McQueen

Brighton’s McQueen are a vibrant all female punk rock act, who seem to have all the right ingredients to make a big impact on an all too bland music scene. They combine teasingly good looks and glamour with killer hooks and raw, edgy music.

After looking round the basement at Rock City, it was clear that despite the very little exposure this group have had they were certainly managing to get people interested. So much so that out of all of the other bands playing in rock city at the moment (Hundred Reasons to name one of them) McQueen have definitely managed to secure the biggest crowd.

Whilst this quartet belted out their energetic angst fuelled tunes, it was easy to spot that they have the same type of fury as the Distillers, the pure primal energy of Sonic Youth, as well as having that likable quality that the Foo Fighters have. McQueen could easily be the female equivalent of the Foo Fighters; they really are that good!!


Vocalist Leah Duors stalked the stage with total confidence and was able to keep the audiences attention throughout the entire set. For such a young group they have the style and attitude of groups that are masters of playing live, such as Bowie, and The Rolling Stones.

During the time that Leah was keeping the crowd mesmerised, pounding away at the back of the stage on her instrument was Hayley Cramer (Drums) who seemed to be hidden away from the view of the audience due to such a tiny stage. This is one example where even though Hayley wasn’t visible, she certainly made the crowd fully aware that she was playing with absolute force.

The other two band members Cat De Casanove (Guitars) and Hattie Williams (Bass) would occasionally step out from the shadows and come up to the front of the stage to do those classic rock poses with one leg arched on to one of the monitors at the front of the stage whilst head-banging.

With such a short set time, the band didn’t have chance to play the entire album, however they did manage to squeeze in some of the meaty, edgy, raw tracks from their album ‘Break The Silence,’ songs such as ‘Bitch’ and the track ‘Break The Silence’ sounded even more impressive live that they do on the album.

After the set had finished, the crowd just dispersed and most of them left the venue not even interested in catching any of the other bands playing. I think the last time I ever saw that happen was when Pixies supported Stereophonics and the crowd left immediately after Pixies had finished.

McQueen certainly look set to create a loyal following, and hopefully next time they play Rock City, it will be on the main stage and not the basement!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.