Queen Hilma is singer-songwriting duo, Andi and Alex. The Green Bay natives and identical twin sisters grew up singing harmony with each other in the small town of Pulaski and began writing around the age of 10 in a big brown house on Nancy Lane. Fun Fact: Their parents met in a country band.
In anticipation of releasing their debut EP (produced by Howard Redekopp) and unveiling their new sound, the girls decided to change their name to Queen Hilma. Hilma is their grandmother’s name who unfortunately passed away last year. “She was a sassy lady but in the most amazing way ever. We love and miss her dearly so we thought what better way to pay homage?”
In this feature, we have a virtual pow wow with Queen Hilma to discuss influences, their new project, and more.
Q&A, links, and streams can be found below.
https://soundcloud.com/queenhilma/sets/queen-hilma-andi-alex/s-UiXOo
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
I love this genre and I’m attracted to it because it can be both creative and popular. It can even be on the darker side and still be intertwined with pop aspects. I like like anything is possible in this genre and I don’t have to play it super safe. -Andi
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
I’ve been writing and singing my entire life pretty much. I thought that only my mom and sister would ever hear what I came up with and then one day I decided I wanted everyone to hear it. I wanted everyone to know what I was like on an intimate level like this and I think that’s what pushes me, I want people to like it but also that I always stay true to myself, I’m always changing. -Andi
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
I think the people around me influence our creativity. Anyone can inspire us, catching us off guard with something beautiful or strange. That’s a big reason why I love Sufjan Stevens, he always surprises me. My musical taste has absolutely changed so much. I appreciate more of the weird almost creepy genius of some peoples artistry. I’ll listen through the extremely strange just to appreciate the art of it all. Not everything is better understood, sometimes not understanding is even more magical and life changing. -Andi
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
Mainly we were trying to create our own sound. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next album sounds different even to this, we were trying to create a band sound while still focusing on our two voices that everyone was expecting to be at the forefront. -Andi
What was the last song you listened to?
Summer Madness by DM Stith -Andi
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Don’t really have a preference but I do love the sound quality of vinyl. I probably prefer listening to mp3s with my headphones. -Andi
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify, has the most features and easy to use. -Andi
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
I think our biggest challenge is The Voice stigma. We don’t make music catered for that show, a big reason we had an early exit. We want to be known as a band, our songwriting and our live performance as a whole. We want our music to stand the test of time not just with fans of a tv show but connecting with music fans that go down a worm hole and find our music and truly love it. -Andi
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
QueenHilma.com links to all of our music, social media etc. Our new EP is on itunes, spotify, tidal, google play, amazon, etc. -Andi
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
Yes! If any fan bring us a pumpkin pie (or 2 slices) to one of our shows we will give you a free t-shirt, take a photo with you and give you a giant hug! 😉
