Queenie and I have been trying to make this interview happen for months and finally the stars (aka our busy schedules) aligned and we sat down for a good old chat!
It’s actually perfectly timed. Queenie’s had a busy start to the year with approximately 1 billion live shows*, the world’s had a peak at her new album Pleasance with singles Whirlwind, Pearl Necklaces and Vivid and the full album’s release is imminent (August 22nd) so there’s lots to talk about.
*honestly this is only a small exaggeration.
“Queenie is what my mum was going to call me before she decided on Eloise” she shares. Queenie grew up in Tassie/Lutruwita and when I ask her how she got into music she launches into possibly the greatest music origin story ever, which is pretty much “I played in rock bands from being nine years old”. But here’s the full story because she tells it way better:
“I think my musical journey started when I was like nine. So I grew up in a musical household, and there were always instruments around, and both my parents were itinerant music tutors, and there was this sick program in Launceston when I was a kid that my parents were tutors at. So it was like a rock music summer school and you were put in bands of people your age and for like 5 days, you’d learn 2 songs and then at the end of the week, you get on like a full stage with full production, full lighting, proper PA. People could come and watch and you’d put on like your cute little concert at the end of the week. And so I did that when I was like 9 and I was hooked like that I just knew that that’s what I wanted to do rest of my life.”
She continues, explaining that she then started playing in pubs when she was 15, laughing that “My mum would come with me and beat off the creepy old men with a bat”. And honestly if this whole story doesn’t scream ‘born in a small town in the 90s’ I don’t know what does.
Beyond this she graduated high school, moved to Melbourne and went through several musical iterations before Queenie was finally born, the product of a break up and lock down:
“We [Queenie and her boyfriend at the time] had a band called The Bo Shack, which was kind of swamp rocky stuff, which wrapped up in COVID times, and then we split up. And then I was obviously like sad and inspired and couldn’t go out and party and get litty and get my tits out, so… I had to write an album, didn’t I?” She laughs, before acknowledging more seriously that it was probably the healthiest way she could have processed the break up, and COVID lockdowns giving her the freedom to sit and write for long periods for the first time in her life was awesome.
She doubles back at this point to tell a story about the live music scene where she grew up. It’s clear she has no regrets about moving to Melbourne, but there was definitely something in her exposure to that small town music scene that set a fire in her and hearing her talk about both her childhood rock band summers and seeing sold out live music venues mid-week in Launceston you can see where her spark for performing live began.
“That’s where I get all of my dopamine” she confesses when I ask about the many live shows she’s done. I asked which shows she’d enjoyed the most. Her first answer is a surprising one:
“RockKwiz” she declares “which, it’s obviously sort of in a different setting and I just had the best time. I think it fully just made me feel like a celebrity and everyone is just the best, loveliest, kindest, most supportive and encouraging.”
“And so that was like a really pivotal moment, I think, where I could actually sit back and be like, Fuck yeah. That was amazing and it was so validating for me.”
She does give a more unsurprising favourite:
“Riverboats was a really fun festival. I think that, again, was one of those pinch me moments. The reaction from the crowd was beautiful. The show went really well.”
As well as a desire to perform, the other thing those early days in Tassie seemed to instil into Queenie was a desire to collaborate.
“Because I was playing in band when I was so young, I loved the collaborative writing process. I loved sitting in there and going in trying to write a song with my band and arguing over stuff and then getting really excited over stuff and then being like, no, that fucking sucked me and changed that. And the whole process of it, I think was so exciting and beneficial for my brain and developing my writing skills.”
For Queenie, a huge part of that collaborative process is drawing on others’ skills. “My songs are gonna be so boring if it’s just me” (I interrupt to tell her that’s not true) “it would be like the same fucking combination of 5 chords” she insists.
She is, of course, exaggerating, but it’s that impact from others that she truly values, whether that’s the literal impact of playing an instrument on a song or something a little less tangible. She brings up her recent collaboration with Henry Wagons as an example. “We’re like the best of friends now. I’ve got another friend and another writer and another person whose opinion I respect and trust so much.” And sometimes it’s as simple as just having someone you can hit up with a ‘what do you think of this song?’”.
While we’re on the topic of song writing I ask her what she’s happy to share about upcoming album Pleasance.
“I think the interesting part of Pleasance is it’s my 2nd album, and my 1st album, which I think is the same for a lot of artists, was an amalgamation of songs from quite a broad time period made into this sort of cohesive little project, whereas with Pleasance, I’ve sat myself down and given myself a deadline, which I’d never done before, and been like, you are gonna write another album and you’re going to do it in 2 months.”
“And I did, and I wrote one, two, three, maybe 4 songs a week. And some of them sucked, obviously. Some of them got started and never finished, as is the toils of being a writer. But they were all written in this kind of small time period, and so they felt a lot more cohesive.”
This is reflective of her whole attitude to this album release. She’s built a strong team around her to help her realise her vision and the whole approach is more refined, perhaps more strategic this time around.
She delves into recent single Vivid, one of her favourites on the album and one which in many ways sums up a lot of the themes of Pleasance.
“it was like a new chapter of my life and Vivid especially was about me finally coming to land after a lot of the things that I talked about in my 1st album, you know: a classic relationship breakup, childhood trauma, et cetera, et cetera. That was like me throwing out to the world all of my shortcomings, my problems, my feelings, my emotions, and then I think this time around, it was more about rounding out my whole life because I’d come to a place where I felt safe and stable and in control, and I know who I am.”
