Marie Monday

Voodoo Queens

The Voodoo Queens’ music makes me want to be alive. They’re barely riot grrrl; they’re as much Veruca Salt as Bikini Kill (Nina’s bright side of Veruca Salt, not Louise’s angsty side), although they don’t really sound like either of those bands. Their discography consists of an LP called Chocolate Revenge and a bunch of singles/EP’s; of all this, the Kenuwee Head EP is their best. The title track is a wonderful thirst song about Keanu Reeves, and it also features the terrific Supermodel Superficial, an obligatory rant about supermodels and beauty standards (the lyrics are ironically superficial) which is just an excuse to headbang your brains out. Then there’s Chocolate/Girl Solo, which ends in a delicious psychedelic dream (the most wicked moment of their discography).

Their music is at its core poppy, simple punk, but just a bit more colourful, always with little surprises: weird instrumentation and sounds (the random steeldrum surprise at the end of Shopping Girl Maniac lol), or a weird chord. Although songs on Chocolate Revenge are not always individually memorable, it is full of such nice moments. The guitar at the end of You’re Dumped sounds like the desperate last breath of a sea lion. And now and then entire songs come as a cool surprise, like the slow, eerie, sitar(?)-featuring Indian Film Star (many of the band members were of Indian origin) which makes a sudden turn towards conventional pop punk. Also, they have amazing, colourful album covers which appear to be self-drawn (see above). The album closes with the understated My Favourite Handbag: ‘He’s my/favourite handbag/without him/I guess I’m sad’. Amazing.

By the way, their music videos are an absolute delight. They’re a fountain of joy, seriously. If you're going to check out anything in this post, it should be this:

Fun facts:
- One of the band members was a musician/painter/go-go dancer/stripper who called herself Ella Guru after the Captain Beefheart song. She married in drag on a Dorset cliff, rode a bike to Lithuania, and spanked Tory politicians in fetish clubs (*). What a queen. She’s the head in the fridge in the Kenuwee Head video, in case you’re wondering.
- They thank Bill and Ted in the Kenuwee Head liner notes lol



Choice tracks:








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(*) source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Guru

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