McQueen Song By Song

McQueen's eagerly awaited debut album 'Break The Silence' finally hit the shelves this week. R13 caught up with Leah and Hayley for a song by song breakdown of what could well be one of the album's of the year.

Neurotic
L: It's kind of like self denial really, I wanted to write something that was a little bit twisted, menacing, quite vicious, sarcastic and the whole point of Neurotic and definitely the chorus, the scream is like I'm not neurotic but you know, "am I? I could be, I probably am!"
H: Which is Leah all over!
L: haha which is me! Also I love singing the verse live because there's just that nastiness to them
H: I have to say that's one of my favourite points in the set
L: The first line is "is took me two whole hours to saw off your wings". I wanted to do something that wasn't about everyday life, if we ever did a video for it maybe I could be there with a fucking tool having a go, blood spurting everywhere, it could be quite nice couldn't it? I need to find a specimen first don't I? Maybe I could do a pigeon, maybe I could saw a pigeon's wings off?
H: You get plenty of them in Brighton I can tell you
L: Maybe a seagull as well? Those nasty bastards. Anyway next song...

Dirt
L: Is actually written about a scenario I've been through and I think everyone's been through this kind of thing, the group mentality. When you're at school you've got the group of bullies and in the workplace & the music industry you get groups of clique people that look down their noses at you & are really nasty bastards.
H: Lots of people in those groups are people who are just trying to fit in. Bullies are just trying to fit in and you are what you hang with.
L: The whole point is that there's a cliquey scene and everyone says they like something when they don't really, they just adopt everyone else's opinions. Then it becomes a trend and they all follow suit and I think Dirt is definitely a song for people who go against the trend, go against the norm and it's for people who are free thinkers & like stuff because they like it and are individuals.
H: I think it can be mistaken as a really aggressive song but it's not meant in an aggressive way, it's a feel good song
L: It is a feel good song but the chorus is probably the most confrontational choruses I've written! It's "yes this an argument cos I came here to fight" I'm going to fight against that kind of shit, I don't like it, I think it's petty, small minded and I think people should grow the fuck up! There you go.

Running Out of Things to Say
L: Running Out of Things to Say was written about a real situation & it was really funny cos it's just about the whole networking scene. In the beginning of McQueen I had to go and do this networking thing and to cut a long story short everybody is walking around up everybody else's arseholes, up their own arseholes first and then everybody else's! Everyone wants to know who you are and what you do so that they can benefit from it and I don't give a shit. If people don't like the music they don't have to, I don't give a fuck, I'm not going to go and asslick some doughnut I don't even know just to get somewhere! I work and I do what I do and I'm not going to schmooze and all that shit so I just don't do it. I went to this networking thing & got blind drunk, hence "we were so drunk we were so wasted" and basically it was a gnarly night! So it's basically about having nothing to say to people who are networking.

Break The Silence
L: Break The Silence is a great song, I was feeling political at the time I guess, I was feeling the way the world was feeling at that time and it was something that came out. I just felt so passionately about what was going on, everyone has an opinion about what's going on in the world and it just amused me that nobody actually gives a fuck about wanting to change it! Everybody just sits back and I guess that's what it's about, break that silence, speak the fuck up! It's our obligation to speak up and say shit, we have the power in our hands to change the world as a society but we do nothing.

Numb
L: Numb's a funny one as it's kind of an amalgamation of a whole bunch of relationships, mine, other people's and what everyone else was going through. We're a really close band so anything that hurts other people in the band hurts me and you get to a point in a relationship where it's go or stay or just fuck off because I can't feel anything anymore, I just feel numb. So that's Numb in a nutshell.

Blinded
L: I wanted to write something about musicians and the way people can get so jaded about what they're doing. They get blinded by the headlights and it does fuck up your judgement. They get so blinded by the idea of being this big grand person and they forget that it's not really about that, it's about having fun, having a good time as well as everything else. You don't have to walk around like "I'm so fucking cool" all the time, you can have fun and show that you have a sense of humour, which is something that I think is seriously lacking in a lot of areas.
H: Where I'm from, I play the drums because I like playing the drums! If I wasn't playing in McQueen and I hadn't met these guys I'd still just be playing the drums for fun, that's what it's about, I'd be playing the drums wherever I could, just because I love doing what I do. It's not like I've got to do this because I've got to get famous.
L: It's a bit like a car crash as well because you see these people and what's going on? These people are drunk and fucked up, I mean we get drunk but we get happy! It was originally about these people being roadkill, they're going to get flattened like fucking armadillos in Texas! Like pancakes.

