| 1. What are you currently up
to? |
As I'm typing this Kirsty (McCarrick) our lead singer is on the phone
organising some UK dates for us. We've all been writing recently and
we put together a very basic demo CD of our collective ideas, so that
we can all have a listen and get an idea of what the next album is
about. We'll start recording in the next few weeks, with a view to
getting the next album out in Spring
|
| 2. Who were your
influences? |
Speaking for myself I've been influenced by many people, but to pin
them down and playing bass myself it would have to be John Wetton.
All his bands have influenced me from King Crimson's Red album which
still blows me away, through to Uriah Heep, Asia and his solo stuff.
I just caught The John Young band last week and thought they were
excellent too.
I know Paul (Ayre) our guitarist is a huge Deep Purple fan and loves
Van Halen. Roy (Taylor) our drummer is into all styles of music, but
again he calls Ian Paice from Deep Purple the guv'nor.
Kirsty is only 23, but us older heads try to tell her what to listen
to, occasionally she might take a bit of notice. I do know she likes
Led Zeppelin and Jennifer Warnes - there's a combination for you.
|
| 3. Brief history of the band plus the style of music you play.
|
The guys in the band have known each other for years and we've all
threatened to play together in the past. Me and Paul were working
together in a band called Museum when Kirsty approached us to write
some songs for her. We then got Roy involved who both myself and Paul
had worked with and that was the start, some 18 months ago.
Quecia have not played live much in 2002. We did a couple of dates
over in Rotherham for the Classic Rock Society and some local stuff,
but we intend to get out and about more this year. Our style of music
is hopefully a new style of classic rock music, but we also have a
softer more melodic side. I know Kirsty wants to be the female
version of Robert Plant, obviously she's much better looking.
|
| 4. You have a debut CD out - 'This Is Where We Are' - could you take us
through some personal highlights of the CD please?
|
My favourite tracks are "Fight For This" the opener, which I think as
someone else put it "draws you into our music", "Alive" is a great
track, which I think is a highlight of our live show, I think
Winter's Tale shows the more melodic side of our writing, with a
great vocal from Kirsty and "Sleepwalking in Paradise" is a good
rocker, with Roy showing you what he can do and with a great solo at
the end from Paul.
|
| 5. The band recently won an award at the Classic Rock Society Awards.
What was it for and how did the band feel?
|
The Classic Rock Society run by Martin Hudson are a great set of
people who have helped us so much and we can't thank them enough. The
readers of the magazine voted us Best New Band for 2002 and it was
such an honour to get the award from Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone.
All the band were absolutely delighted and it makes you realise that
there are still some people out there listening and wanting to buy
real music, played by real musicians.
On a personal note I was a bit gutted that Rick Wakeman beat me to
best keyboard player, but you can't win everything. (If you've heard
me play the piano then you'll know that was a joke).
|
| 6.
What do you think of the current state of UK radio and the live music
scene? How easy/hard has it been to get exposure for the band?
|
The UK music scene has been ruined by the whole karaoke pop TV style
programs. No-one seems to want to write and record new songs anymore
in the charts, it's all cover versions, or if it's new stuff it's
been put together on a computer by some team of song writers sat
round a monitor. Occasionally something good comes along and we have
to keep striving for that. I've told my teenage son many times that a
song he's listening to was a hit 20 odd years ago and he thinks it's
a new song and I'm joking.
We've found it very difficult to get any radio play over here as all
the commercial radio stations are about selling advertising and the
tried and trusted formula of TV pop star becomes famous lets play
that.
The internet has been great for us, we have a video on www.mp4.com
which peaked at No.5 and got to No.2 in the rock genre. Also our site
www.mp3.com/quecia has directed loads of people to our main site
where they can buy the album which is www.quecia.com. Sorry but I had
to get the plug in early, it's the only way a band like us can hope
to survive with the state of the music industry.
|
| 7.
How easy is it to gets gigs?
|
It is not easy. You have to sell yourself, often times play for free
and stay on top of the people who book. Once you develop a
relationship with them, it gets easier.
|
| 8. What has been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?
|
The highlight I think was watching our CD being pressed at Universal
in Blackburn and watching them run off the line next to the likes of
Black Sabbath and Robbie Williams. It was a dream of mine and Paul's
to get this album out there and when Kirsty and then Roy came along
it all fell into place. It's been a lot of hard work and late nights,
but when people give you great reviews and genuinely like what you do
then it all seems worthwhile.
I haven't had any lowpoints with Quecia, because I'm playing with
great musicians and writing and recording original music. The fact
that people have faith in us and like it is a bonus.
Low points in the past would be being broken down at the side of the
motorway at 3am in the morning on the way home from a gig thinking -
you should have stayed in bed. Thanks to Deke Leonard of Man for that
one, but its true.
|
| 9. Who have you toured with and would like to tour with in the
future? |
Quecia as I said haven't toured much just the occasional date, but we
are trying to rectify that as we speak. We know we are a very strong
live band and we need people to see that. In fact you can read a live
review at musicaldiscoveries.com.
As for touring in the future I don't mind, but a few shows with Deep
Purple, Uriah Heep or John Wetton would be nice.
|
| 10. If you could create a fantasy band - what would be the line-up and
why? |
I think you know by now who'd be on the bass, but I saw Qango a
couple of years ago with Carl Palmer on drums, John Wetton on bass
and lead vocals, Dave Kilminster on guitars and John Young on
keyboards and they just blew me away. I think that was an incredible
line up and the best band you could wish to see.
|
| 11. Any other bands/artists you would recommend checking out? |
I think you should all take a look at John Young's site
www.youngjohn.co.uk and buy his album he deserves it. I also like
Karnataka and Man from Wales and the Dutch band Ricocher.
|
| 12. What CD's do you currently have available and where can they be
purchased from? |
You can buy our debut album "This is Where We Are" by credit card
securely at our website www.quecia.com and hopefully we'll have
another one out for you fairly soon. You can also have a sneak
preview at the mp3 site and download one of the tracks.
|
| 13. Message for your
fans... |
Thanks for all your support and I'd just like to thank everyone who
voted for us at the CRS and we can't wait to get back there and play
in April. Also thanks to everyone who's bought the album and for all
the great email and feedback we've had.
See ya
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