“I think Vivid is about me hoping that it stays like that and that it’s not just a big, vivid dream. I’m not going to wake up and go back to doom and gloom and toil and trouble, and also me reconciling with the fact that my life has changed so much and I feel like I’ve lived a 1000 lifetimes and this one feels like the right one. I guess it’s that whole thing of safety that all of us seek throughout our lives and when you get it, for a long time, you’re worried that it’s going to disappear.”
I’ve been lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the album. I’ve promised not to give too much away but it’s such a good record and I’m excited for the world to hear it. I think the singles give a good taste as to what to expect from the rest of the album, and I there are a couple of unreleased songs that are even better than the songs we’ve heard so far.
As we’re discussing the album the conversation drifts into the expense of making a record and the general financial challenges of being a working musician. I ask how we fix it, expecting full cynicism, but Queenie’s answer was surprisingly balanced:
“It’s hard. I think that it needs to come from so high up and the people that it needs to come from are the people who are gonna make less money. I think it needs a huge overhaul. I must say, I do love that they are slowly, slowly chipping away at those really old school dinosaur ways of thinking and doing things.
And more opportunities are being presented for First Nations artists, black artists, queer artists, disabled artists, females and I think that part of the industry is slowly but truly shifting, which is amazing, but there’s a lot of work left to do”.
Zoom then disconnects us.
When we reconnect I suddenly remember I wanted to ask her about the “sounds like: Radiohead” on her Triple J profile as it’s not a band that jumps into my head when I listen to Queenie. Anyway, after agreeing she probably doesn’t really sound that much like Radiohead most of the time, we get into the more general issue of labels as an artist:
“You know, I’ve been labelled as a country artist when, If you go back and listen, none of my music’s really country. Like it has guitar but it’s not country country. I think that was just the easiest umbrella to put above what I was doing because I was like girl with a guitar and wore a cowboy hat one time and talk about my feelings.” She knows there’s some contexts where the labels matter, like trying to get radio play for instance, but ultimately she shares:
“I love for people to just say, sounds like Queenie and just listen and use their little ear holes for five seconds”.
We further bemoan some of the many issues in the industry and conclude the easiest path forward is for her to be a one hit wonder and go and live in the hills with ducks and goats and her cat!
While the dream about the goats is perhaps real, Queenie is, of course, not destined to be a one hit wonder. The serious side of her is too passionate about this, it’s too much a part of who she is and while she’s definitely keen to be more pragmatic with album number two, you can hear how much it means to her.
“ultimately what I want is everyone, every single person, the entire world to hear Queenie songs” and I think THAT’s the real dream.
Her sound has definitely evolved from New Moult to Pleasance and I struggle to put my finger on exactly why. I thought her writing was more personal this time around, Queenie says it isn’t. I thought maybe I just connected to it more because that sense of fragility of stability is definitely something that echoes around my mind, and then she shares this, which hits:
“I think I’ve spoken a lot more literally in these songs. I think that’s probably what it is. And like I said, I’m way more comfortable in who I am, and I think I know what I want from life, and I know what I want from music, and I know, where my life trajectory is headed”. It’s also written with a sense of calm, it’s not channelling heartache or therapeutising childhood trauma. If New Moult emerged from an outpouring of emotion and everything falling apart, Pleasance is the antithesis of this. It’s emerged from a place of safety and security that you can feel whether that’s in the tongue in cheek confidence of Pearl Necklaces or the gentle vulnerability of Vivid.
I’m also curious if it’s a feminist album, (although honestly that feels reductive).
“I mean, I’m a raging feminist so there’s always gonna be elements of that, can’t escape it, you know? I’ve always got to have a little dig in there.” There’s the more obvious elements, like Pearl Necklaces which Queenie’s describes as “ a big old dig at, like, shitty dudes”, but there’s a more subtle undertone too. The interwoven nature of misogyny and religion that’s alluded to in the same track or Queenie’s experiences as a queer woman. I still think my take is reductive but it’s nice to know there was an intent for that to be a part of the narrative.
As she brought it up, I ask Queenie a little more about her experiences as a queer woman. She first tells me a little about this interview with Jimmy The Kween, where they have this incredible discussion about being queer. Then she adds the following:
“Being visibly queer is so important for young people. And young artists because as kids, not necessarily having those sort of mid-range idols to look up to and thinking that, if they can do it, I can do it.
And having that community to relate to and be like, maybe for someone who can’t openly engage in the queer community, at least they can listen to music from queer artists and feel like they’re a part of something. And I think that that’s such a huge part of it for me as well being open about it.”
“And also, it’s a great way to filter fuckwits” she adds, before Zoom disconnects us again.
I did have one final question, I wanted Queenie to share a few of her favourite artists that she thinks deserve some more love. And she came up with quite the list:
Full Flower Moon Band
Maggie Alley
Milly Strange
Jeane
The Terrifying Lows
Super Free
Sasha Summers
Maple Glider
Coffin
Bumpy
Frenzee
Goldminds
Merpire
Emily Wurramara
(I also need to add here that she claimed to have “forgotten every band that ever existed” and shared that “she has so many talented friends” so please don’t take it personally if she missed anyone because I put her on the spot!)
Pleasance comes out on 22nd August and you can presave/preorder that here.