Queens of Noise
“Up Against the Wall” b/w “Victimized”
scum stats: 200 on red vinyl, 200 on black
On occasion I can use my position here as a bully pulpit. And sometimes…I just want to type the phrase “bully pulpit.”
The latest release on my Cass Records imprint (has it really been almost three years?) is a 7-inch from a group of teenaged Nashville girls. Originally started as a Runaways cover band (hence the name), they eventually evolved into writing their own original songs.
I’d seen some of them around the neighborhood, when taking my daughter to dance class, and eventually my wife took the girls to a daytime concert of theirs about a year ago and my daughter Violet just loved it.
I get it…seeing people not THAT much older than you, on stage, playing music, in your town, somewhat breaking down that metaphorical barrier between performer and audience…THAT is what can inspire someone for a lifetime.
We had Violet’s 6th birthday in the Blue Room last year and booked Queens of Noise to play and pretty soon thereafter, it just seemed like the band needed some vinyl in their arsenal. That’s something I could help make happen.
The songs just have a classic timelessness to them. “Up Against the Wall” is half-reminiscent of the Go-Go’s “How Much More” (and if I’m being pedantic, the Stiff version of said song) and put a smile on my face because the title reminds me of the 1960’s countercultural revolutionaries the Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers.
That name itself coming from an Amiri Baraka poem and having been shouted by Patty Hearst during one of her bank robberies…I doubt these nice kids are even aware of ANY of this, but it doesn’t matter…it makes ME happy.
“Up Against the Wall” is also vinyl-only…so I don’t even have a digital way of sharing it with you. The link we’ve got is for the flipside...
“Victimized” is both an impressive song title and a cracking, punk-powered chugga-chugga song. A solid two-sider. Two thumbs-up. Must-listen.
I don’t really offer to put bands out on Cass any more. But I have a theory that I feel strongly about, I’ll spill here…
The chances of Queens of Noise of becoming a huge famous band are very unlikely. It is FAR more likely that in a few years, someone in the band is probably embarrassed by this release.
But I live for lighting the spark. The chances that someone in the band holds the 45 in wonderment, with their performance permanently cut into those grooves, to last longer than any of us will ever live…that can be the impetus for an entire career.
The desire to want to write MORE songs, to put out MORE records, to share your music with MORE people. I know that’s how I felt when I was a teenager on my first piece of vinyl.
Encouraging and motivating fresh artists to KEEP ON GOING is something that truly brings me joy. Sometimes even the most pre-destined genius or greatness still needs just the tiniest push of motivation to be on their path.
Maybe that happens here. Maybe it doesn’t. Either way, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. And supporting kids down the block by releasing their records is some incredibly unique neighborhood pride that I am quite happy to put out a little more widely into the world.
I’m giving away a copy, hell, multiple copies, for my favorite comment(s) posted here of a story about the older kids in the neighborhood when you were growing up. Maybe they were troublemakers. Maybe they had a band. Maybe they positively or negatively influenced you.
