Buzzing out of Cumbernauld are four piece Queen Jane, who put out their 'Denver' EP last month. The indie-pop sensations are fresh sounding and are taking their beats out on the road with shows planned for the coming months. Did we say gigs? No, we said shows, but still...
I'm super stocked to say that Queen Jane will be playing the maiden Scottish Fiction Presents gig on June 17th. Find out more about that here.
Hello, how are you?
Hello Neil. I’m pretty good thanks. Stuff has been pretty chilled as of late. Life was pretty hectic before the EP launch but now that’s by I can spend my nights drinking tea and chilling with the cat as opposed to making up CD cases with Craig and his mum or pestering people on Facebook about the gig.
It's the question everyone hates, but could you tell us a little bit about your music and your influences?
We’re your typical ‘guitar band’. Two guitars, bass and a drummer. We describe ourselves as guitar pop with some heavier vibes. Bands like The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club are influential in regards to our guitar sounds but we have some folky elements in there and also the addition of keys on our newer stuff. Born Ruffians are quite influential in regards to vocals, hitting the high notes and all that jazz! Bands that influence me personally are bands like Fugazi and that’s down to their approach to music more than their actual sound. They make me want to be in a band and make music. The hardcore D.I.Y ethos can be applied to anything and any type of music.
What's your song writing process like?
Our song writing process changed when working on the last EP. Before, I used to come up with an idea and go to the rest of the band with it fully evolved. Trying to get my whole idea across when we were paying £10 an hour to practice was never good for creativity. Now I come up with a basic idea for a song and take it to Harv and Mark and we build on it in a more relaxed environment. Then we’ll jam about and Craig is always super quick at coming up with drum parts. Since Craig usually hears the idea last he is good for pointing out bits we can work on which is a good way to work. It’s like a system of quality checks, sort of like a Toyota factory or something.
What could we expect to see from a live show?
A bit of everything really. We usually start our sets with some up-beat numbers. Then play some of the slower ones as folk will usually be paying attention by then. We always like to end with a big build up and a reverby overdriven explosion. We put a lot more energy into shows now, a lot of heart. Hopefully that comes across to the people watching it.
If it were all to end tomorrow, what would you say has been your greatest achievement?
Playing King Tuts last summer was massive for us. We were all insanely stoked to be playing such an iconic venue. We’re coming up for our third support slot at Tuts now in less than a year. Putting out a record we’re proud of as well, that is a sort of ‘lasting’ achievement. We’re definitely proud of ‘Denver’. I’m just proud that we’ve lasted this long as we started messing about in school and the fact it’s evolved into what it is now with the same people is something I’d never have expected.
What have you got planned for 2012?
We’re supporting King Charles in March, we’re stoked on that. Hopefully we can land some more decent support slots this year. We also plan on putting on some more shows around Glasgow with bands that we like. We’re tired of being conned by promoters and really enjoy putting on our own shows with bands we really enjoy watching play. The support we get when going at it alone is so much better so we really appreciate that. Hopefully we can do a mini tour in summer, see some new places and play to some new crowds. Then we’re going to hit the studio in autumn to work on a mini album which will hopefully be released in winter. But for now we just want to play as many live shows and promote the new EP.
At Scottish Fiction we focus on new Scottish music, how do you as a band view the Scottish music 'scene'?
I can only really speak for the Glasgow scene but that alone is amazing. There are so many good bands, artists, venues, club nights, bloggers and small labels. For example you can go to Subclub on a Wednesday night and get blasted with the best dance music around. Or you could go to Milk at Flat 0/1 a few blocks up and witness some great live independent music, some weeks it’s electro other weeks it’s hardcore. There is so much variety in Glasgow, it’s very healthy for music. I love the way a lot of bands know each other and big each other up. It’s a really positive vibe. You get the odd bit of bearded folk standing looking cool at shows when really they should be dancing but you get that everywhere I suppose.
What other Scottish artists would you recommend to the Scottish Fiction readers?
From our neck of the woods there is a band called Campfires In Winter. They are always our first choice when we are putting on a show. A great mix of folk and post rock and they are great guys. So Many Animal Calls are friends of ours and they are doing really well just now. They are also on Glasgow based label, Overlook with a band called Salo. Salo are heaviness at its best. I’ve been really into Carnivores recently. Their last show at Milk put my faith back into going to small shows. They are definitely the best live band in Scotland just now!
Thanks for speaking with us, would you care to share a joke with us?
‘I went to a fish disco last week. I pulled a muscle.’ It’s terrible I know. Someone prank called me last week and told that joke. I found out who it was and I’m going to phone them at 2am playing the Liam Neeson ‘I will find you and I will kill you’ speech down the phone. That’ll teach them!
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