Who, or what, is Her Majesty & The Wolves? The answer could be: the
next great electronic dance outfit. Or, alternatively, an epic,
immersive theatrical dance experience; or a nightmarish rave retelling
of Little Red Riding Hood via Phillip Pullman. All of these answers
would be true, but in more straightforward terms, Her Majesty & The
Wolves is Kimberly Wyatt and Spencer Nezey.
Formerly of hip-pop
dance floor duo Jupiter Rising, Spencer, an acolyte of the Black Eyes
Peas, is a talented producer, songwriter, and MC. A saxophonist from
the age of nine and a beatmaker since his teenage years, Spencer
deferred from an International Business degree at university and has
emerged as one of LA’s hottest-tipped producers.
You will remember Kimberly from the Pussycat Dolls, an experience she describes as "the best Boot Camp for the music industry I could ever have hoped for.”
The Dolls made her a star, but as the biggest girl group of their
generation (in number, as well as in scale) they were never going to
stay together forever. Frustrated at her limited role within the band,
Kimberly had long wanted to release her inner artist, so in February of
2010, she took a leap of faith and left the group. Most of the Dolls
followed.
Since then, British audiences have seen Kimberly
display a keen critical eye as a judge on the popular dance show ‘Got
To Dance’, prove herself a remarkably good sport as a guest on Reeves
and Mortimer’s ‘Shooting Stars’, and top the UK charts as a featured
artist on Brazilian Rapper Aggros Santos’ dance anthem, ‘Candy’. But,
behind the scenes Kimberly has been chipping away, plotting her musical
comeback, though the process has not been without its obstacles. As a
prominent member of a mainstream pop group, most producers that she met
with underestimated her vision. "Every producer I wanted to work with was ‘Top 40, Top 40, we gotta make something that people will listen to now’.” When
Spencer’s name was suggested during her search, their common ground was
instant. On their first meeting at his LA studio, they discovered a
multitude of friends and ideas in common. When they began to work on
the track that would become ‘Stars In Your Eyes’ they found a strong
musical connection as well. Kimberly remembers: "With Spencer it
was different. He was like, ‘No, let’s make something that’s fresh now,
something that people will be listening to in the future.’ We’re
playing ahead; we’re not following a curve.”
The next step
was obvious – the two forces would join together to form a new organism
built from the ground up. One of the duo’s first hangouts included the
Coachella Music Festival, where Spencer and Kimberly found the same
inspiration in artists like in Deadmau5, Ladyhawke, Gorillaz, and
Goldfrapp. Combining Spencer’s hip-hop background, they set about
dreaming up a new kind of fantasy for the dance floor. They spent
months writing and demoing in Spencer’s home studio and then decamped
to the House Of Blues Studios in Los Angeles to lay down the masters.
There they unleashed even more ideas and a grander vision. This band
was to be more than Spencer and Kimberly. In fact, it was to be more
than a band.
Introducing, Her Majesty & The Wolves: A kaleidoscopic fusion of
euphoric pop, heavy synths, tribal house, and next-gen hip-hop; an
immersive performance art experience; and, a concept stretching far
wider than just two people. As Spencer explains: "Her
Majesty & The Wolves is an entity...a platform for us to create
almost anything we want and bring people into our trip. And the music
is gonna be the foundation for it.”
Spencer predicts the eventual stage production will resemble something like "a Lady Gaga show in Ibiza.” Kimberly describes the ethos as a "modern fairy tale”.
With her professional dance background coming into play, she promises
to incorporate elements of both contemporary dance and ballet into the
production. Her Majesty & The Wolves is, to an extent, an extension
of the character that she has always been when stepping onstage. "Even
in the Pussycat Dolls, I always felt that when you get onstage you just
turn into a lion. And I know that of myself. I’ve been onstage since I
was seven. On stage I just like to get lost in the music. It’s not
exactly Kimberly Wyatt up there, but it’s definitely an extension of
me.”
First to be unleashed from the Her Majesty & The
Wolves stable is the teaser club track ‘Glaciers’. ‘Glaciers’ will be
followed by the first proper single, ‘Stars In Your Eyes’ – an
energetic pop thriller that sets the scene for the surreal adventures
to come. This is just the beginning of the journey.
"My hope is this goes further than just being music and live shows”, enthuses Kimberly. "I just think what we’ve created lends itself to an endless amount of possibilities.”
And yet as its heart, all of this is based upon a very human musical
connection that really is the stuff that fairy tales are made of. "Spencer
and I can geek out over music like nobody I’ve ever met. He’s so
incredibly intuitive and has a great ear for incredible cool sounds,
which never lets me down...We want to do something innovative and
creative in the music industry. The music industry is kind of dying,
but we could recreate a new standard and a new way of doing things
within it. I’ve never felt this free and creative.”
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