Issue 43: Prima Queen
Welcome to The Band Bible! I’m truly glad to have you here. If you’re a new reader, purpose of this newsletter is to address, break down, and shine a light on the business of being in a band. Each issue, this is done by interviewing (and celebrating!) someone who is making waves through their incredible work with artists, or is an artist themselves. Learning the business of being in a band is something that is often inaccessible or shrouded in mystery, and it shouldn’t be, so I hope The Band Bible is able to play even a small role in helping to change that.
It’s extremely unlikely that Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden would have ever met.
Macphail is a Bristolian. McFadden, on the other hand, is a Chicagoan. They spent most of their lives in opposite corners of the globe, unaware of the other’s existence. Yet, magic struck when McFadden opted to do a semester abroad in London as an undergraduate — a decision that ultimately landed her and Macphail in the same songwriting course.
After experiencing a near-instant connection during their time studying together, a friendship and creative partnership took hold. Kismet crashed with reality when McFadden eventually had to return to the US, but the duo didn’t let a little long distance stop them. They continued to create and collaborate remotely, and later, McFadden found a way to immigrate back to the UK. Together again long at last, Macphail and McFadden could hone in on allowing their band, Prima Queen, to flourish.
And flourish they did. They began steadily releasing new work (notably 2023’s Not the Baby), which was met with critical celebration. In tandem, the strength of their live performances have landed them in slots at Glastonbury, SXSW, Pitchfork Paris, and alongside Everything Everything, Wet Leg, and fellow Chicagoans Whitney.
Last month, the work the duo have put in over the course of the near-decade since their chance encounter in class culminated in the release of their debut album, The Prize. The Prize is a comfort as much as it is a delight, and that’s a nod to Macphail and McFadden’s ability to put their finger on the pulse of so many interconnected aspects of the human experience.
On The Prize, Prima Queen taps into growth with such a distinctive sense of affection. There’s a knowing that it seldom happens in a silo, however lonely it may make us feel. Life’s ebbs and transitions are so frequently caused and eased by the people in our lives, and it is through these dynamics that we can learn more about ourselves, become stronger. For example, “Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg)” chronicles the liberating realization that you shouldn’t — and don’t even want to — hang around and “beg for the love” of someone who is only, metaphorically speaking, giving you crumbs rather than the full meal you deserve. While that person absolutely sucks, the lessons and eventual evolution taken from the time spent with them are important and lasting. On the other side of the coin lies “The Prize,” the album’s splendid title track that is like a warm pep-talk from a close friend set to music. “The Prize” celebrates the joy of remembering your worth, and having people in your life who will give you the gentle nudge needed to do so. This is, after all, how the day breaks after the dark of night.
The Prize also shines through its many instances of vibrant, vivid storytelling. The opening lines of “Meryl Streep” drops you right in the thick of heartbreak on a long-haul flight. The scene is set: the mini bottle of wine, the airplane food, watching a film starring the titular actress as a distraction, and trying to curl up and sleep on the stiff chair. It’s an environment you can hear, smell, taste, feel. Prevailing over it all is the aching familiarity of trying to navigate all-consuming emotion in the most banal of public environments. Life is peppered with moments of trying not to cry while in line at the post office, swallowing down dread on the bus, fighting a fire inside in the produce aisle, and feeling on the brink of utter collapse in the office. To see this often unspoken yet completely universal experience in song is so satisfying.
Similarly, “Ugly” begins on the “Saturday of Glastonbury.” Immediately, you can hear the squish of Wellies in the mud and breathe the thick air that gathers under festival tents. “More Credit” plonks us down in a McDonald’s ball pit with an ice cream cone in hand. You can see the endless orbs in primary colors, the papery cone beginning to lose its structural integrity under the heaping dollop of soft serve. Throughout The Prize, Prima Queen prove themselves as true masters of the moment — creating it, infusing it with life, and drawing the listener into it as if they were there too. As a result, these moments, of which there are many, positively sparkle with life.
