Hartford, Connecticut rock band Queen Moo played a short set for us at Studio 52 in Allston back in April. We’re excited to present you with a live session featuring two songs off their 2nd full-length, Mean Well, and a new song off a future record still in the works. Listen to/watch Gone, Come Through, and new song Fall For Anything below.
Queen Moo is made up of Jason Rule (vocals, guitar), Kevin O’Donnell (bass, vocals), Oscar Godoy (guitar), and Nick Charlton (drums). The band’s sound is a unique take on a blend of genres and influences, namely jazz, power pop, and classic rock. On the song Come Through, the band seamlessly transitions between jazz balladry and complete rock and roll riff-worship. At the end of the song, Nick Charlton’s drums seemingly take to an entirely different feel independent of the rest of the band’s steadily repeating riff, nonetheless still in complete unison with each other. The result is a chaotic crescendo that manages to maintain two different rhythms at once while still leaving the guitar melody in your head for hours after. Queen Moo is excellent at pulling these impressive musical feats off without sacrificing good songwriting throughout their two records.
Fall For Anything is a track that shows off the band’s dynamic limits. With just a chord change in the first of many central riffs, the band goes from Sheer Mag-reminiscent guitar parts to a melodic jazz progression, and then immediately back before the first verse begins. “It’s one of those tunes that took on countless different forms in rehearsal before we got it where we wanted it,” Jason Rule said in regards to the new song. “Actually, even since we did this session with you we’ve altered small things about it. There were parts about the song that were very challenging for all of us I think. I particularly had a tough time deciding how to keep the listener’s attention for four and a half minutes, which embarrassingly enough is something I don’t really think I’ve ever had to do. Ultimately I think we are all very happy with how it came out, but it was certainly less intuitive and more particular of a writing process than some of the older Queen Moo stuff. Definitely has riffs though.”
The parts that connect the structural components of Queen Moo’s songs are some of the most exciting parts, to me. In songs with several seldom-repeating melodies and riffs, the quickly passing melodies of Gone still end up getting stuck in my head. “…The in between parts of the songs are usually the things that take the most work for us,” singer Jason Rule told us when asked about the band’s songwriting. “Effectively getting from point A to point B with a song is something I think we all try to be pretty conscious of, always being careful not to over do it too soon in the tune and things like that. The record Skeletal Lamping by of Montreal really rocked my entire world in terms of transition from part to part and song to song. I constantly return to that record when I hit a wall.”
Queen Moo’s second LP Mean Well was released on Topshelf Records back in August of 2017. If you’ve heard the record it might surprise you to hear that it was entirely self-recorded at the band’s shared home in East Hartford. “I think in a lot of ways it’s really fun and eye opening to work on a record at home. We’ve also always been partial to recorded music that captures the room. There’s also the financial factor too of course, but at the end of the day I enjoy the sound of occasional footsteps and unidentifiable background noise and things like that. I think it makes the record sound more lively and less sterile than some kind of overproduced studio sound. There’s just something very raw and engaging about it that’s always resonated with us. That being said, it certainly has its limitations and I won’t rule out the possibility of transitioning out of it. But for now, I like standing in the dining room and screaming at a microphone next to the front door, or throwing a mic in the kitchen or whatever. It lends itself to a lot of experimentation.”
The band is currently at work on their third LP, which they are again recording at home in Connecticut. “Kev, Oscar, and myself all spent a bunch of time living together unemployed as hell and just working on the tunes. It was a long thing, but I think it paid off. There’s a couple duets between Kevin and I that I’m really excited about. There’s piano, a lot of free drums, and definitely some riffs. Oscar’s been doing some wildly cool shit with his guitar work, too. I don’t want to spill too much and ruin the surprise, but I’m really really excited about how it’s all coming together.”
Catch Queen Moo on their next run of shows in the northeast at any of the dates below (and feel free to email them for the address if you need it, as always):
6/7 – Wilkes Barre, PA – Curry’s Donuts
6/8 – East Hartford, CT – QM’s house
6/9 – Allston, MA – Ted’s Place
6/10 – Lowell, MA – The Tip