Josie McQueen, an alternative/grunge rock band formed in 2012, have used the city as a launch pad to accelerate their career and tonight the hard-rorking band will release their third EP at The Camel as part of Radio Rubber Room’s Triple EP release party.
Josie McQueen, an alternative/grunge rock band formed in 2012, have used the city as a launch pad to accelerate their career and tonight the hard-rorking band will release their third EP at The Camel as part of Radio Rubber Room’s Triple EP release party.
Original members, Jesse Weygandt (Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Aaron Duda (Guitar/Leading Vocals) came down to Richmond from their hometown of Pittsburgh with the hopes of finding a more prominent music scene.
“We heard about Richmond from a few different sources,” Weygandt said. “We just moved down here and it’s actually been pretty awesome.”
Their new drummer, Rene Rivera, recently moved up from Florida and joined the band through Craigslist this year.
“Aaron put an ad on Craigslist looking for drummers because we didn’t know anybody in the area or anything and Rene answered before we moved down,” Weygandt said.
The result has been a new foundation in which the band can grow. Both were stoked about the addition of Rivera.
“He’s been one of the best things that’s happened to us since moving down here,” Weygandt said.
Now with the a newly formed band, Josie McQueen could get back to doing what they do best: making music.
The band wrote their latest EP, The Man is a Thief, in only a week and went the DIY route to produce the record.
“The recording process was different this go around,” Weygandt said. “We got done recording everything at our house, we never did it before but I have a Zoom r16 Digital Recorder and Rene has Logic Pro on his laptop so we kind of all put our heads together and did it in the garage or in the house. We’ve been in the studio before, but we’ve never been hands on like this.
After tinkering with their sound a bit, the band finished up the EP sent it out to David Kluf Studio to be mixed and mastered where it was finally finished in February.
The Man is a Thief is a five-track EP and Josie McQueen has already released their first single “Say What You Will” a catchy, alternative tune with a 90s vibe.
The Man is a Thief, the third project from Josie McQueen, is the beginning of a new vision the band has that expands from their second EP, Grody Noise, released in March 2015.
“Coming from Grody Noise, it was just Aaron and I because our bass player before quit so Aaron picked up bass…and then our drummer left…so we wrote Grody Noise together with no drums,” Weygandt said. “To come down here (RVA) and actually be apart of the scene and having Rene being such a huge impact on the band and helping us with everything, it’s actually kind of given us a direction.”
The inspiration from Richmond’s music scene, coupled with a nostalgic passion for 90s grunge rock, helped influence Josie McQueen’s sound. Recently the band has been looking into a lot of Black Keys, Cage the Elephant and Foo Fighters.
“We’re peppering in all different kinds of stuff trying to find different little things we like about everything right now,” Weygandt said.
With “Say What You Will” leading the way, the band’s The Man is A Thief looks to be a promising EP.
Currently the band is fundraising for a video for “Say What You Will” with local production company Vertical Sandbox Productions. You can contribute to the indiegogo campaign here.
Josie McQueen is working on June and July dates for shows and plan to tour the Northeast in the near future.
Catch Josie McQueen perform The Man is A Thief today, May 18 at The Camel alongside Turbo Mansion and Solar Tantrums who will also release EPs as part of Radio Rubber Room’s Triple EP release show. Physical copies will be available. Doors open at 9:00 P.M. Tickets are free.
