Mr Crispin Gray very kindly agreed to take time out to answer a few
questions for me in an e-mail interview this week. The questions were
mainly put by contributors to the 'queenadreena.net' forum.

I thought that you might be interested:

i'd like to know what guitar tuning you use...
i think it's CGDGBE but i'm not sure...
(From 'thermos') : Almost right - from low to high it's DGDGBE.

How do you think the band has changed and evolved through time, and
where do you think they might be going next? (From Rewak).

It's taken forever to get a band that plays well together and has
just enough common ground to stand on. Nothing on Taxidermy was ever
played by a live band until after it was all recorded. I played bass
as well as guitar and I told the hired drummer what to play - in
retrospect a very bad idea because I wasn't the right person to be
trying to make that kind of record. I didn't want it to be that way
but at the time we had one of our wonderful managers who stuck his
nose into everything and convinced us to employ a drummer and bassist
for live work after the recording. But unfortunately when we did
finally get a bassist and drummer it never felt right between us
instrumentally (nothing to do with Katie). I mean no offence against
either of them - we just didn't feel it the same way at all. When
Pete Howard came along we finally had the right drummer but then we
had a succession of bass players - none of whom were really right for
various reasons. Finally Nomi took over on bass and we had the type
of band I thought Queenadreena always should have been.
This made the recording of Djin by far the most enjoyable (for me
anyway) and the first proper record QA has done. I hope we get to do
another.



What were your reasons for playing bass with The Dogbones rather than
guitar? (From Rich) :

We're still not sure about this, we may go back to both playing
guitar or switching halfway through a set. Playing very small gigs
again with no crew etc. means we have to be as economical as possible
technically speaking. By that I mean making the set up as easy and
as quick as possible.


Your artwork is truly something! Have you ever considered creating
your own graphic novel or collection of your works? Or even an
exhibition? (From Sean) :

Thanks for saying that. Yes, I will consider an exhibition of some
sort when i've got enough work together. I'm also trying to
illustrate a childrens book.




What's your favorite QA record and why? Will we see more 'from the
vault' records like 'Ride A Cock Horse'? (From Dasher in the USA) :

Djin is easily the best one as far as i'm concerned. I don't really
like any of the other QA albums. I like the production, or sound, of
Taxidermy, but as a performance it's lifeless (hence the title). I
absolutely hate the cheap sort of new metal production on Drink Me.
That was done by this guy in L.A. that our (then) managers wanted to
use. Butcher And The Butterfly is far too long and, again, I don't
like the production - it's poised somewhere between live and
polished. Sorry to sound so negative but at least I can honestly
say I do like Djin very much. It's flawed but it is the sort of
album I always wanted QA to make. And it was, at long last, done by
us with no interference from managers or record company people.



Hey crispin your art is pretty amazing, What are you main unfluences
within art?

: Thank you very much. George Groz, Henri Rousseau and Ronald Searle.

How long have you been playing the bass? Do you Enjoy it much?

: I have played it before at various times. In fact I played all of
it on Taxidermy and wrote all the bass lines on Drink Me (although
that wasn't hard as they're all about one or two notes each). I
enjoy it yes but, to be totally honest, not quite as much as the
guitar. Live it's quite fun because I hardly ever have to look at
the neck.

Do you have any musicall talent juice that i could posibly have some
of please? (all from 'The Woodnymph)

: I know this will probably sound like false modesty but I don't
think I really have talent for anything other than working hard.
Katie has what I would call natural talent.



Are you planning a UK tour to promote 'Djin', and will it go outside
London? (Hannah Daisy) : I certainly hope we will. We still haven't
decided with who or if we're going to license it in the UK and France
etc.

I'm fairly sure there will be an out of town gig before the 100 Club.



Why so little exposure in the US? (meaning why do then never tour
here? 1 show in NYC doesn't count) :

We actually played three shows in New York and two in Los Angeles in
total but I know what you mean.
It's simple - we can't afford to go out there ourselves and no one
wants to pay us enough to do it.

Is music your only profession or do you supplement your income with
other endeavors ie graphic arts? :

Music is my only profession but I do make a bit extra by charging
rent to a flatmate.


Can we expect any more vinyl pressings of forth coming releases?

