INTERVIEW: THE ANTI-QUEENS ( Punk Rock Holiday 2.5)

 The Anti-Queens are insanely energetic rock and roll band with a punk rock character from Canada and one of the bands that I've heard for the first time this summer. Also, one of the coolest and funniest I've had pleasure interviewing.

Hi there, thank you for doing this. Can you please introduce yourself?

VK: Hi, my name is Valerie Knox. I play lead guitar and I sing backup vocals in The Anti-Queens.

EB: My name is Emily Bones and I sing lead vocals and play guitar in The Anti-Queens.

You are from Canada and you have been present on the scene for quite some time now, like since 2012.?

VK: So, Emily had another band before that and then the band name changed around 2011 I think, The Anti-Queens, 2011, 2012, and then you put out a couple of EPs. I wasn't even in the band at the time. I don't know why I'm telling this (laughter). But then they put this EP out called "Start Running" and then my other band took them out on tour, and we were like "you need another guitar player", we kept razzing them. And then Emily said "you know what, I think we are going to get one". So I'm like "can it be me?" and that was 10 years ago, that was 2015. So I've been in the band since 2015.

This is your first time at Punk Rock Holiday? What do you think so far and how is it for you?

VK: This is what I would imagine...

EB: We keep running into so many friends that are playing too and friends that have just come to show up to the festival that come like every year or two, so it's pretty wild.

VK: I didn't even know about this festival! I can't travel to go to festivals, I can only travel to go play them. So I didn't even know this festival existed. This is like punk rock summer camp!

So did you go to the beach yet?

EB: We haven't been down there yet. We got in last night, so it's gonna be nice surprise! 

Why the name Anti-Queens?

VK: Ok, so it comes from an old term called anti-king, which is like "tongue in cheek", because we're women, and it's, you know, about being women. But it's basically that anti-king was someone in a position of power that was more or less elected instead of, you know, having it handed down by monarchy. So it's a person of power for the people chosen by the people, for the people. 

Are you chosen by the people?

EB: Self elected! (laughter)

How come you have guys in the band?

EB: Ah, we've had so many members over the years and we've tried really hard to keep it women only, but shit happens!

VK: You know what, it really is a testament that this industry is still male dominated! We still can't even find players that you know, can commit to touring, that can commit to leaving home for some time, a month and a bit at a time. It's very hard and it's demanding! And with little financial pay out, you know, you have to love it and be willing to make sacrifices. 

EB: But we do get a lot of amazing experiences.

But financially?

EB: It's not as much as we would like, but we are working towards it, you know, we do pretty good. We're able to do it!

Do you have other jobs or is this it?

VK: We have, yeah, we both work full time when we're home. Actually, sometimes Emily works full time while we're on the road - she works remotely.

EB: Yeah, I brought my laptop so I've been working in the hotels and in the bus, the van...

So you are currently touring Europe?

EB: Nine countries. This will be 24th gig and the last one. We are going to stay tonight and we just have to drive to Munich tomorrow at some point, but I feel like we'll be able to stay for a little bit tomorrow, enjoy some of the day.

You released the album "Disenchanted" last year. What is the story behind the title? What does it mean?

EB: I don't know. Just disenchanted with the whole experience of, I don't know, the pandemic, then we've had issues with like band members, family members... I'm sure that for everybody it was really rough during pandemic, but we're so used to getting together in a room to jam and practice for shows and stuff, but we weren't allowed to see each other then and so we were writing everything in isolation. We were sending demos back-and-forth, it was like very lonely and sad.

VK: We had to learn how to basically become engineers to demo at home. That's not something we're used to doing. We usually , like Emily was saying, we would get in to a room and work out our ideas there, but we couldn't do that. We weren't allowed. We were in a lockdown for 3 months so we took a month off, got some rest and realized nothing was gonna happen any time soon, so we started writing and it was bittersweet because we had just put out our last album, the September 2019, so we didn't really get to tour that one. I don't think we did any actual touring and so then, you know, we just did what we do best and got creative and took inspiration for what was going on around us and it was really depressing.

EB: And now that, I guess, a year has passed, now that we listen back to it, I can, like, just feel the depression  in the songs because they are much slower, like mid tempo, compared to the first album.

VK: Yeah, this one is not as fast.

EB: You can hear the sad in music.

Was it all because of the situation you were in?

VK: That and because we didn't have the energy of being in the same room together, right? I think that had a lot to do with it. You are at home, you are mellow, you are gonna create mellow things that would match your mood.

EB: We're used to writing in like a jam space altogether and like going over ideas, taking time, going home and coming back the next week to get together again and it was so opposite from that.

VK: It was four years from when we started working on the album to when we released it.

So you started working in 2020. and released it in the 2024.?

VK: And even the recording process was like ... We had a lockdown in the middle of that, like December 2021. We've just finished tour with Danko Jones, our last show got canceled and we went to lockdown. We were supposed to go back into the studio, we'd already done some drums. Then one of our producers got cancer - he was dealing with cancer at the time while he was producing our album and being in studio with us. So everyone was really feeling it.

EB: We lost a drummer also. She didn't die, she joined her dream band Conquer Divide and she plays drums for them. She tried out years before and then they finally called her up so we couldn't say no you can't go.

How did you end up in this scene?

VK: For me it was rebellion. I grew up in the suburbs and I've been different my whole life. And I always felt different, I felt like an outcast and I saw bands when I was younger, rock bands that my family took me to see, and then I get to high school and I start meeting people that were like me and I'm like "oh, there is a community here, my people. There's more of me", so I started going to shows and it was such a great outlet for rebellion, for expressing myself and being weird and different. And I haven't looked back.

What was the first punk show you saw?

EB: Does Sum 41 count?

VK: Hm...I don't know really... I can't remember...

Who are you excited to see here?

VK: Iron Roses for sure!

EB: MakeWar and GOB are our besties.

And who would you like to tour with?

EB: On the bill or just in general?

Both.

EB: Well, GOB would be cool, but on the bill - I'm a big Turbo Negro fan and I am so sad we are not gonna be here for when they play because we're gonna be flying home, so I'm sad that we're gonna miss them. I would love to tour with them though.

VK: Refused! They would be cool too. I got so many new dance moves from them last night, I was like just watching him. I was amazed at how this man can move. And then, the message with Refused as well, it really aligns with us!

How would you describe your music?

VK: Rocky, punky, poppy, crungy, sassy, spicy, angry, fasty, funny... We make fun of ourselves a lot. Our main goal when we're playing shows is we like to play fast, we like to play heavy and we like to just be ourselves, which is we are brats! We are sassy. Not too serious, like burping into the microphone, really like self-deprecating humor. Emily calls herself a piece of shit every night on tour.

EB: I tell people I haven't showered in three weeks, stuff like that...

VK: And then I tell them she is not lying. And that I have to sleep next to her and she stinks. Oh, and then we talk about our periods and menstruation and we love to make those men uncomfortable, the one you know are not comfortable enough with themselves. The toxic men.

And what are your plans for the rest of the year?

VK: Well, we are going home, gonna tend to my dog, my plants, my birds and then go back to work for a few weeks. 

EB: And then we've got some festivals in Ontario, some shows with the Mad Caddies and then back to writing. I would like to write a non depressing album

VK: We've been really inspired by a lot of the bands we've seen out here, and were I am like "we need to get faster". I wanna write heavier, I wanna write faster. Yeah... 

Thank you so much for this chat. Have fun today, on and off stage. See you around and we'll have a drink later!

VK: Thanks. definitely!

Written by I.