It's The Right Time For Us" The Inspirational Rise Of Pillow Queens
“Pillow Queens are an all-female band from Ireland whose astonishing rise has been fuelled by a distinctive lo-fi sound and a preference for darker, and at times political, lyrics. They formed mostly through being mutual friends and have already entered the Top 20 Irish Charts with their latest single ‘Holy Show’.
With their debut album ‘In Waiting’ set for release later this month (September 25th), we spoke to the band’s guitarist and bassist Pamela Connolly over the phone.
The four-piece have a sound which is hard to define so we asked Pamela to do it for us. She admits that “our style, in terms of music, is hard to put a finger on”. She continues, “I mean, not that it’s so ‘out there’ that it’s hard to describe. I guess we’re like an indie rock band but we touch on a lot of other genres or are influenced a lot by other genres - whether that comes through in the music I’m not sure. If I was pressed, I would just say we’re indie rock”.
Pillow Queens have also been described as a ‘feminist band’ which is something that, while acceptable, is quite a broad way to refer to them and can cause frustration. How does being described as a ‘feminist band’ make you feel? “Well, it’s not a lie but it’s an easy thing to say when you see four queer women...OK, you can take a little bit longer than five minutes to describe what we are and maybe listen to the music a little bit. We are all feminists. Are we a ‘feminist band’? I would say: 'Feminist' isn’t a genre. It’s a political view or it’s a way of life’. Yeah, I would agree with it but, at the same time, I think it’s a bit of a cop out if someone was to just, you know, full stop and that’s the description of our band. It’s like saying, ‘Oh they’re an Irish band’. And it’s like, ‘Ok, yeah. And?’”
Author: Narzra Ahmed