QUEEN KWONG Releases Provocatively Visceral Video “I Know Who You Are” via Flaunt
“Carré Callaway’s tough-as-nails attitude mixes oddly with her esoteric innocence. You wouldn’t expect the freckled-face singer to lead a ‘visceral rock’ band named Queen Kwong.” – LA WEEKLY
“Queen Kwong’s music might not be loud in the traditional sense, but it certainly packs a visceral, primal punch.” – LOUDER
“Powerful, creepy, beautiful… Callaway has often been compared to the likes of Iggy Pop or Patti Smith. That’s fair (and flattering), but if she keeps building and changing, Callaway’s music will allow no comparisons.” – BUST
QUEEN KWONG
Releases Provocatively Visceral Video
“I KNOW WHO YOU ARE“
Premieres via Flaunt
Inspired by Isabelle Adjani’s Iconic Scene in Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 movie Possession
Couples Only out July 12th via Sonic Ritual
LP Features Roger O’Donnell (The Cure), Kristof Hahn (Swans), Laura-Mary Carter (Blood Red Shoes) and more
March 15, 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) — “Though it looks like I’m screaming my head off, I had to stay nearly silent the entire time because we couldn’t draw attention to ourselves and risk people coming into the tunnel while we were shooting,” says Carré Kwong Callaway — aka Queen Kwong about her provocative new video “I Know Who You Are” which premieres today via Flaunt. “This was a super-fast shoot but it was probably the most challenging video I’ve ever done. There were only three of us — Joe Cardamone [of The Icarus Line] directing, Jacob Mendel filming, and me, and we only had one take to do the main tunnel scene because I could only break everything I had in my hands once.”
Modeled after the iconic subway scene from Andrzej Żuławski’s classic 1981 horror film Possession, Callaway drew inspiration from actress Isabelle Adjani’s shocking performance of a woman who suffers from a demonic attack in a subway tunnel. The harrowing video premieres via Flaunt who says “Singing through a stinging lyrical letter… ‘I Know Who You Are’ borders the delirium and darkness of divorce and finding a way out.” Calloway adds, “You can see a part when I accidentally hit my head against the wall and that combined with the bag being so heavy with a gallon of liquid made me nearly fall over every time I swung it around, so that also helped add to the authenticity.” While visually in line with the film, the theme behind the song as well connects with the source material. “The movie is largely an allegory for divorce; hence, Joe suggested the concept for the video a while back because the movie and my record share some thematic commonalities,” she says.
photo credit: Laura-Mary Carter
The one condition Callaway had was that the video ends differently than the movie. She tells Flaunt, “Possession was written from a male’s perspective and the last thing I wanted to do was portray yet another ‘crazy bitch’ who’s to blame for everything falling apart. That’s the opposite of what my record is about.” While the film observes Adjani’s character spiral downward, Callaway and Cardamone swapped out the tragic ending with one of hope instead as her character emerges from the other end of the tunnel. “Ultimately, relief and freedom are on the other side,” she adds.
Her upcoming album Couples Only (Sonic Ritual; release date: July 12, 2022) from which the song is taken, captures every emotion from shock to grief and ultimately triumph that came not only from Callaway’s divorce but also from the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis that presented her with no more than a decade left to live. It’s a fearless account of facing the worst betrayals and accepting the deepest losses. But, ultimately, it’s a testament to the endurance of the human spirit. Flaunt states “Couples Only… tells the darker, often tunnel-vision of loss and grief, show humans persist and somehow find the light again.”
Assembling a notable cadre of contributing musician friends including The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell (keyboards), Swans’ Kristof Hahn (lap steel) and Blood Red Shoes’ Laura-Mary Carter (backing vocals) who appear on assorted tracks on the upcoming LP, Callaway worked closely with friends and allies, including Cardamone who produced and Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, Elvis Costello, Fiona Apple), who mixed the record. As with every Queen Kwong release, all music for the upcoming album was entirely improvised, freestyled and recorded on the spot — nothing was pre-written lyrically or musically. Needless to say, Couples Only is Callaway setting the record straight, and across these 11 songs, she takes no prisoners
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 two 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).
Couples Only will be released on July 12, 2022 via Sonic Ritual.
