Stemme Magazine Issue 8 – Wildblood and Queenie interview

Tell us a little about yourself

QJ: I arrived in 1982 to study Expressive Arts at art college and since that September day I’ve loved being able to walk around the city, sipping coffee one moment, being blown away (literally sometimes) on the beach the next, murmurations and local characters and all. Waves crashing on Brighton’s pebbles is the soundest soundtrack to life I know.

KW: I turned up hungover the morning after a wild night in Brixton at The Fridge’s Venus Rising in 1990 and have been here ever since. For me it’s all about the disco family I have made, my nearest and queerest, be it at Shameless Hussies, Patterns, Sunday Sundae, B,Please!, The Tempest, Decent, Brighton Pride, or Club Barbra. Thanks to 4am random chats with strangers or dancing till dawn beachside with loved ones, Brighton keeps my soul grinning, one 12” at a time.

As a partnership of many talents, what’s your favourite ways to express yourself?

QJ: I’ve always loved to sing be it live, in the studio, bath or all-night diner! I’ve sung and written songs as Queue Dance, the Sunshine Sisters and with my band XiXi, the city’s first lesbian house music outfit. I’ve also worked alongside Goloka, Chris Coco (acid house DIY club banger anyone?) and Tru Thoughts goddess Abi Constance. I’m also partial to a little Wuthering Heights karaoke style. Wiley, windy moors and all that.

KW: For me, it has to be the radio. It is my castle and my comforter, where I can experiment and play (and watch my Queenie gallop!). Radio Reverb and now 1BTN have provided us with an opportunity to be who we are and bring the disco to our darling listener. There’s no judgement, just joy as Queenie and I share our love of disco and bring the lives of an Aspie lass and her camp Brighton wife to the airwaves. It has become my scheduled mental health saviour thanks to our 1BTN family’s support. It is our (soundproofed) bunker of love.

What draws you to comics?

QJ: I was beguiled at an early age by Wonder Woman, desperate to bring her superpowers to my life and as my drawing days developed I realised the pleasure of drawing a crowd in pen and ink. Over the years I’ve created characters and stories I hope connected to my readers, including Bootsy Sue, through Diva and GScene Magazine or with Queenie’s Strip Service. A service I hope captures the immediacy of storytelling that had me falling for comics all those years ago.

Can you tell us a bit about the content and why it’s important to you? 

KW: Having created Me, The Missus and BPD cartoon for GScene and The Huffington Post, we felt it was important to update my Asperger’s tale. Like so many others, finally discovering I had ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition) in 2016 was a liberating moment but trying to describe the reality of my atypical brain to others can be frustrating. Cartoons and Queenie’s pen gives me the freedom to declare with pride that autism and Asperger’s is not a label to be afraid of. My wiring may be gloriously wonky (something this queer lass loves) but ASC is a unique superpower. A superpower I hope will see the creation of many more proud Super Aspie Souls!

Where can we next catch you perform?

The Wildblood and Queenie Show. Every 1^st & 3^rd Friday 13:00-16:00 101.4FM DAB+ and online 1btn.fm Patterns NYE with Joy Division, Éclair Fifi and Wild Family. 31^st December. Patterns, Brighton. Queue Dance’s Full Stop compilation is out now on Firestation Records. Horse Meat Disco at Patterns. 21^st March 2020. Patterns, Brighton.

facebook.com/wildbloodandqueenie

Photo credit: Hannah Sherlock

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