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MCQUEEN Liverpool University, 15 March 2008
McQueen are
on a roll at the moment. Invited to the Velvet Revolver tour, by none
other than Mr Slash himself, the girls could only manage three dates
before jetting off to sunnier climes: Australia to be precise where they
will support Him. Then it's on to LA to record their second album.
The band's first album, released in January 2007, has been well received
and they've been gigging fairly solidly for the past year expanding their fanbase,
especially in Europe.
In our post-gig chat - showing my age - I mentioned two all-girl bands who
pioneered the genre back in the seventies. To McQueen these girl bands
must appear like a fossil imprint on the slab of rock history: Fanny and
The Runaways. The former name provoking mirth than anything more
meaningful. But McQueen are their natural descendants, a potent hybrid of
proto-punk energy with a modern metal vibe.
Naturally, this all-too-short (thirty-minute) set majored on their current
album, with the highlights 'The Line Went Dead' and the splendid
'Blinded'. Leah Duors is a formidable front-person who frenetically works the
crowd whilst Cat de Casanove (guitar), Hayley Cramer (drums) and
Sophie Taylor (bass) provide a relentless metal thunder.
McQueen don't seem to do ballads or anything mid-tempo at the moment, and
maybe the second album will introduce some more light and shade - surely
the key to true longevity? For the moment, though, these are girls having
fun - their ignorance of Fanny a help rather than a hindrance.
