The Queen And King

See what the Nashville based electro pop duo, The Queen And King (Caroline Shumate and Greg Graves) have in store for fans and look for Pep Talk in 2016.

What brought you two together?

Caroline: Greg and I actually met in high school and we're always people who did back-up band for things; we both have an instrumental background and so he would either play bass or guitar for somebody and I usually played guitar or drums for somebody, so we got to know each other through high school. Then, our freshman year of college, he was like, 'I am moving to Nashville to do audio engineering school,' and I just kind of followed so, here we are [laughs].

Which musicians have you been inspired by?

Caroline: Definitely Tove Lo, Betty Who, Lights, Halsey.

What's in your playlist now?

Caroline: Our playlist is very eclectic; we listen to a lot of hip hop, pop from '80s, '90s, 2000s.

Greg: Phil Collins.

Caroline: We actually just created a Spotify playlist called 'January Jams' that people can listen to and kind of see what's in our playlist this month.

How would you describe your sound?

Caroline: Our sound is like dark, electronic pop.

You just released the acoustic version of "Trouble"; what was the inspiration behind that song?

Caroline: Well, a couple of summers ago, the show, Orange Is The New Black, was on Netflix and I was watching it and was just kind of inspired by some of the relationships in that show, so I wrote that song about that.

Could you sum up your Cavities EP in one sentence?

Caroline: Ooh, [laughs] I have to think about that for a second. I think Cavities is just the beginning: it is just kind of an introduction to TQK, because our songs have gotten better, our production has gotten better; it's just a taste of what's to come.

Greg: I'm pretty on board with that.

Could you tell us more about your other forthcoming EP, Pep Talk, and how it compares to your previous releases?

Caroline: Absolutely! The new EP is definitely more concentrated. I think, lyrically, it's very dense content and production wise we just went up a whole step.

Greg: We hired a producer. We had an actual producer make that entire EP with us and it was perfect because we had a separate set of ears, someone who was more experienced than us in actually writing songs and making music. You'll be able to tell the difference between Cavities and Pep Talk, because there's just a massive difference.

Caroline: But, I think just the songs are better, the lyrics are better, the production is better. We're just so excited to get it out there, but Cavities was a great first step for us and I think we learned so much about ourselves and where we wanted to take the next music, the direction that we wanted to go with the next music.

Is there a track from Pep Talk you're most excited for your listeners to hear?

Caroline: I don't know, my mind changes on that. Every week it's a different song that I'm excited to release.

Greg: Yeah, whenever I come back to listening to the EP again, there's always a new song that I get really stoked for people to listen to, but it's always different.

You've been putting out covers on Spotify and YouTube, why choose to do that while still working on your EPs?

Caroline: So, whenever we started the band - I guess it was a year and a half ago, almost two years ago - we kind of were trying to figure out our sound because we are both instrumentalists at the base of it. We were kind of figuring out what genre we wanted to go towards and so we thought that trading covers and experimenting with different sounds and different genres to figure out what was the best fit for us would be a great introduction to creating our own music and seeing which genre fit the best for us. And apparently, I mean, people like them.

Greg: Also, people love content and we definitely needed something out there. We wanted to put something out before we released an EP, I guess, and that's another reason. Whenever we started, we were making all of those videos, all of those covers, and it was just so that people could have something; if they were ever to talk about us they could actually open Spotify or YouTube and find us. I think that was how we started on that whole cover thing.

What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?

Caroline: We just want people to connect. My greatest hope is that somebody will listen to one of our songs and be like, 'yeah, I get this, I could have written this song'.

Greg: Yep, and dance.

Caroline: And dance, definitely dance.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

Caroline: We're just so excited to keep putting music out there and keep growing the number of ears that listen to our music.

Website             Facebook             Twitter             SoundCloud             YouTube             Spotify             Instagram             Tumblr

Tameca Jones

What got you interested in music?

Tameca Jones: I've always been interested in music but it wasn't until I had my twins - I became pregnant with twins in college, I was an English major at Baylor and I decided to become an entertainment attorney, for some reason, and I got pregnant with twins - and after I had them I had to figure out some kind of career path and I always knew that I could sing, so I just decided to make money that way. It was kind of the only thing I could do, because I have narcolepsy and an 8-5 job just wasn't the best for me 'cause I'd have to drive long distances and I'd be sleepy and I'm a single mother of twins, so I just kind of went into music as a desperate attempt to make a living at something that I knew I could do.

