Local music: Queen Beef

By Claire Almond | gargoyle@flagler.eduClaire Almond

Order up! Hot new rock n roll band, Queen Beef is ready to take on St. Augustine this year by opening up for bubblegum-rock band Peach Kelli Pop at Nobby’s on March 19th.

The band consists of Michael O’Hara on vocals, Nicky Commoditee on bass, Ryan Palm on guitar, and Matt Pius banging on the drums. O’Hara, Palm and Pius have been friends for a few years and hang out at local bar Shanghai Nobby’s on Anastasia Island. Palm and Pius are in other bands that perform at Nobby’s and Commoditee is the booking agent for the bands that come to Nobby’s. With their passion of music, the four them came together with the idea to create Queen Beef.

You may wonder how the name Queen Beef came about? “We came up with the name of the band actually really randomly. We had decided on about three solid names and couldn’t decide. I called up my friend for name advice and he came up with Queen Beef within a matter of seconds,” Lead vocals Michael O’Hara said.

Queen Beef fits into the rock n roll genre and their performances are planned to be a fun experience. The band has eight songs, with plans to release a tape by early March. They also will be sending the tape to Burger Records to try and get signed.

“I just want us to play fun shows and have as much fun as possible… If we get signed by a record label that would be fun too” O’Hara said.

Other bands such as Ramones, Hunx and his Punx, and The Cramps to name a few have influenced the band to have a similar tune. Queen Beef’s songs are about falling in love and “looking cute”.

For O’Hara, “Music is about being able to portray you’re real natural self. It’s a way for you to come out of your shell.”

Queen Beef has already caught people’s attention and will be making their big début on March 19th at Shanghai Nobby’s on Anastasia Island. They are opening for the bubblegum-rock band, Peach Kelli Pop.

They also will be playing at Nobfest ’13. Nobfest is a huge music festival with bands from all over Florida that takes place every year at Nobby’s. Tickets are $30 and the festival takes place in March.

For additional information on Queen Beef you can find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/QUEEN-BEEF.