New To Hot Press: Pillow Queens

The girls of Pillow Queens had been in adjoining social circles for a while. but it wasn’t until they started playing on the same basketball team that they really clicked.

“We haven’t done the basketball thing in a while, but it put us in the same court, if you will,” quips singer Pamela. “Eventually we were like, we should start a band. So we made a playlist of the kind of music that we wanted to sound like. There was a lot of Hopalong, Mitski, DIY bands. From there we just kept on writing songs and gigging, and here we are.”

Pillow Queens tackle current political issues with a quirky creative perspective, as you’d know if you’d stumbled across their YouTube channel, featuring their latest video for ‘Rats’.

“For that one, I was like, ‘Guys, I have a great idea. It’s gonna be like a kids’ programme, but it’s gonna be queer and socialist.’ They didn’t get it right away, but they left me to it. We had no budget, so we had to make it look as interesting as possible by ourselves.

“We made puppets, and I had my friends pretend to draw like five-year-olds. Some of my friends did it quite well, I think that’s just the way they draw. It is very Irish-centric, we cover Leo Varadkar, Repeal the 8th, a lot of Irish issues.”

The summer’s not over yet for Pillow Queens, as they’re headed to Electric Picnic to play the Other Voices stage.

“There’s so many amazing acts on that stage,” Pamela gushes. “I’d love to see Father John Misty for example. I’m really looking forward to having a roam around and seeing what I find.”