Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, Drama Queen is the New Music Monday highlight!
Drama Queen is a new wave/new romantic band from Salt Spring Island who, ironically, have released their debut album called the Death of a Romantic.
The band is comprised of Knick Tomlinson and Pierre Vincent Forgues on synthesizers, Harley Dunn on bass and Ben Frey on drums.
Tomlinson says that he and Forgues used to play in a “psych-swing” band called Superfeather, in which all members played acoustic instruments. When that band dismembered, Tomlinson sought a new sound and began writing.
“I was losing interest in that genre,” Tomlinson told Victoria Buzz.
“It was really fun, but didn’t really have the emotional weight that I was needing in music at the time, so we stopped that and I started writing on the synthesizer.”
He noted that it took him around three years to transition his writing effectively to the new medium.
Once he had a full set’s worth of material, he brought together the rest of the band’s members and Drama Queen was formed in 2023.
While writing, Tomlinson says that he tried his best to avoid creating a “cheesy” 80s synth-centric sound.
“I was always very almost against anything coming from the 80s,” he laughed. “It is all just cocaine fuelled, all choruses and it’s just a shallow part of music history.”
However, after going through a few phases of trying some different things, Tomlinson says he just decided to “hit the 80s super hard,” but in his own way, and trying to focus more on some hidden gems of the decade he swore he wouldn’t lean into.
“The band and the album doesn’t really have any really obvious influences,” he continued. “I really don’t like whole albums of the genre, but I do like the intention of the genre.”
He says that after they released their debut record, the Death of a Romantic, he found it funny that the genre they landed in is an offshoot of new wave called new romantic.
Tomlinson says that their debut record is a concept album, which covers themes of romanticizing life, rather than seeing realities.
“Conceptually, what the album is about is a big transition in my life where I was really a driving force and nothing could really attach to me or bring me down—I was just pushing through life,” explained Tomlinson.
“I was majorly living in a fantasy world, and not really attached to reality and was hugely romanticizing life decisions.”
He added that the album is about the last few years of his life in which he has been taking steps to “re-ground” himself, and rebuilding his life after everything seemed to have been stripped away.
“It was a really difficult process, but I’m a lot more realistic now,” he continued. “Its just about a huge life transition.”
Tomlinson says that the title track of the song best exemplifies these themes of transition and looking at life through a new lens.
Listen to “the Death of a Romantic” below:
To listen to the rest of the Death of a Romantic, check out Drama Queen on Bandcamp, Tidal, Apple Music or Spotify.
Though Drama Queen does not have any upcoming shows solidified at the moment, Tomlinson says that they are working on putting a show together in Victoria soon, and are also looking at doing small “weekend warrior” trips up island and to other Gulf Islands.
Aside from booking a few shows, Drama Queen is already working on a follow-up album and are currently building a makeshift jam space underneath Tomlinson’s deck.
To stay up to date with Drama Queen and all they are up to, follow them on Instagram.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Gabe Elias taps into subconscious on debut album ‘Many Long Goodbyes’
- New Music Monday: Three Sailing Wait creates ode to public servants on sophomore album
- New Music Monday: Maita Waters makes best of bad situation on ‘Ruthless and Tender’
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“I think that local music scenes have really depleted a lot in recent years, just with the internet and the global community, but I think that local radio stations can really pull together the local music community over the global music community,” said Tomlinson.
“I think that’s really important so that people are encouraged to start bands and play gigs, because I don’t really know how many young people are thinking about that as an option anymore.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Drama Queen in the comments below!
