Prima Queen Tickets

Where some would cite serendipity, others would brush it off as pure chance. But there must’ve been a modicum of fate involved when the two minds behind alt-rock risers Prima Queen, Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden, first met. It was almost as if they were fated to become each other’s creative soulmate. 

Prima Queen’s story begins in two separate parts of the world – McFadden was born and raised in Chicago, while Macphail was born and raised much closer to home in Bristol. Very different cities with very different complexions. Eventually both artists found their way to London, where their two paths merged at Metropolis Studios in 2016. Though, Macphail admitted to having already seen a video of McFadden performing online and set her heart on convincing her to become collaborators. 

The pair quickly struck up an impenetrable bond, one that couldn’t even be deterred by McFadden having to return to her home country for a six-month stint later that year, as they insisted on collaging ideas together using voice notes despite being in different time zones and 4,000 miles apart across the Atlantic Ocean. The odds were stacked against them from the off, but the odds of finding the only musical companion you’ve ever needed were even longer. This earnest enthusiasm, creative chemistry, and steadfast friendship has come to define the duo’s journey as Prima Queen since. 

Adding bassist Kitty Drummond and drummer Heledd Owen into the mix once McFadden returned to the English capital, the four-piece began earning their stripes around South London venues such as The Windmill in Brixton. Their nostalgic, diaristic folk-pop piqued the interest of the local scene and soon the band’s debut single, ‘Milk Teeth’, was self-released in 2019. 

One band Prima Queen’s evocative sound particularly piqued the interest of was The Big Moon, who after inviting McFadden and Macphail them to support the Mercury Prize Award nominees sought to produce upcoming singles ‘Chew My Cheeks’ and ‘Invisible Hand’, helping Prima Queen to elevate their craft to new and lofty emotional heights. 

This process inspired the transatlantic nerve centre of the band to study their own pain with a renewed rawness, and unveil what they’d previously guarded in their lyricism. The result was the 2022 single ‘Eclipse’ and its follow-up ‘Butter Knife’, the latter being a cathartic exploration of losing someone to Alzheimer’s disease.

A support slot with Isle Of Wight indie phenomenon Wet Leg followed suit, as did a debut at SXSW. But the icing on the cake might have been when Prima Queen came in as runners-up in the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition which exposed their vulnerable lyrics and lush sound to a far greater audience. Only a month prior they released their most ambitious and arrested songs to date on their 2023 EP Not The Baby, ahead of a slew of summer festival dates at 2000 Trees, Truck Festival, Tramlines and Manchester Psych Fest, in between headline shows in Margate, Winchester and Middlesbrough.