Queen Kwong has today released her new video for the track ‘State Trooper’ co-starring The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell, from her latest EP ‘Strangers’, out now via Sonic Ritual.
Originally a Bruce Springsteen song, Queen Kwong keeps the original musical approach of the original and spices it up with an assortment of electronica and crass without taking away, or adding anything unnecessary to an already legendary track.
Remaking an iconic song is always a gamble. Sometimes you tend to piss people off with accusations of desecrating the original. This is more of a reinvention. A different take, outside of the box, looking in at that original with glazed eyes and finger pointing at where it’s now going. A new song. Just enough guitar to harken back to the original, now filled with barely enough sparse background symphony to give it that little something extra, ‘State Trooper’ dares to go where no one dares to go and takes you there without your shoes just so you can feel how rocky that original road less traveled is.
Check out our other features with Queen Kwong HERE.
About ‘State Trooper’ & ‘Strangers’
“My intention for the video was to flip the male-gaze to the female gaze,” says Carré Kwong Callaway (a.k.a. Queen Kwong) about her new video “State Trooper.” Retaining the moody intensity of the Bruce Springsteen original from his 1982 standalone solo album, Carré’s cover transforms The Boss’ tale of a car thief’s evasion from the police into a narrative about women’s rejection of patriarchal thinking. Taken from her new four-track EP ‘Stangers’ which contains unconventional and thoroughly enjoyable reimagining of classic songs from The Rolling Stones (“Sympathy for the Devil”), Chris Isaak (“Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing”) and The Velvet Underground (“I Found A Reason”), “State Trooper” follows her intention of flipping the script on gender.
The video costars friend and fellow musician Roger O’Donnell (The Cure) at whose studio Strangers and her upcoming album due in 2025 was recorded. “I made this video on a whim while recording at Roger’s studio in England last month,” she recalls. “My friend, Mimi Supernova (with whom I made the ‘Without You, Whatever’ video), co-directed this video with me. We used random things we had access to at Roger’s. We went through his attic and found old TVs and camcorders.”
The moody and imposing video takes on an even stronger resonance, pointing to an almost voyeuristic commentary on the media and its hyper focus on women and appearance, unintentionally but perhaps subconsciously alluding to David Cronenberg’s Videodrome which dealt with similar themes. Carré’s intention, however, focuses on something even more important to her involving her costar’s role. “Roger’s appearance in the video portrays the ‘kill your idols’ theme, which has recently been a common message in my art and writing,” she explains, referencing the trope of skepticism towards celebrity and fandom culture that she does a deep dive in her Substack. “This Strangers EP serves as both a personal reconciliation and a way to honor the complicated legacy of rock n roll, even as I continue to push for a future where women have equal footing in the genre.”
About Queen Kwong
Queen Kwong has been making music since 2005 when she was discovered by Trent Reznor who invited her to open Nine Inch Nails’ With Teeth tour (2005), and again in 2009 and 2018. She has released three albums (Get a Witness in 2015 and Love Me to Death in 2018) and two EPs (2013’s Bad Lieutenant and 2019’s Oh Well). Her latest full-length Couples Only (2022) received massive amounts of attention from Rolling Stone, FLOOD, Black Book, FLAUNT, PopMatters, MARVIN, A.V. Club, among many others, and was dignified in numerous ‘Best Of’ lists that year.
“I’m nearly finished with a new full-length Queen Kwong record that will be released next year,” she hints. Recorded at O’Donnell’s aforementioned studio and co-produced with Darian Zahedi (CRX), the new record plans to continue the trajectory and momentum she created with her previous releases. “As per usual, many great musician friends of mine contributed parts including Nick Valensi (The Strokes) and Pete Holmström (The Dandy Warhols), and Tchad Blake (The Kills, Fiona Apple, The Black Keys) is mixing it,” she says excitedly. “It’s going to be a banger.”
Featured image by Darian Zahedi.
LINKS:
https://www.queenkwong.com
https://www.instagram.com/queenkwong
https://twitter.com/queenkwong
https://www.facebook.com/QueenKwong
https://www.youtube.com/user/rawrimeanmeow
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7eVMHPJuAw7Basmy5KYGk8
https://queenkwong.bandcamp.com
