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 You should probably have heard of McQueen by now. They've been flying around like lunatics in support of their debut album 'Break The Silence' which is about to be re-released as a special limited edition digipak. They've supported Wednesday 13, they played the Hyde Park Calling Festival that was headlined by Aerosmith, and right now they're preparing for a slot at the upcoming Hard Rock Hell Festival at Butlins Minehead in November.
We caught up with frontwoman Leah to find out more about the band, and where they're going.
Komodo Rock: For those that are new to McQueen, can you give us a little background on the band?
Leah
Duors (vocals): Sure, we met about three and a half years ago whilst
all playing in different bands in London. We kind of bumped in to each
other a few times and when my band dissolved I hooked up with Cat (de
Casanove – guitarist) and we wrote a couple of songs together. Cat knew
Hayley (Cramer – drums) and we stalked her until she agreed to come and
jam with us in the studio. We just wanted to get some songs together
and get out on the live circuit. Which we did and the rest is…
history!!!
How did the name come about?
LD: We had so
many fucking shocking names to begin with. We didn’t want to play with
the token female thing so we wanted a name that didn’t sound girlie or
about being girls. We wanted a strong, memorable name that symbolised
individuality. It just so happened, as fate would have it, on one
Sunday afternoon whilst hanging out and writing songs, that we were
watching a bit of TV and the “Great Escape” was on. I thought Steve
McQueen was the bollocks in that movie. I loved his character and the
fact that he didn’t follow the crowd, and that he was going his own way
and doing his own thing. Kind of like what we were doing. We don’t
follow trends, we write music we want to write so the name McQueen
seemed pretty fitting!!!
You released your debut album "Break The Silence" earlier this year. Can you tell us a little more about it?
LD
– Yeah, well we wrote the album but didn’t record it straight away. We
went out on the road and basically road tested the songs and gigged the
fuck out of them. We didn’t have a record deal at this point, though
our management were helping us to record songs in batches over the
period of a year. Joe Baresi (producer of Queens of the Stone Age and
Tool) contacted us after one of our songs was cover mounted on a
magazine. He wanted to work with us, so he came on board and mixed the
album as we recorded it. Our record deal only came about when we had
three songs left to record and Demolition came on board and supported
us in getting the album finished. We wanted the album to be raw,
energetic and really capture the live vibe we have when we’re out on
the road.
What was the idea behind the albums artwork?
LD
– Well we knew we had to find a cover for the album, we had this guy
who was helping us out and I was just fucking about in the studio one
day and I took a photo of my microphone and sent it to him. Cos at the
time we were looking for textures behind the McQueen logo. But it
looked kind of cool, plus the album is called “Break The Silence” so
having a microphone shoved in your face when you hold the album made it
relevant to me.
9 months on from its release, are you pleased with the way the album has been received?
LD
– I can’t tell you how fucking proud we are of our album and how it’s
been received. I mean we’ve had some great write ups and have had
genuine support from magazines, radios and websites. I mean, as I said
before we recorded the majority of the album ourselves and we’re not on
a major label. But we’ve sold around about 15,000 copies (so I’ve been
told) though as we were selling albums at shows it meant that they
weren’t accounted for like the record shop sales were. But we’re still
promoting it and it’s going to be re-released to coincide with our
Halloween Homecoming Tour starting 10th October.
 You've cut a video for the song "The Line Went Dead", can you tell us about that and the inspiration behind it?
LD
– What the video or the song? The song is about cutting old ties and
breaking free from old constraints and the people who shot our video
had this concept of all these wires hanging in a cold warehouse and us
being contained in this wire wall. They were such wicked people as well
and we were in this warehouse playing the song over and over and they
were just so cool and really into it. Though they had this carpenter
there who knocked together this wooden frame that me and the camera man
had to get in and the idea was that I was to swing him round and he was
to move with me. Though fuck!!! It was tricky in my fucking heels and
a couple of times we both nearly went flying, but it looked good.
You've just supported Aerosmith at the Hyde Park Calling Festival. How
did it go, and what was it like sharing the stage with such legendary
bands?
LD – Oh fuck!!! That was just such an awesome experience!!!
Though we didn’t share the same stage funnily enough… We were in the
tent which was great cos it was pissing it down the whole day, so we
got a great fucking crowd in there… But yeah, it was fucking wicked!!!!
You also played at Sweden Rock. How did that go?
LD – I
loved, loved, loved Sweden Rock!!! Again, we had such a great crowd!!!
That was fucking great, Aerosmith was there as well. Got to meet Skid
Row!!! I used to fucking LOVE Skid Row, they were really cool guys and
I got to watch the last part of their set!!! Youth Gone Wild!!!
Classic!!! But everyone at Sweden Rock was just so cool, we were even
interviewed by the drummer of Europe for a radio station out there, he
was great!!!
