Firstly, click here to listen to all songs by The Evil Queens as you read this interview:

http://www.altsounds.com/altsounds/b...56/playall.asx


Questions, mostly answered by Jacob.

Q: What inspires you to play so loudly and upbeat? Are you angry boys or is that what you do best? Playing loud unapologetic punk rock?
A: At one point, during the formation of this band, we tried to play something other than "loud unapologetic rock." But really, our music isn't about apologies. We thought for a second that we would trade in our giant amps and drums for Fender Twins and drum machines and smaller, quieter, LIGHTER things. As we got on with it though, it really just doesn't feel natural for us to play any other way.

Q: It lists in your artist profile several sound-likes from Quicksand, to The Hot snakes etc. are those also your influences?
A: Quicksand was definitely an early influence on at least Mike and I. I was 19 or 20 when Slip came out, and I couldn't get enough of that record. The Turks are from Columbus, so I guess some of their influence is "in the water" in Columbus, but not a direct influence in my opinion. We've heard all those bands, so indirectly or directly they all play a part but in addition to some common ground, we all have relatively divergent tastes.
It seems like such a cliche now to say that, but I would say it's true.

Q: Playing rock is simply awesome and my drug of choice but do you ever dabble in playing different styles?
A: George and I occasionally play in a swampy-blues local super-group called the Killionaires that's far less metallic and outright rock than The Evil Queens. George is also a pretty multi-talented guy and plays a mean Ukelele. When we're messing around at practice we sometimes screw around playing various other genres, but mostly as a means to make each
other laugh.

Q: Do you tour a lot and if so what is the best part about it?
A: We haven't toured extensively, but I would have to say my favorite part about travelling is to see a million faces and rock them all. Or some dumb shit like that.

Q: What age groups do you particularly see more of in your audience?
A: It's pretty varied. There's definitely a lot of the mid-20's-30's
post-hipster element but then we'll play a show and a bunch of young kids will show up and go crazy.

Q: Have you shared the stage or toured with any big bands?
A: Well, big is a weird word, isn't it. We've played with a lot of bands that I love that aren't exactly BIG in the MTV use of the word.

Q: Do you like to interact with the fans? Or do you all run and hide back stage and do the pot.
A: HA! The pot. Hilarious. We all do our best to interact I guess. None of us do "the pot" very much or very often or even at all, really. Is that plausible deniability? Our guitar player's a lawyer.

Q: What is your drug of choice? (Doesn't necessarily mean Chemical.)
A: Personally, music is the obvious (and most pretentious sounding) choice. But really, I can't get enough of listening to and making music. I would do it 24 hours a day if I could.

Q: are any of you married with children or are you just young tail chasing fools?
A: We chase tail, but only when it's attached to ... some sort of thing or ... animal ... with a tail. We're all in some sort of settled state. I'm the only one with a child. He's 10 and loves the rock and roll.

Q: ok getting serious for a minute, how do you record in the studio? Do you play all together live or track individually?
A: Mostly we play all together live and then overdub certain other things. Vocals are always overdubbed, because of the generally loud nature of our setup. most everything else is live except for little touches.

Q: I see that you are from Columbus Ohio? I've been through there and think the music scene is quite receptive, thriving etc... Would you agree?
A: Columbus is absolutely amazing music-wise right now. There's this huge surge of talent that is mostly being ignored by the general music-hipsters outside of Columbus. I could list 20 bands easily that, if given the chance, would sell 100,00 CDs for some happy record label. So much good stuff. And not just one sound or taste - Rock bands like Murder Your Darlings and Grafton, weirdo art shit from Times New Viking, awesome off-kilter pop from Terribly Empty Pockets, bluesy motown stuff from the
Tough & Lovely, crazy metal and instrumental stuff from Dead Sea, Teeth of the Hydra, Mortimur and Sweetheart. It's so varied and they're all so damn talented.

Q: Was getting discovered by Addison Records a deep connection thing? Or should I say how did they discover the band? And don't leave anything out!
A: They listened to a podcase put together by Rob Duffy of donewaiting.com and approached us after that. We met Marc at one of our shows in town and things went from there.
I mean ... Marc and I met on a subway and we were both listening to "Morning Train" by Billy Joel and the rest was history.

Q: Are there any big future goals for the band of peak importance we didn't cover?
A: Ummm. No. We like other people to make up our goals for us. If you want to make something up here, feel free to.

Q: Finally. What can music fans who have never heard or seen your band expect when finally being exposed?
A: Answers submitted by Mike -
Probably a citation; I hope its warm out
Relief, not unlike taking a handful of Tums.
Satisfaction.
Ringing Ears.
Catharsis.
Revenge. Mainly revenge.