prolific! Dick Move have achieved a bloody lot over the past two years — overseas tours, high profile support slots and a non-stop gigging schedule, all on top of your day jobs. How did you squeeze in the time + find the motivation to also write and record thirteen new songs?

Lucy Suttor: Thanks! The motivation is easy, we just really love playing shows and we love writing albums. Not to mention the insane amount of bullshit happening in the world and here in Aotearoa at the moment lending itself perfectly to writing punk songs. Finding the time is much trickier; we have a fairly rigorous training schedule (weekly band practice) that we are very dedicated to, where we get all the writing and workshopping of new stuff done. Usually we spend a year writing and touring new songs, making the last 2 albums a true record of the years' work. Whereas this time we were under a bit more time pressure, planning our second European tour and having booked in some recording sessions at Roundhead, so we found ourselves actually writing a few songs in the room which was a new fun and exciting (stressful and frustrating) experience for us, and also recording songs we had never played live. But! Working outside your comfort zone is always fruitful, and we are very happy with how it came out. Engineer De Stevens and producer Peter Ruddell were a dream team to work with too.

Dream, Believe, Achieve speaks directly to the experience of living in Aotearoa in 2025 — confronting the political realities of our dismal current right wing regime alongside more broader, everyday reflections. Is there any specific song you reckon cuts to the heart of Dream, Believe, Achieve?

'Nurses'. Not just because it literally has the words "Dream, Believe, Achieve" in the chorus, but it's also a direct commentary on where we are right now politically as a nation, what the coalition government has done in the way of under-funding, under-resourcing and completely ignoring the cries of the workers in those affected frontline services that are the backbone of our society, and also the empowering response embodied by the people — uniting, mobilising and enforcing industrial action. There is a nod to a year full of protest in this song, “we’re making the bridge shake” is a reference to the Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi over the Harbour Bridge, which swayed like crazy under the mass of marchers crossing it. This, alongside the incredible strike action by the united unions of healthcare workers, educators and fire fighters feels big and exciting and should fill us with fire and hope. The actual phrase "Dream, Believe, Achieve” also came from a piece of naff inspirational bach-art in an Ōtautahi Airbnb we stayed at on our first tour in 2020, so that's pretty funny.

'Nurses' is a personal one, as you're a nurse yourself. Have you had any reactions from / conversations with your workmates about that song?

I am almost a nurse — one year to go! And here’s hoping we vote the bastards out next year and I can get a full-time job when I graduate! I’ve had lots of conversations about it with fellow students, most of whom just think it's buzzy that I am in a band, but the vibe on the campus is shared. Everyone is worried about what's going to happen when we graduate, with most of the cohort already planning on making the move to Australia. I am a member of the NZNO (NZ Nurses Organisation) and a rep reached out to us wanting to collab after the song was released, which was a worlds-colliding dream for me. Unfortunately we were en route to Europe at the time so timings were not in our favour, but who knows, maybe in the future.

'Up The Bus' has the chorus "Thank you driver" which I really appreciate — it annoys the hell out of me when people don't thank the bus driver! It's a tough job with insulting pay, show the driver some respect. What sparked that song? Is the 866 your favourite bus?

Respect the drivers! The 866 is my favourite bus. There was debate about this as there are arguably much more iconic bus routes in Tāmaki, but I have taken this bus to uni over the last 2 years, and man, watching the sun rise behind Rangitoto and spilling over the sea and city as you’re crossing the Harbour Bridge? Bloody gorgeous. Very quickly became my favourite part of the day. I also love watching Karangahape and Ponsonby Road at 7am, lots of people drinking coffee and walking dogs, it’s real nice. We thought it would be funny to write a huge shreddy punk rock song about the bus, as they are more commonly written about motorbikes and fast cars and masc stuff like that. Up the bus! We love public transport!

This is the last Dick Move tour for drummer Luke Boyes! What qualities do you feel Luke brought to Dick Move?

Sadly, yes! He just felt that after 6 huge and hundys as years his time with the band had come to an end. He’s brought so much to Dick Move, he’s always been an incredible drummer, who packs more insane fills into a 2-minute song than considered humanly possible, but I think it is really showcased in this latest album, the drums are absolutely stonking. He’s also just been such an integral part of our band of 5 mates. If he was a limb I guess he would be the right foot, and we will miss him telling stories at pracco and on stage and in the van, a lot. But he's not going anywhere really, he will still be around watching shows at Whammy and telling stories.

How's it been working with producer Peter Ruddell on three Dick Move albums now?

It's been so great. It’s a real treat to work with someone for such an extended period of time because he just knows us so well, and gets what we are trying to do, so communication is solid and we feel comfortable bing-bonging ideas off one another. Peter has an incredible ear, and is a very good director, and he gets the best out of us because we want to impress him, haha. He was also a very much needed calm and productive presence when we were pulling our hair out and crying (just me) trying to write songs in the studio.

Did you have any conversations with Yolanda Fagan about what you wanted for the cover artwork?

We basically briefed Yolanda with "women, workers and a fist clutching a set of keys" and some random Soviet style images, and voila! She took it in a very cool direction that we couldn’t have ever come up with ourselves, and we love it.

What's your favourite Dick Move show you've played since Wet came out?

Very tricky as I feel like we have played 5000 shows since then, but one that always sticks out to me was at Yours in Ōtepoti 2023. The crowd just really turn it out down there, so we are very excited to go back on the 22nd of this month! That and probably the last night of our recent Europe tour in Berlin, our buds Gussie and Ezra (Earth Tongue) were there and I got to smoke on stage and do my first stage dive.

What can punters look forward to at your upcoming release show gigs + what's on the horizon for Dick Move this summer?

The usual good fun sweaty high octane twenty-something songs in 45 mins, with the addition of some old bangerz in there to really make Luke work hard on his last tour! We are super proud of this album and can’t wait to share it with yas. We’ve got some fun festivals lined up, including CubaDupa and Splore, and we are heading over to Aus too. But first things first! Whip around NZ over the next 4 weeks! See you at the gig!!

'Dream, Believe, Achieve' is out today on major streaming platforms.