You supported Wednesday 13 on his recent UK
Tour. He's coming back again to do a "Fan Appreciation Tour", playing
small venues, among them the Borderline in London. Having shared the
stage at the Mean Fiddler, what do you think about the idea behind that?
LD – Wednesday is fucking cool!!! What can I say?!?
Your also lined up to play the Hard Rock Hell Festival later this year
with Twisted Sister and UFO among others. Are you looking forward to
it, and how did the slot come about?
 LD – Hard Rock Hell is gonna be
fucking amazing!!! Really can’t wait for that date. Yeah, Twisted
Sister and don’t forget the mighty Tesla!!! We played with Tesla at
Shepherds Bush Empire, and those guys are great guys!!!
Any chance we might see a McQueen UK Tour this year?
LD
– Yeah the Halloween Homecoming Tour starts 10th October at Manchester
Road House. See www.mcqueenmusic.com for dates or
www.myspace.com/mcqueen
You regard yourself as a touring
band, and have spent a lot of time on the road over the last couple of
years. Any particular highlights you'd like to share?
LD – Every day
on the road is a new and fucking amazing experience. I mean we’ve
played Vietnam, USA, all over Europe and the UK and everywhere we play
we have a fucking great time. This summer has been fucking amazing
though because we’ve played some amazing festivals in Europe such as
Rock Am Ring, Rock Im Park, Sweden Rock, Greenfields Festival in
Switzerland and Hurricane in Germany to name a few… Also Hyde Park was
great…
Given the chance, who would you like to tour with the most?
LD
– Well, in no particular order… I’d like to tour with Velvet Revolver,
Queens of The Stone Age, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, Black Label
Society, Foo Fighters, Trivium, Guns N Roses, Stone Sour, System of a
Down… That would be pretty fucking cool huh!!!
Put on the spot, which 3 bands have influenced the band the most?
LD
– I can only speak personally here cos there are three bands which are
really responsible for me pursuing a career in music and they are Guns
N Roses, Skid Row and Pantera cos I used to listen to them when I was a
kid... But as a band we are influenced by so many bands (like those
mentioned above) but also new bands that we play with too. Like Zuul FX
from France, they are fucking awesome and when we watched them in Paris
when we played a show together, they really inspired us. We’re always
checking out new bands though.
What's the biggest gig you've ever played?
LD
– It has to be when we headlined a Vietnam festival and played to
20,000 people… that was a stadium show and it was pretty fucking
riotous!!!
If you could put together your dream 3 band tour, who'd you pick?
LD
– Aaaaaaaaah!!!! I dunno… I can never answer this question!!!! Can they
be bought back from the afterlife??? For example: Elvis, The Doors
& Nirvana???? Ha, ha!!!
 What's the highest point of your career so far?
LD
– Talking to you of course!!! Ha, ha!!! I’d have to say every fucking
bit of our career is a highlight. There are so many bands out there
that work so fucking hard that to complain about anything we’ve done
would be fucking ignorant!!!! We’re truly grateful for all the
opportunities we have been given and to all of the people who have
supported us and continue to support and believe in us.
And the lowest?
LD
– Life is full of ups and downs and with every down you just get
stronger and more resourceful and you learn to appreciate the ups. I
guess that life is never easy when you have fuck all money and your
card is being declined when you are trying to buy a packet of
cigarettes… But you know, we could be getting paid to do a job we
really hate, working for a company we really hate, with people we
really hate, in a town we really hate and where there is fuck all to
do, wanting to be in a band traveling the world!!! So when you think
about it, we may have fuck all money but it’s worth every unearned
penny!!!
In 12 months time, where do you see the band being, and what will you be doing?
LD
– Hopefully, I’d like to think we would be financially a little more
comfortable as that would really fucking help!!! But regardless I
reckon we’ll be writing or recording or touring or something… It’s like
the never ending story!!! I’m sure whatever the fuck we are doing we’ll
be having fuckloads of fun. We just want to be bigger and better and
then bigger and better. We’re always pushing ourselves… So who knows…
we may write the McQueenian Rhapsody or something ha, ha!!! Or we may
end up in panto or selling chips on the pier… ha, ha!!! Who knows!!!
Other than yourselves, who do you rate as the best up and coming rock band out there?
LD – Oh fuck, I listen to so many different bands… I mean I love Zuul FX, The Zico Chain, Reuben… There’s a few for ya!!!
Can you let us know any important web links and where we can buy your CD's/Merchandise?
LD
– Yeah you can get the album on HMV online or in the store. Plus I
think Virgin are stocking it now. Or you can get it on Amazon.co.uk I
think… For merchandise, come to a show or go to www.mcqueenmusic.com or
www.myspace.com/mcqueen
A big thank you to Leah for taking the time to talk with us, and we're all looking forward to seeing her and McQueen on stage at Hard Rock Hell next month. Check out the band on myspace, and we'll bring you all the news, photos and more from Hard Rock Hell in November.
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