With new sophomore record Thank You Good Night, Electric Street Queens want to remind you who the eff they are, and remind you at breakneck speeds. Album opener “Uh-Wella-Wella-Wella” wastes no time and bears the banshee screeches to prove their pluck in a heartbeat.
“This ain’t, ain’t no dream / I am a street queen,” lead singer Coco A-Go-Go howls with extra emphasis on those hyena-like eeeeeeees.
Though their camp needs little introduction (remember the sexy audacity of Queen Sized, the steamy vid for “Hot Cream,” and the like?) the Boston brats aim to reestablish their spunk on their latest work (released August 10), an opus that Coco A-Go-Go says also brings a more reckless musical range into the mix.
“I think the new album is more varied,” Coco tells Vanyaland. “I like to think we still follow the unspoken Queen formula, which is to work hard but not take ourselves too seriously. Some songs are angry and some are funny, and I guess we have two lust ballads with ‘Hot Cream’ and ‘Reba.’ On the second half of the record we had Matt ‘Marty the Pool Boy’ Carlson join us on drums. He’s now a full-time queen and we’re happy to have him!”
Still, their method for madness remains, and their sleaze-driven identity commands the attention of the Boston underground.
“To me a Street Queen is a few things,” Coco explains. “One is that its a person that is completely comfortable in their own skin. They’re a freak, they’re confident, they’re sexually empowered. They radiate a sexual confidence and can be a bitch and a weirdo but have a sense of humor. Their confidence is intimidating and intriguing. You know that scene in John Waters’ Female Trouble when Divine has an acid-burned face and is using the streets of Baltimore as her cat walk? She’s in a sickening dress and people are both clearing out of her way but also in awe. That, to me, is a street queen.”
Shared this past Saturday, the record release date also signaled the exit of guitarist Bobby Abraham; coincidentally, “Blame it On Bobby” marks itself as a standout from Thank You Good Night as a Cramp’ed up version of The B-52’s “Party Out of Bounds.”
“Bobby has been a part of ESQ for many years creating those guitar sounds we’ve all come to know and love,” Coco adds.”He is a queen that is going to be greatly missed. I’ve made art with him for over 15 years and played music with him for 10. Bobby and I met at Mass Art where we both majored in SIM (Studio for Interrelated Media). I saw one of his videos which ultimately made me choose SIM as a major but also made me be like ‘I gotta be friends with this guy.’”
It’s the end of an era for this particular crew of queens, but a new age for ESQ as a glittery whole. Peep Thank You Good Night in its seedy entirety below.