May, 2016 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 49That played a
big part in the
sound, being in
this desolate
environment of
urban blight.”SOUNDS LIKE:Pris, Daryl Hannah’s “basic
pleasure model” android inBlade Run-
ner, dancing while crying in the neon-
streaked rain
FOR FANS OF: Depeche Mode, the Weeknd,
Eighties action movies
WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION: Best
known as the terrifying daredevil front-
man of spazz-metal vets the Dillinger Es-
cape Plan, Greg Puciato fully exposes his
sensitive side in the Black Queen. The
trio, which also features erstwhile Nine
Inch Nails and Puscifer touring mem-
ber Joshua Eustis and former Dillinger
and NIN tech Steven Alexander, recent-
ly self-released their debut album, Fever
Daydream, a black celebration full of sul-
try R&B-infl ected vocals and shimmer-
ing, pulsing electronics. “We lived togeth-
er from early 2013 until early 2015,” says
Puciato, who’s fresh of the Black Queen’s
fi rst-ever live performances – sold-out
gigs in L.A. and London. “It was just
this two-year period of pretty much only
hanging out with one another, working
on music and only being awake at night,
in a really bleak area of downtown L.A.
around the corner from skid row, amongst
pure grime. That played a big part in the
sound: just being in this desolate envi-
ronment of urban blight, completely self-
contained, making this heavily emotion-
al music together.”
THEY SAY: While few fans of Puciato’s
main band will be surprised at his love
of electronic music – Dillinger have cov-
ered Aphex Twin and Massive Attack overthe years – his appreciation for R&B, and
the style’s major infl uence on the Black
Queen, may come as a surprise. “I love
Nineties R&B. Like fully and non-ironi-
c a l ly. A s much a s I love met a l or ha rdc ore
or punk or rock & roll,” the singer enthus-
es. “It was a big part of my childhood. I
would listen to it as equally as Slayer or
Metallica or Soundgarden or Bad Brains.
Some of the production and songwriting
and singing on the R&B records from that
time period are just unreal. It was rare to
fi nd someone else who I could talk about
Death’s Leprosy with as well as a New
Edition song.”
HEAR FOR YOURSELF: “Ice to Never” is the
sort of chilly yet romantic synth-pop cut
Ryan Gosling’s Drive character might
have played on repeat i f h is choic e veh icle
were a DeLorean. BRANDON GEISTTHE BLACK QUEEN