Which artists have you been influenced by?

It's crazy, it's changed so much. At the beginning, it was definitely more rock, like Led Zeppelin and British rock and American rock - like Nirvana - and a lot of pop, but now it's got more soul like Donny Hathaway, Tina Turner, and Aretha; it's just all over the place, pretty much. I have a lot of contemporary influences as well, but those are the influences I've had growing up in the past: the pop and the rock.

Is there an artist you're hooked on right now?

You know, it's funny, I listen to a lot of old '90s music - like a lot of old Timbaland and Missy Elliot stuff - a lot of old RnB I listen to just for the production value. I've been listening to that a lot lately, for some reason.

How would you describe your own sound?

It's definitely evolved since I found a producer to work with who has let me grow and hasn't put me on a leash and made my sound his sound. It's definitely evolved to more of a soul/pop, because before it was more soul with contemporary sprinkles, but now it's kind of switched to contemporary with soul sprinkles, because my voice is always going to be soulful. The producer for the song "Hot and Bothered", he said my voice reminded him of Tammy Burell or Marvin Gaye, he said my voice has this whole soul quality to it, so anything I do is going to be soulful, but I just love the electronic, synthy pop kind of music. It's just evolved to more contemporary with soul. 

What inspired your single, "Hot and Bothered"?

I had a crush on this guy that I was texting and I'm super shy and I just found this loop on GarageBand and it was just cool with this soul, motown basis, and I just played it over and over again and I wrote this song about him. It was pretty easy to write - they all came that easy - but that was extremely easy to write about my crush [laughs].

That track is off your forthcoming EP, what can you tell us about that EP?

I've been working so hard on this EP. My friend, Gary Clark, for example, he knows his sound and he knows what he's going for because he plays an instrument and he's like, 'I want this sound and this sound and this sound'; I don't have a sound yet, it's constantly evolving. So, I think you can expect more stuff like "Hot and Bothered", but it's kind of like a big stew of influences and genres. I have some electronic stuff, one kind of reggae-ish tune, and one soul/throwback song that's Aretha-like; it's just all over the place. I just want to throw something on the wall to see if it sticks and it's kind of all over the place now until I figure out the sound. I kind of have sonic ADHD, because I like this certain genre and then I like this certain genre; I kind of cut and paste. It's just going to be a sonic stew of genres.

Was that track you did with Gary Clark Jr any indication of the sound we can expect on the EP or was it just done outside of your album?

Yeah, that was like a fun, outside of my album song. I've known Gary for years and I've been trying to work with him forever but we just couldn't coordinate our schedules, and then, finally, Gary was working on his second album and he heard me singing the demos that he wrote for his song and he asked me to come and lay it down and I was like, 'oh my gosh, what a huge honor'; and that song was so sexy, I think that's probably my favorite song on the album. That was a huge honor and I love Gary so much. I want to collab with him in the future, but it just didn't work out for my EP because he's working on his new album and touring and whatnot, so we just couldn't connect, but hopefully one day... [Laughs]

What do you want listeners to take away from your music?

I just want to move people with my voice and my words and my tone. I make use of tone and I just want someone to get chills when they hear my voice, because it's taken me a lot of hard work to understand tone and phrasing and just the little nuances of people's voices. I've been studying that for so long and I just want people to be touched by my tone and my phrasing and for it to be refreshing. I want to refresh people. Refreshing, hands down [laughs]. 

Website             Facebook             Twitter             SoundCloud             Instagram

Peppermint Heaven

What brought you two together?

Spark: Musical similarities.

Juno: Yeah, so we were in a band together in Chicago some years ago and we wrote music together-

Spark: We wrote music together and had somewhat of a good career in Chicago-

Juno: But then we came out to LA and, after a bit of a break from each other, reconnected a few years back and formed this new group, Peppermint Heaven, and now we're making some inspired new music.

Where does your name, Peppermint Heaven, come from?

Juno: Oh, Peppermint Heaven comes from an obscure pre Smiths Morrissey song that we ran across in one of his bios or interviews and it was just kind of like a really interesting name. That particular song I don't think was ever released, it was something that came from Morrissey and, of course, we're influenced a lot by the '80s, so it seemed to fit well.

