Queenadreena | Artist
Queenadreena was a British gothic rock band formed 1998 in London by Katie Jane Garside (vocals), Crispin Gray (guitar), Billy Freedom (drums), and Orson Wajih (bass). Crispin Gray and Katie Jane Garside had previously been together in the band Daisy Chainsaw. Other members of the band, to come and go, included Katie Jane's sister Melanie (bass), and Pete Howard who had formerly been drummer for The Clash. Soon after formation the band released their first studio album, Taxidermy, under the name Queen Adeena. Some of the material featured on the album, namely the track "X-ing Off the Days," was written by Gray in the years following the breakup of Daisy Chainsaw. NME gave the album a positive review, writing: "While carrying on Daisy Chainsaw's predilection for rock as infantile nightmare, here the scope is much wider than a one-track take on banshee pop. There are some obvious precedents, notably Björk and PJ Harvey, but much more than either of those two reference points, this debut album is frequently akin to eavesdropping on psychotherapy." To support the record, the band toured nationally supporting Nine Inch Nails, as well as performances at the 2000 Reading and Leeds Festivals. In performance, front-woman Katie Anne Garside gained a reputation for her "gothic street urchin" look, akin to a scantily clad rag doll with torn dresses besmirched in mud. But also for her haunting voice and poetic lyrics. Following the first album, the band changed their name to Queenadreena, which remained for all subsequent releases. During this time, the band released a split single, featuring a cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," and the folk ballad "Pretty Polly". They followed up with their critically acclaimed second album Drink Me in 2002, which is named after an episode in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, where Alice is tempted by a potion labelled "Drink Me". In total Queenadreena released five studio albums, one live album and an EP before disbanding in 2010. Standout releases include; Taxidermy (2000), Drink Me (2002), The Butcher and the Butterfly (2005), Djin (2008), and Live at the ICA (2005). Garside self-released a solo album Lullabies in a Glass Wilderness in 2007. The same year, she worked with composer Hector Zazou on the collaboration album Corps Electriques, and began writing and releasing material with her project Ruby Throat, an acoustic collaboration with her partner, American guitarist Chris Whittingham, who have released several excellent albums of acoustic psych-folk. Garside is quoted as saying the band name came to her when she was writing in Wales: “She just arrived in my head. She came in as Princess Adreena, and I had to write her story. She'd been a warrior princess who'd cut off her left breast for better use of bow and arrow, stuff like that. That's where she came from and then we crowned her, made her into Queen Adreena.”
Artist Website : wikipedia/Queenadreena
Featured Albums: Queenadreena
Related Artists: Queen Adreena, Katie Jane Garside, Daisy Chainsaw
