January 2021

Where are you currently based?

Melbourne

What’s been happening recently and how has your Covid experience been so far?

Akaysha: 2020 was an absolute write off, I feel like I literally stared out the window for 8 months. Did manage to cook up some pretty good food.

Hannah: I reincarnated and became Hai Priestess.. the cocoon was pretty dark for a while there.

Sal: I mixed herbal teas and sent them to my family and friends (sorry family and friends). I also wrote some terrible apocalyptic songs and talked to my greyhound (a lot).

How and why did Queens of Club form?

Akaysha: Our periods all synced & Mercury was in retrograde.

Hannah: The planets aligned in all seriousness, it just clicked. It feels like we were meant to meet each other, and the first time we hung out it just made so much sense. Initially it was just three female producers coming together to hang out, share ideas and support each others work in a male dominated field – but naturally we started chopping up and adding to each others songs. Queens of Club was born out of play.

Sal: all the above

What are your musical backgrounds?

Akaysha: I started learning piano, guitar and drums as a kid, I always wanted to start a band but could never find anyone. Around 14 I started making electronic music & Djing as it was something I could do solo. I released a lot of electro house under Kaysh then evolved into more downtempo electronica as Ok Sure. 20 years later I have finally managed to start that band!

Hannah: I learned piano and guitar and began playing folk music shows at around 15, I was never an amazing musician, but loved songwriting, construction and performing. I always wanted to be in a band and it wasn’t until I was 26 when I formed Bonnie Doom and Pow Pow Kids, I spent a number of years playing around town. I loved the production side of things, and after we recorded albums for both those bands and I got an insight into recording, I started to get the itch to produce myself. I released a solo album that I wrote and produced in 48 hours called Bonnie The Kid – Xanadu, and from there I was hooked and developed as the producer Syntax/Semantics for some years to reach my final incarnation Hai Priestess in Queens of Club.

Sal: I started with jazz and classical piano, and dabbled with electronic music software in my early teens. My mum made me take opera lessons (why?!) so for a while there I was singing dramatic operatic German pieces after school with an unnecessarily strict teacher – maybe one day I’ll tap into that (Queens, consider yourselves warned).

How did your track ‘Bones’ come about?

Akaysha: This was one of my old songs back from 2015 that was never officially released, the girls had some ideas and it evolved to what you hear today.

Sal: I fell in love with Akaysha’s original version of Bones and needed more it in my life.

How did you go about writing the track?

Akaysha: Sal took my original version and added more lyrics, a proper hook & rearranged it, all skills that I lack in songwriting, if I’m left to my own devices I’d probably be stuck in an instrumental loop for 5 hours.

Hannah: I didn’t have much to do with this one except tell them it was a banger and a bit of “woo woo” high vocals.

Sal: For a few weeks, I listened to Akaysha’s version obsessively every time I did the dishes, singing new ideas for it as I went. The dishes weren’t cleaned well, but I’m very happy with this version of Bones and that’s more important.

Where and when did you record/produce/master and what equipment did you use?

Akaysha: I started recording this 6 years ago, I can’t remember what gear I used, probably all soft synths, I don’t use a lot of hardware. All produced, mixed and mastered in my bedroom studio.

Sal: ALL the magic happens in Akaysha’s bedroom studio.

What did you find most challenging and rewarding during the creation process?

Akaysha: As I said I have a habit of getting stuck in an instrumental loop. Sal and Hannah are more in tune with vocals & arranging & catchy hooks so it’s great to collab with them, they breathe new life into all the half finished stuff I have lying around. Obviously there are always a few creative differences but nothing major and we can generally all agree on a final outcome.

Hannah: The most rewarding thing is getting to hang out and be creative with close friends, it’s just super fun.

Sal: I respectfully agree with my Queens.

You are very much a sensory live act with the use of costumes, visuals/audio – how did this come to be?

Akaysha: We wanted Queens Of Club to be just as much of a visual experience as an audio one. Instead of us all standing behind computers we thought putting placemats on our heads and dancing around would be way more interesting.

Hannah: It’s a natural evolution for us, we all love dress-ups, costume, theatre… all kinds of art forms. This is a playground for us where we throw ideas around and see what sticks and what doesn’t, and there’s some wacky shit in those minds of ours. We are so different, yet so complementary and so because QOC is so authentically who we are when we come together it’s a natural unfolding – we don’t look at or listen to others and try to copy or follow trends. We’re just being creative with the things, sounds, looks, ideas we like.

Sal: because Akaysha cannot stop herself from attaching homewares to her person.

How do the costume, visuals and audio creatives for the live show come about?

Akaysha: A lot of hot glue guns, trips to the Kmart homewares section and tassels were involved.

Hannah: We are very DIY, and between us we have some pretty random skills so we manage to make it all ourselves (so far – but we’d love to collaborate). We share images, videos, anything really that catches our eye and is inspiring, and pretty quickly the visual elements just started to come together – it’s a very strong vision and we somehow could see what the others were seeing too. We wanted to create an entire world and experience.. It’s so boring standing around watching people with egos play their instruments. We wanted to remove the ego, and make it about the audience.. not us.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Akaysha: Louis Theroux’s podcast ‘Grounded’

Hannah: Shamanic Visioning by Sandra Ingerman Audiobook and In Too Deep Podcast by Jack Rowland

Sal: Judge me if you must –  A 10 hour playlist of Gregorian chants (it’s my new must-focus music). Other music-wise, I’ve been listening to “Tipper” (Gulch is my favourite track) and “HAAi”. My enduring faves are the album “Thora Vukk” by Robag Wruhme, and anything electronic that involves mallet percussion or grainy, crunchy bits.

What do you like to do away from music?

Akaysha: I’m a big foodie, I do a lot of visual art, I also have a major wig obsession.

Hannah: I run a start-up called The Local Green Pages which is a free local directory for Creative & Sustainable people. I also work in Social Change, so am a passionate Social Entrepreneur.

Sal: At the moment, I fan-girl Ryan Shelton, read my greyhound bedtime stories and dance.

What’s planned for 2021?

Akaysha: I think I better freeze my eggs.

Hannah: Lots of Queens of Club, releasing new music, we’re planning a clip for our next single at the moment so bringing all those pieces together.

Sal: all the above. I have some solo music to finish and release this year (like the other Queens).

Favourite food and place to hangout?

Akaysha: The 10 course degustation menu at some fancy restaurant

Hannah: Kaysh’s balcony and fancy Uber Eats

Sal: 10 course unfancy Japanese, potentially on Akaysha’s balcony

LISTEN TO Bones: https://snd.click/QoCBones

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