Spark: And peppermints are wonderful things. They taste like heaven.

Which musicians, other than Morrissey or The Smiths, have you been influenced by?

Spark: David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie.

Juno: We have to pay tribute to David Bowie. 

Spark: Brian Eno. That whole alternative stuff has stayed with us.

Juno: '80s groups like Simple Mind or Pet Shop Boys, New Order, that whole world, you can hear that influence in our new album, Precious Things, available for sale on January 29th. A shameless plug.

Which David Bowie track would be your favorite?

Spark: "Ashes to Ashes" is one of my favorites, I love that, I loved that.

Juno: I would say, thinking back to "Golden Years" and Young Americans, that period. But, there's so much rich music and I'm glad to see so many people paying attention again to this great artist.

Spark: Yes, the Earthling album was very impressional to me. I enjoyed every track from that album.

How would you describe your own sound to someone who had never heard you?

Spark: It's like an '80s dance club kind of rock, if you mix it all together, it's like something fun to play in the '80s but there's a rock n' roll, a rock edge kind of thing, a seriousness to the music.

Juno: Yeah, it also has a contemporary feel, a modern feel, but it definitely has that '80s vibe - not Huey Lewis, but more of New Order.

Spark: Yeah, I would say something that would be played in the clubs in Europe or something in '85 and in Berlin they'd play some of this music at night.

What was the inspiration for your single and video for "The Cage That We Live In"?

Juno: The video is actually directed by a UK director, his name is Pierce G Wilson, and animated by a Taiwanese animator, Jeremy Zhang, and their inspiration came from the lyrics of the song which are kind of talking about breaking free of limitations; we don't want to explain our lyrics too much, we'd rather have people interpret them for themselves, but the video is just a couple of guys driving around in the snow and spinning their car and they end up painting some graffiti on an abandoned building and it's animated so it is really quite cool. You all should see it.

Spark: The bird's eye animation is really unique - that's where you're looking down from the sky - and each video that I've seen that has that kind of thing in it, it's really cool; you're looking down upon the scene so it's a good thing to check out. They're fun.

Juno: We're doing seven videos in support of the album that are all animated, all done by the same guys in England, and we're trying to create a continuity and a theme and something unique, and it's more like a hand-painted watercolor looking animation, some of the characters don't have faces, some do have faces. 

Spark: The plots all tie together, so the same characters are in each one; it'd be kind of neat to see all seven in a row, like a little movie. 

Juno: The next one is called "Decide 4 Yourself" and it's just been unveiled. We're working with a website called PopWrapped and they're doing our exclusive unveiling of each video; this week they unveiled "Decide 4 Yourself". Everyone check those out, please!

That single is off your forthcoming album, Precious Things; could you tell us more about that album?

Spark: "Talk To Me". Listen to "Talk To Me", that is a big one. That's a powerful message, that track there. "Talk To Me" is really a wonderful thing.

Juno: Yeah, we're getting some great feedback on that track; it's more of a harder edge sound, but the album goes from that harder sound to a more acoustic, haunting track called "The Girl I Used To Know" which is pianos and acoustic guitars and still keeping in the same vibe as the album, but we're trying not to have every track sound the same. There's a good range of darker indie pop sounds on there that we hope our fans will enjoy.

What do you want listeners and fans to take away from your music?

Spark: I think a love of the arpeggiator, which was invented by somebody [laughs]. Most of the songs carry arpeggiations, which is an amazing thing to listen to; the automatic, arpeggiating, rotating computer kind of thing, if you're a novice to it. But, just, each one is a different flavor kind of arpeggiating system.

Juno: And drum loops.

Spark: Yeah, but repetitive arpeggiating things, that New Order did and stuff like that, but that would be neat to have people really get benefits from the world of arpeggiators and to invest in some arpeggiation in your life [laughs].

Juno: We're big fans of that.

Spark: It's a wonderful thing, each one's different.

Juno: We hope people take away a love of the music and continue to look out for us, 'cause we'll be coming out with more of our music later this year, as well, after the album. We're working on another group of songs.