Line Went Dead
L: Is another one about hanging up on a particular thing in your life and it's also about control, or being controlled by other people that are in your life. You know you get into friendships and relationships where people manipulate and control you and it's just about breaking free from that and realising that you don't have to be a pretty girl you know? I can have my hair all tangled up, I can have my make up running down my face, my nails are always chipped, I don't have to be this perfect person, I can just be who I am because I want to be. Hence "you wonder why the line went dead?" because you're a fucking joke!

Bitch
L: Bitch is a good one! Everything's down to personalities, in McQueen we have a really good blend of characters and everybody's really cool with each other. Initially we had another bass player, a girl called Hattie and it was basically about a situation that happened. It was a clash of personalities, I didn't understand her and I tried to help her and the song's pretty self-explanatory, it tells it like it is. Just after we split with Hattie we penned that song, we were all feeling really passionate and being the lyricist I was feeling the most passionate because I'd had a fight with her in a hotel corridor. She'd be the first one to laugh about it now because we have spoken since and it's all cool. Looking back it's really funny because our tour manager had got me round the waist trying to pull me off her because I was doing my best Jet Li impression like going in like a motherfucker! Woooahhh don't fuck with me! But he'd got changed into his pyjamas and the elastic was broken so he's trying to hold his pyjamas up and his tackle's hanging out!
H: It was fucking hilarious
L: There was the manager of the hotel having a gander and people coming out of their room to have a look and there's me like a rottweiler in a kiddies playground! It's done and dusted now, it's more of a fun song about something that happened, there's no animosity.
H: You get it in life, people are either on the same page as you or they're not.
L: People fall out all the time, it just happened to be a time when we were really drunk and really shouldn't have been ragging each other.

Not For Sale
L: Some people say to me "I hate it when girls sing about being girls" but fucking excuse me, I am a girl and I'm going to sing about being a girl because I am a girl!
H: And that's what you know!
L: Yeah and that's what I know! Other bands with male vocalists sing about being a guy, you know the rappers sing about getting the booty and all that jazz. I wanted to write something about what we were going through because initially when we started McQueen we did get looked down upon and we weren't taken seriously, people thought we were the girlfriends of another band. We just got sick of that and people said the only reason we were getting anywhere is because we've got tits and they're talking to my tits! Forget that, listen to the music and judge me on the music and that's what I really wanted to get across in Not For Sale. I'm not selling sex.
H: But you say I am
L: Yeah people say I am but I'm not selling sex I'm selling music. I'm a musician first and foremost before I'm female, hang on is that the right way round? haha
H: When we recorded Not For Sale was one of the most eerie moments of my life. I was really going for it and we were on a really tight schedule because we had to get Break The Silence and Not For Sale down by the end of day one and it was right near the end of day one, I'm hurting and aching and thinking I can't play this anymore! Every bit of me went into it and on the very last crash, there's a storm going on outside, thunder and lightning, and on the very last crash I did the desk went dead. The power cut, something happened and it was like... fuck!
L: So we called it a day, went to the pub and got fucked!
H: haha All the way through the take I could see you guys behind the desk going "yeah this is the take, that's the one" so I was feeding off those vibes and I hit the last crash and I fucking meant it with my life and then it all went dead! I as like "oh my god" what have I done?

Don't Know How To Break It To You
L: This is just about funky haircuts basically! People putting poncy haircuts and saying they have to drink this or that, putting quantity over quality of music.
H: It's tongue in cheek
L: It's tongue in cheek but it's really a fun song, it's don't know how to break it to you but just chill out, you're confused. It's the age of airs and graces, everyone's putting on something, trying to be someone else and walking around like they're the shit. Leave your baggage at the door and then we can have a conversation and get on, don't bring that shit to my table because we'll get on better if you leave it out. It's just a fun song and it uplifts me, it's great to play though isn't it?
H: Yeah, it kills my arms though, it's right near the end of the set. It's probably our most fun number so it's gotta go near the end of the set to give everyone a smile and it fucking kicks off, it really does and I love it. We've got our serious moments and I just love that.
L: It really is the age of fine wine and bullshit, that's what I feel sometimes, there's just some areas where people are disappearing up their own asses at a rate of knotts and it's just sad. People should just chill out, have a good time and worry about everything later. Get drunk, be happy, buy McQueen's album!