Queens, Dreams and Devil Honey
Its been a wild few weeks to say the least. Mentally , abroad , everywhere.
In personal news my beloved Electric Street Queens played our " Farewell for now" show. I'll never say last show. I was trying to articulate how special this band is to me and honestly found it really hard to put into words. Well, surprise I tried to put it into words and that is the essay you'll see below.
I’ve been reflecting a lot about the street queens lately as our last show approached. On Saturday when we played our “ goodbye for now” show I felt like I was having an out of body experience the whole time. I love being on stage, this time was different. I felt like I was floating above, watching it with the crowd. Nearing the end of our set Marty was like “do you wanna say something for our last song ?” Our last song ? Holy shit? I’m about to sing our last song ? What do I do after this ?
It's been a few days and after running on full adrenaline I'm crashing. I’m being hit with the sadness of a band taking a break or ending ( for the time being). I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to me , to be a street queen. 14 plus years is a long time , it's hard for me to imagine not having an upcoming show.
I love being on stage - I LOVE singing in a band. Nothing has felt freer to me. I remember years ago in my old band Gone Bad someone said I was putting on a persona on stage. And I was like no, I’m just me. If I acted like that 24-7 I’d be a nightmare but it's not an act , it's how I feel , it's who I am.
During the pandemic when we couldn’t play shows or practice or be near loved ones like most people I was bouncing off the walls. Stress of covid , dying family members depression ect ect… My biggest outlet - playing live music - off limits for the unforeseeable future. I remember talking to long time friend and Queenie Bobby Abraham about just how crazy I felt . He said something that had never really occurred to me before. Bobby Abraham said “I think being in a band / playing music is really tied to your mental health , you need it”. I had never thought of it that way.
Being in the street queens was truly saving my life . It kept me sane, it kept me grounded. It was this great artistic outlet joining together music, art, my friends and yes exercise.
Jumping around on stage and screaming is a feeling like no other . But the other part of that is playing with people you love. Goofing off .Trying to crack each other up on stage or whatever wacky practice space you’re in. Its coming into a practice space with water coming out of the ceiling and laughing at all the cockroaches running. Or hiding in your practice space quietly while your musical neighbor threatens to come back with a gun. ( He did not threaten us, it was him and another dude's beef. We happily stayed out of it :) )Or maybe it's a special moment of seeing your other practice space neighbors “ art studio” but it's actually a closet with a red sox banner and a poster of a girl's butt. These are bonding moments.
I LOVE BEING IN A BAND. It's coming up with news songs or video ideas. It's Sam constantly threatening to play a limp bizkit riff ( Sam please don’t). I took the street queens seriously because I love music but I took being silly pretty seriously too.
There have been many queens over the years but I think being able to laugh is one of the biggest common threads throughout the band and one of my favorite parts of it. I can’t say who the funniest Queen is ( Reba ) because everyone brought something to the table.
It's hard for me to truly put into words how much this band means to me. I’ve changed so much and grown with it over the years. Like I said it's a massive part of me . I’ve had people come up to me like “do you sing in this band ?” Beaming proudly I’m like oh yea! And the response is like “oh you made a phone call on my friends phone in the set” or “interrupted my first date” or “ you crawled all over me” whoops but OH - the memories!
One time a dude walked in mid set and I made an announcement he was my father and much to this strangers dismay people kept asking him about being my Dad. It was visibly annoying him because to be fair he walked into the bar having no clue what was happening. But at the end of the set he said as a Dad he should buy me a congratulatory beer for a job well done. Thanks fake Dad! Also shout out to all the people I’ve crawled on over the years and who have carried me on their shoulders! The last time we played at Ralph’s I yelled so loud I peed my pants ( and by pants the underwear I was wearing) and then ended up climbing on Joe Packards shoulders and later admitted he may have gotten pee on him . I’m sure it was fine. So thanks to all those brave and buff souls over the years that hoisted me up , or made sure the mic cord didn’t get tangled.
And who could forget about all the queens ? I fucking LOVE the queens . We’ve done so much cool shit over the years. Played so many fun shows, had so many laughs. I’m crying just thinking of it.
The queens are forever for the freaks and weirdos.
Our final song we all played together was “A- wella - wella” the last verse being ‘ THIS AIN’T AINT NO DREAM / I AM A STREET QUEEN / THIS AINT AINT NO DREAM / I AM A STREET QUUUUUEEEEN”. I think that sums it up except playing in the queens has also been a dream come true. See you freaks at the reunion show.
QUEENS 4 LIFE .
Thanks for listening to our tunes. We’ll be back
XXX Coco
Shout out to the royal queen roster:
Scram Mulligan , Bobby Abraham , Marty the Pool Boy , Reba Mcentire , Hondo , Frank the summer Queen , Randy Sadoway , Mel Vacation
As a little queenie I'm always busy. So , I decided to put out a single under my solo endeavor Devil Honey this week. you can hear it HERE:
Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 25, 2024
My fellow queenie Scram also put out a solo single this week! Can't slow us down! You can check out his single below. Keep a look out for more from him because he's dropping a crazy pizza record in May and its gonna be VERY COOL!!
