HERSTORY | queenofuncool2020

In 2023...

Over 10 years of being a queer, neuro-divergent, alternative music maker has mostly ended in rejection, but when you know you don't fit in, at some point you must embrace it, and so (hailed by film director Cameron Crowe) Queen of Uncool claims this dubious honour.

Currently gigging as a power-duo with one drummer- Jimmy Lynch (@mental_gilly on IG) with boombastic energy, QOU* has been a on a long rocky road to get here.
It was bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Tool that provided the sonic stamina to keep performing (Camden Rocks/Hope & Anchor-London, Komedia-Brighton, Hard Rock Café-Seattle), producing (Winter/Girl Outside/Love & War) and writing in the dark recesses of the world for so long, without recognition.

Now the Uncool are beginning to find a tribe. Following the release of Love & War, the band have been playing the songs that document love, rage and heavy battles with homelessness, abuse and mental health around London since 2021. There’s nothing fake about these songs and it’s this unfiltered expression that makes QOU* stand out as a real artist, with a fuck-you-i-won't-do-what-you-tell-me attitude.
Connecting with fans through their stories of heartache and trauma has become the way in which QOU* can be assured that the music they set out to share is fulfilling it's purpose- to provide a safe space for those that need it, in the times when no one and nothing else can reach them.

Anyone looking for a place to vent their passion, their unhealed pain, or just somewhere to call home- will find a fully furnished nest just for outsiders with Queen of Uncool.

(click for accolades).

Backstory:

When south London's finest riot grrrl influenced three piece, "Judy Fights Back" broke up in 2008, Queen of Uncool was born, a highly reluctant solo artist. Some introspection resulted in two dark, acoustic EPs; Two Sides of Summer and Winter.
The seasonal influenced EPs showcase good and bad times, through songs like Sky - written about embracing sunlight and love and Tighter - written about being without any light inside an ICU. The EP's feature Richard Sadler on double bass (Neil Cowley Trio), Dan See on drums (Jamie Woon) and Dan Gulino on bass guitar (Marina and the Diamonds).

After a sell out EP launch for Winter, Queen of Uncool walked away from playing live for some time, “I didn't have a reason. I didn't feel the validation others felt. I didn't know what it meant to me."

But a trip to Seattle in 2009 changed that. "I felt like I’d found my people, my community. I felt more at home there than I ever did in London. London is always about what’s cool. Seattle has a massive DIY scene and a come-as-you-are attitude, it was the grunge capital for a reason. I made some new friends, I learnt things, I played again and I wanted to play again”.

A brief stint in a Seattle band failed to take off and QOU* was back in London, answering an ad for a math-rocky band who needed a singer.
The band, Joyride Neon, were a good fit, and played out in venues around London before breaking up due to creative differences, “The band were all bored of writing guitar based/rock songs and wanted to go electro. I really, really didn’t."
Bandless again it was a return to health and fitness that influenced the next move. "In the gym all they ever played was Kiss FM, it mostly got on my nerves. Then I heard a couple of tunes I liked and a PT made me some playlists. I was sat at home, no band, no community and thought, 'fuck it'. Turning to the computer was a means to an end, but it ended up being the next chapter".

QOU* recorded and produced the Girl Outside EP, an electro project, making beats from scratch and working on it in her car or cafes due to severe housing issues. “I was taking on a huge learning curve in what I could do with just my computer. I got really bogged down in it, so many tweaks and things I wanted to do and just didn’t know how to do yet, I searched for a producer to help, but came up with nothing. No one could hear what I could hear, no one spoke my language, so I just got on with it.”
Influenced by some of her earliest musical inspirations such as - Madonna, Kate Bush, Shakespeare's Sister, the EP took shape. The song Girl Outside came to completion while QOU* was researching Autism "I was watching videos about this girl coming to terms with her Autism diagnosis and I could relate so much. She called herself, 'the girl outside the box' it was obvious I had to put her on the Girl Outside record."

QOU* recorded a cover of Madonna’s 'Over and Over' for some light relief. “Trying to write, record, produce, perform, make videos, promote and still live the rest of your life- which was absoultely killing me at that point- I can't say I was enjoying much of anything. I was just about holding on. So the Madonna cover was very much about cutting loose and having fun for a minute”.

The release of Girl Outside took four years to come to fruition. "So much shit happened during that time, just waking up and getting through the days was torture, and then that just reinforced it, everything- what I had to do with my life, the only thing that ever made sense. I had to get this music out there and share it with others."
Thoughts on that survival and coping with that period are explored in particular on the song 'Det'.
"In the darkest times you feel so incredibly alone, so far from everything and everyone, but music has been there for me in those times and the bands that got me through are my heros. Ultimately now it’s all about being heard, as the bands I grew up listening to have saved my life many times and I want to do the same for others, I may be a loner, but I know I’m not alone, this is my gift to the world".