Querelle are an Italian three-piece based in London, who sculpt their own carefully-composed sound out of a mixture of Blonde Redhead, The Lapse and Unwound. Each member of the band pulls the sound in a different direction, shifting the focus and playing with remarkable sensitivity, yet retaining a coherent whole that’s not only more than the sum of its influences, but also movingly beautiful (without resorting to any overwrought histrionics or cheap tricks). What’s more, they’ve got bucketloads of style, too.

Members:
Gypsy – guitar and vocals
Valentina – drums
Antokyo – bass

Location: London, UK
Formed: April 2002

What do you think you sound like, and how different is that from what other people have said or written about you?

They say that we sound like Blonde Redhead, Unwound and Sonic Youth, but we reckon we’re a cross between Lennon and MacKaye (Ian).

Tip us off – what great new bands are there in your locality, or that you’ve played with, that you’d urge the curious music fan to check out?

The Dudley Corporation (just short of heaven), Princess Headbutt, then probably Logan – they’re Italians and sound like a miracle (sorry, I’m sounding like the Pope myself!). Also Lomax – they’re very much needed these days.

Do you feel much affiliation with any community with regards to the music that you create/release?

Not at all, although there are people who follow us and they do things themselves, like being in bands we like or running club nights we go to. Well, that sounds a bit like a ‘scene’, but I don’t think we belong to any scene, or certainly we don’t feel that we do…

Where did you get your band name from?

It’s the name of a Jean Jenet character, and even more of a Fassbinder movie: his last, amazing tale of love, deception and beauty. We are Querelle.

Which is your favourite of your own tracks?

They’re all our beloved kids… you don’t make distinctions, do you?

What would you be willing to give up/sacrifice for success in your band?

Our marvellous nine-to-five daily jobs!

What does your family think of your music?

Mums are seduced, dads are scared.

You’ve been asked to contribute to a charity covers album. Which song(s) would you most likely cover?

That would have been ‘We Are the World’ – everyone was there but us, but it should happen again. We’d like to go for Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ – just a great piece of songwriting.

What’s your favourite bit of band kit? If diskant could buy one thing for your band for Christmas, what would it be?

A tour bus! DISCO!

What are the last couple of albums you bought and are they any good?

We haven’t bought these ’cause they’re not out yet but we’ve heard the next Oneida and Blonde Redhead albums: the former is a milestone, the latter is a tombstone (sorry…).

Choose between:

(a) Indie label or major label deal?

Indie label deal (with worldwide distribution).

(b) CD or vinyl?

Vinyl.

(c) Records or live music?

Records.

Sing us a song to send us on our way…

‘The only certain thing that is left about me / There’s no part of my body that hasn’t been used.’

Website: New website coming soon! The old one’s at www.querelle.tk

Records we can buy: ‘Carillon’ (12 split with Wow, Noistar Records), ‘Invisible’ (split 7 with the Dudley Corporation, Big Scary Monsters). We also appear on the following compilations: Unlabel, 23 (our track: ‘Sore’), Psycotica records, Fragments (‘Wind Me Up’), Loretta records, For Fun Only (‘Fairy Lights’), Small town america, Public Broadcast Service No.2 (‘Merry Xmas’).