Photo by Kiera Simpson
The Prize is a life-affirming work. It taps into the emotional swirl of people pulling us into and out of gloom, and how we grow and change for the better as a result. In doing so, The Prize reminds us that we’re never without power, even when it doesn’t feel like it. For when it doesn’t feel like it, when the concept of normality feels absolutely mythic and feeling small becomes a mainstay, we’re surviving something. The fact that we did so will serve as a source of empowerment later on. Pain, after all, can be one of our greatest sources of intel. The album also beautifully encapsulates life’s transience. Even when things are tough, lightness will find us again — there will eventually be a “Flying Ant Day” to serve as a tonic for every “Mexico” we live through. This makes The Prize an album for who we are and who we will become in equal measure.
Chiefly, The Prize bubbles with the big-hearted love that can only be found in art made by two friends who overcame miles and borders to be able to create together. The synergy between Macphail and McFadden is Prima Queen’s engine, an engine that will undoubtedly propel them to heights greater and anew. The Prize may be their first album, but they’ve already cemented their status as one of music’s most exciting creative partnerships today.
Thank goodness for that songwriting course.
In the interview you’re about to read, which was conducted a few weeks prior to the release of The Prize, Prima Queen discusses what it’s like to wait for a milestone release to arrive, how they hope listeners connect with the album, the “commandment” they’re leaving in The Band Bible, and more. Enjoy.
Hitting the debut album milestone is a big deal, and The Prize is just a few weeks away from its release. What is it like to be waiting for your debut album to come out?
It’s like having a secret you’ve been holding on to for years! We recorded the album at the end of 2023 so now that it’s finally coming out it feels a bit surreal, but it was so nice to have time to really be intentional about the entire thing - the title track “The Prize” wasn’t written/recorded until 6 months after we thought we finished the record! Our relationship to the songs always changes once they're out in the world, so now that people are going to finally hear it all is just so exciting!
How did you grow while creating The Prize?
The album has a lot of themes around growth because all the songs are stories and conversations from a 9 year stretch of time in our lives. There are different versions of ourselves within these songs, and we think you can hear that as you listen through. There’s a lot of coming to peace with yourself and the past. While we were recording this album we were able to experiment more than we ever had before and our producer Steph Marziano really enabled us to find our most authentic sound. We just had so much fun in the studio and throughout the entire process and we grew so much as a band in so many ways.
The music videos we've seen so far for the album's tracks are all fantastic. How do you go about conceptualizing and planning new videos?
We love it when albums create a whole world for the listener and we wanted to do this with The Prize by having cohesive visuals to match with the themes present on the record. The record speaks of growth, strength and empowerment and we felt that by utilising a sports aesthetic we could reflect these themes visually in a fun way. We then decided on which sports worked with each song and went to our collaborators at Hello Mary who have a magic way of bringing our visions to life!
Photo by Kiera Simpson
What kind of relationship do you hope listeners develop with The Prize?
We hope that the listeners can see themselves in the stories and feel less alone if they’re also feeling some of the painful emotions we explore. We wrote songs like “The Prize” and “Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg)” with the aim of making ourselves feel better when we’re not in a good place. We realised that when we’re not feeling good, we find it helpful to put on upbeat music like Muna, Lizzo or Chappell Roan (to name a few) and so we wanted to do something similar because we know how powerful it is to extract the joy from the sadness!
Lastly, which "commandment" would you like to leave behind in The Band Bible?
Keep going! The music industry is made to make you feel like whatever you do isn’t good enough and that the next milestone is always just out of reach to keep you striving for more. We find the best antidote to that is not to look at what everyone else is achieving around you and just focus on what you’re doing. Remember that people have their moments at different times, as having a career in making music isn’t often as linear as careers in other fields.
Thank you to Prima Queen for taking the time to share such thoughtful answers. To keep up with the band, click here to visit their website — there, you’ll find links to streaming and socials, merch, and tour dates. Special thanks to Matty Aston.