: Katie seems to think that's a good idea. I haven't a clue. Do
lots of people still have turntables?


How did you like Japan? : Yes I like it, although the last time I was
there it didn't seem as weird or different as the first two times I
went. I don't know if that's me, or Japan is becoming more like the
west or something.

Will the concert from Istanbul ever be issued? (think it was Istanbul
they played a few years back correct? heard a few clips sound quality
was excellent .. think they made a tour film aka documentary of the
event) (all from 'Otto' in Chicago)

: I'm sorry but unfortunately I don't know anything about this. They
may have filmed it but of I don't remember anything like that
happening. We did play Istanbul and three other cities in Turkey. I
remember the hired amps they gave me weren't loud enough. Also I
remember Katie and I being stared at a lot in the streets.



1) Considering the landscape in music right now, and with quite a
number of bands deciding to sell their albums/singles/etc themselves
rather than dealing with record labels (NIN, Radiohead before signing
with XL, Katiejane herself with Ruby Throat), do you feel that this
approach fits Queen Adreena better? And do you believe that by
selling your records yourselves, and as Katiejane has done with Ruby
Throat, offering limited edition pressings with extras and charging
slightly more for them, it builds a stronger relationship with your
fans and perhaps earns all of you more profit?

I do think there are obvious advantages to selling them ourselves.
For instance, by making Ride A Cock Horse (which took a lot of time
but was extremely low in cost to make) we were then able to record
Djin with the profits. The problem is we don't have enough money to
expand - we don't have money to put into press or radio plugging and
so on. Also, recording and rehearsing a full rock band, and putting
them on the road, is far more costly than something like Ruby Throat
or Ride A Cock Horse. Ultimately we may have to find a way of
combining our own resources with some more "old school" things like
record companies. We could never have gone to Japan without record
company involvement.


2) I heard something about QA looking to acquire the rights
to 'Taxidermy' to possibly re-release it themselves. Did discussions
ever take place with the original record label (Blanco y Negro I
think?) and if so, did anything come of it?

I think we, or someone on our behalf, did ask Blanco (Warners) about
that but I don't know whatever happened with it. We got caught up in
too many other problems - which always seems to happen. Personally
i'd rather just re-record Taxidermy. I think there is a real
possibility of that happening at some point.


3) Has there ever been a point during your career when you began to
lose hope in being successful, and felt like giving up and trying
your hand at something else? (all from 'Me&myIV' (Andrew))

: I'd be lying if I said that wasn't always at the back of my mind.



I notice that the UK record label listed on the Queenadreena Myspace
is Deva. Is this your own label? and is it the same label that put
out the Daisy Chainsaw records in the 90's? (From 'bluishblack')

: Theoretically yes, although we haven't actually put anything out
under that name since then - yet.



In a career spanning many years, with great songs and bands along the
way, which of your achievements are you proudest of?

"Love Your Money" and "Djin".


What is the process you have for writing songs and are songs easier
or harder to write now than when you started out?

It's a different process writing with Katie in Queenadreena then
doing it on my own in Daisy Chainsaw or The Dogbones.
With Katie it's very often just playing one simple thing over and
over again, sometimes for hours, while she improvises over it.
By myself I come up with a guitar line I like, then decide on some
sort of "melody" and then shove words into it. Recently i've tried
coming up with the words first and finding a melody to suit them,
which I think might be a better way to go.


What's your favourite wine? (all from 'Mike')

: I generally seem to like Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and South
African Pinotage but really anything from any part of the world will
do if it tastes good. I don't like white wine very much.



What was your childhood like? Is there a moment that has stayed with
you? (from 'anonymous')

: I was (still am) very lucky to have fantastic parents and sisters.
I wasn't too sure about the rest of the world though. Still
not.........
I remember going to my great aunts house in Guildford and my father
asking me to pour his glass of sherry down the sink when my aunt
wasn't looking.



And finally, one from me: How did you persuade KatieJane to sing 'X-
ing off the days', and will you ever play it live again?

: I think she agreed to sing one of mine because I agreed to play on
and arrange two of her songs on Taxidermy - "Madraykin" and "Hide
From Time". I think she chose "X-ing Off The Days", I probably would
have chosen something else. I doubt we will ever play it again - but
you never know.