Spark: Our second album is being formed. It's wonderful! We're excited for that.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

Juno: We have remixes that have been completed for three of the tracks on the album; AMPM remixed "The Cage That We Live In" and Damon Hess and Deep Matter remixed "Words Colliding" and we will be releasing these dance remixes about a month after the album, late February, so we're going to be hitting the dance clubs and dance music fans and DJs with these alternate versions of the tracks, so keep an eye out for that, as well. 

Website             Facebook             Twitter             SoundCloud             YouTube             Tumblr

Julius

I read you were an English major on a pre-law track, so why choose to do music now?

Julius: In high school I started doing music and writing songs - just messing around a little bit, nothing really too major - but it kind of progressed into something that I realized was my passion and I slowly realized that less of my time was being devoted to my schoolwork and more of my time was being devoted to my music, so I made the decision to focus on what I really cared about.

Do you remember what the first song you wrote was about?

Oh my god [laughs] I have no idea. I started writing raps - I didn't actually write real songs until pretty recently - and my raps were just like a combination of everything that I was going through at the time. When I listen back to them I just can't believe I was this immature; I was a kid, but you gotta start somewhere.

Which artists have influenced you?

I'm kind of influenced by everyone, I don't just listen to one genre or anything. I hope you can tell that in my music, that I don't try and stick to necessarily one type of music. I listen to a lot of rap music and, right now, Kendrick Lamar is top of my playlist; not only because he's just a great lyricist and his flow and everything, but just the message that he spreads out, I just think there should be a deeper meaning behind your songs and I think he does that quite well.

Which words would you use to describe your own music?

Unique. Honest. I don't really try too much, when I write my songs it just happens. Whenever I'm feeling something, it's always kind of been my outlet, my way of venting. I used to be a lot more personal and I would keep things to myself, but I realized, sometimes by sharing them and sharing what I'm going through, I can help other people and, hopefully, other people are able to relate with what I'm going through.

What was your inspiration for "Save Me"?

That is my most honest song because I really just didn't hold back. I was going through a lot of things at the time, I was just in this transition period; I actually, I started out going to a college in Charleston, my freshman year, and my sophomore year I went to Fordham. So, that was the beginning of going to Fordham and I was kind of in this transition period in my life and I was just acting really, really weird - not myself - and I knew it was affecting my girlfriend and I knew she was as upset about what I was going through as I was and it was kind of just a song telling her, 'I'm sorry for everything that I'm doing,' but at the same time telling her I need her and she's my support; she's what's helping me get through it.

Is that sound indicative of what we can expect to hear on your forthcoming EP?

"Save Me" is on the EP but, yes, you can expect to hear a lot more singing than I've ever done before, but not necessarily the same exact sound; I don't think any of my songs really have the same sound. I don't try and go for a sound, I just go for what I'm feeling at the time and, I don't know, I'm excited for people to hear the EP just because it is a combination of so many different sounds that I think it's going to be able to reach so many different people.

Could you sum up you EP, One, in a sentence?

Yeah, honest, it's really honest; it's me. 

I put everything I had into this. I've been working on this, I tell people a year, year and a half, but it's been way longer than that; I've been working on this for so long. I probably wrote over 60 songs for this project and cut it down to 5 so, yeah, you can expect to see me on this.

Do you think you'll be bringing any of those cut tracks back?

The thing is, I have no idea. Right now, there's no imminent plans for an album, so we're just kind of going with it, seeing what happens. I actually really excited, I did a song recently with Riff Raff and we also shot a video together and so that's going to be coming out probably sometime in the upcoming months, after my EP, and I'm really looking forward to that because I know that people are going to like that.

What do you hope listeners can take away from your music?

I just hope that they can relate to what I'm saying. Music, for me, has always been kind of like a therapy for me, in a way. I didn't have to talk to anyone, I didn't have to do anything, I would just listen to things that other people were going through and I could relate it to myself and I hope people can do that with my music. That would be the ultimate goal, is if I could help people. I'm really no different from anyone else, so I'm going through the same things that everyone else is and I just would love to be able to be a voice for other people.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

My EP, One, is coming out January 22nd, so be on the lookout for that and, like I said, I have a song coming out with Riff Raff and, also, we did a video for "Save Me" with Jessica Richens; it was great, she came in third place on So You Think You Can Dance, I think Season 11, and she was great and we had a great time shooting the video. I'm excited for that to come out, that should be coming out pretty soon.

Website             Facebook             Twitter             SoundCloud             YouTube             Instagram