South London's THE QUEEN’S HEAD Explore Male Rage on Danceable, Exhilarating New Single/Video ‘HELL’ / 'Titanic' EP (8 July)
“This is SO good.” Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1
“A grand display of confrontational danceability.” So Young
“Unafraid, unapologetic, daring.” CLASH
“Growling doom funk.” The Evening Standard
“Wonky, dub-heavy joy.” The New Cue
London's THE QUEEN’S HEAD Explore Male Rage on
Exhilarating New Single ‘HELL’
From Titanic EP out 8 July
WATCH ‘HELL' VIDEO BELOW
DIGITAL STREAMNG PLATFORMS HERE
The Queen’s Head are Eleanna Amias (synth), Tom Butler (vocals, bass),
Robbie Cottom (keys), Joel Douglas (vocals, guitar) and George Thompson (drums).
‘Hell’ is the fractured, exhilarating second single taken from London band The Queen’s Head’s new Titanic EP (following 8 July), and is described by Joel Douglas the band as the EP’s “melodramatic ‘villain number,’” complete with unsettling death metal style vocals opening the song before a rush of danceable indie/art/math/noise-rock chaos kicks in. It’s essentially a sonic interpretation of male rage. “It’s a pure and evil admission of those desires we try to keep locked in the cupboard” expands Tom. “The desire to control, the desire to harm others, the desire to harm oneself through self-pity, that very male feeling of anger at everything and nothing, at the same time.”
Joel’s vocals in ‘Hell’ are described by the band as “manipulative, tyrannical and self-obsessed” so it seemed befitting to cast him as the malevolent leader in the video. His character is based on Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the mass-suicidal Heaven’s Gate cult. “In the video he psychically coerces the other band members into performing an unhinged three-minute-pop-song” explain the band. The video’s drastic, highly saturated and quick-moving cuts match the song's sense of anxiety, with the band becoming spellbound by the rhythms which Joel, as Applewhite, conducts. “The video ends with the band portrait, chanting Joel's words in uniform, like some terrible, possessed, horror-film family. An experience closer to reality than we're often comfortable to admit" adds Tom.
The Queen’s Head have been lauded for their ambitious idiosyncratic ‘pop’ sound. The five-piece, led by childhood friends and co-frontmen/songwriters Joel Douglass and Tom Butler, explore the sonic spaces in-between genres, traversing pop, post-punk, post-rock, new-wave, disco, and spoken word, with their songs anchored by intriguing lyrical narratives that weave the personal and the conceptual.
On the new Titanic EP we see a darker edge sonically, with the band citing Death Grips, Talking Heads, 100gecs and Wagna as influences, and in the subject matter which tells the story of Tom’s and Joel’s respective relationships to suicide – exploring subjects such as debilitating depression, failure to oneself, failure to others, the loss of loved ones - whilst enveloping a listener in a musical creation which dares you to keep your heads nodding, your toes tapping, whilst you explore the deepest recesses of your psyche. It is a vital listen, at times unsettling but always captivating.
The Queen’s Head has garnered a dedicated fanbase over a string of early singles (including a 7” ‘Your God Owes Your Money’ on Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label) - leading to their debut Haunt EP (2022) - and from playing the best underground venues in their London hometown including a residency at the infamous Windmill, Brixton. They’ve been championed by BBC R1’s Jack Saunders (who interviewed the band after being anointed his ‘Next Wave’), with plays from Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq and Amy Lane at 6 Music, and support also from Amazing Radio and BBC Introducing. At press they’ve had love from Dork, NME, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, The New Cue, Evening Standard - among many others, as well as countless Spotify playlist inclusions.
The Queen’s Head’s Titanic EP was recorded with Andy Savours (Black Country, New Road, My Bloody Valentine, Goldfrapp, Do Nothing) and is released on 8 July. The single ‘Hell’ is out today and available on all digital streaming platforms.
Pre-save Titanic EP here.
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