Backstage with QwEEK

SoGlos.com goes backstage with Gloucestershire band QwEEK – who talk about losing teeth on stage, fulfilling their wish play the Stroud Fringe Festival and their first UK tour.

Tell us about QwEEK
Alex and Randy play guitar, John plays bass, Joe drums and Wagg’s on vocals. We’ve been going since late 2005 and got together after Wagg started searching the Internet for various musicians to form a band. Alex and Jamie live in Stroud, Joe and Randy in Dursley and John in Gloucester.

And what’s your style?
We’re not quite sure – it’s experimental but sits somewhere between post-hardcore, traumatised punk, indie, post-punk, dance, queercore and noise. Our music tends to be quite emotionally charged and so do our individual performances, we’re essentially a rhythm and paranoia band.

How did you decide on the name?
That’s a secret only Wagg knows!

What’s happening with QwEEK these days?
To date we’ve played just over forty shows since forming, mostly as a headlining act and we’re just about to go on our first tour, which will take in seven dates in nine days.

Who are your biggest influences?
There are far too many to mention really, we’ve all got quite eclectic tastes. Something like Fugazi for their ethics, The Birthday Party, Pixies, Minor Threat, Black Flag, Big Black, Trencher, Xiu Xiu, Owbow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Rapture, Jesus Lizard, Scratch Acid, The Locust, Aphex Twin and Erase Errata all for their energy and diversity – but that barely scratches the surface.

Who do you get compared to?
We tend to get completely random comparisons or told we don’t sound like anyone else, although during one gig this year someone told us we sounded like a mix of Placebo, The Birthday Party, Napalm Death and Blur. We’ve also been compared to the Cardiacs, Candiria, The Horrors, Pixies and Oxbow in the past.

Who goes to your gigs?
A pretty varied mix to be honest, we get people coming to support us and enjoy the performance we put on, but also people coming to give us stick which is nice as things tend to get quite heated and frenetic.

What’s the latest material from QwEEK?
We’re unsigned and intend to release an EP cataloguing our first two years work soon. We’d like to stick to the DIY ethic of releasing it ourselves. Most of our material is available freely via the Internet and we’ve been bootlegged a couple of times which is nice.

Do you have a favourite Gloucestershire venue?
I think we’d go for the Duke of York, it’s tiny but perfectly formed and has a great friendly atmosphere.

Where would you most like to play in the county?
At the Stroud Fringe Festival and our wish has come true as we’re on the bill to play there this year.

Who else to you rate in Gloucestershire?
Third Storey Chemists, Veer Luth, Happy Hour and the Ill Tradition are all really good, and deserve a lot more recognition than they get.

Who would you most like to support?
The Blood Brothers, Trencher, Fugazi or the Birthday Party

Have you ever thrown a TV out of a hotel window?
Nah, that just kind of wreaks of mindless aggression, if you’re going to trash something at least do it with style or leave your mark.

Have you ever had a groupie stalk you?
We have a few people who come to virtually every gig we do and have had others who’ve groped us during gigs which can be a bit worrying at times.

Have you ever done something you really regret in the morning?
Regret is probably the wrong word, if a gig we’ve done has been filmed though, there are usually a couple of cringe worthy moments or movements. Although Wagg recently lost a front tooth during a gig and has lost shoes and items of clothing during performances, which isn’t fun.

Recommend one album to our readers you don’t think they will have discovered.
20 Years of Dischord which is a three CD box set by various artists. It’s a classic and has so many great songs on it by early hardcore bands.

The band’s number one ambition?
A little more recognition would be nice, although we’re not really in this for anything other than personal enjoyment. If you work hard you get where you want to be.

Any claims to fame?
Randy is related to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

Advice for local bands trying to make it?
Broaden your horizons, don’t just try and copy everyone else. A little originality goes a long way and if you’ve got the creative nous to exploit it, you can come away with something which is just your own and not tainted too heavily by your influences. Too many bands at the moment just sound like a badly diluted cover version of another, sometimes it’s difficult to tell them apart.

Where can SoGlos.com readers expect to see you in a year’s time?
Hopefully playing at some interesting leftfield experimental festivals, but if not perhaps locally if venues ever relent and let us play again.

See QwEEK performing live at this year’s Stroud Fringe Festival, on Riffs Stage on Saturday 8 September at 3pm, as well as on their forthcoming national tour of the South Coast with Flyin’ Ike from Guildford.

James Fryer
2 September 2007