McQueens of England!
It's nearly two years since I first came across McQueen at Manchester Roadhouse supporting Roxy Saint, in that time McQueen have been laying the foundations slowly but surely and with the long awaited album hopefully due out this summer it's all looking good.
There's a decent crowd here tonight but whilst the band are straight into their stride with 'Not for Sale' the audience are content to stand back. The charasmatic Leah however is far from content and demands that everyone comes to the front or they won't play! Needless to say there is a swift shuffling towards the stage and the duly get their reward in the form of the excellent 'Running Out of Things to Say'. The sound is good, the band are grinning at each other and the crowd pick up on it, by the time new song 'Dirt' comes along everything is as it should be. On first listen 'Dirt' proves yet again that McQueen have a good command of what makes a song work, with a big chorus and scything riffs.
Much is made of the fact that McQueen are all female, whilst this is undeniably true it has no bearing on the music and if there was any doubt that they aren't just playing at this you only have to witness the passion and growl of Leah's vocals in 'Numb' and 'Break the Silence' or take 30 seconds of watching Cat run up and down the fretboard to realise that McQueen have what it takes to make it in a male dominated environment.
Half way through the set it's clear that the band are making an impression as 'Blinded' and 'Don't Know How to Break it to You' are delivered in expert style to growing appreciation from the crowd. A sign perhaps of their growing confidence sees the live debut of a new track 'Neurotic' and as we've come to expect now it fits in perfectly with the rest of the set. Now I confess that when I first heard 'Bitch' I didn't think it was their strongest song but as a set closer it's perfect! Leah climbs up on the monitors at the front of the stage and growls into the face of a few nervous looking punters before making some rather dubious gesticulations with her microphone.
It's been a performance of energy and passion all delivered with a more than healthy grunt and that's really what gives McQueen the edge. The songs aren't just nice melodic pop punk, they have a real edge to them and swing between low growling metal and straight up in your face punk rock. I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't one of the last times we get to see McQueen in such an intimate venue, when the album breaks we could see these guys really take off.