Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Can the drag us sit?
I guess.
Oh, you are listening to Queen of Dreams.
Can the dragon still fly?
That is, I'm told, an older song from their first record,
that sounds fresh.
It really sounds fresh.
And we are so lucky the members of the band
are here with us.
Rocker introduce us, please.
Some of the members of the band are here,
not everybody.
This is a big band.
Queen of Dreams is a European style progressive power
metal band in the American Midwest,
Madison, to be precise with roots in Barabu even.
Queen of Dreams members range in age from early 20s to mid 50s.
It reflects an equal gender distribution
and draw strength from the diversity of their influences.
Here in the studio with us tonight is Queen of Dreams members.
Let's see, I've got Caleb, Dan, Tom, and Sky, right?
All right, got it right.
They are Queen of Dreams.
Welcome to Maxi Gradyo.
Oh, it's great to be here.
Thank you.
And for our listeners who may not be aware
of who Queen of Dreams is,
tell us a little backstory about your band
and what the name refers to.
Sure, so the band was started by our drummer,
Dan, who was playing in more of a traditional bluesy
sort of rock band before.
And wanted to do a little bit more of this,
European, faster, aggressiver, nerdier kind of stuff.
Nerdier?
Oh, yeah, it's very nerdy.
The name of the band, you can tell us about it.
And it comes from a huge epic fantasy series.
Yeah, that would be the Malaysian book
of the Fallen by Stephen Erickson.
The Queen of Dreams is a goddess in the pantheon of that world.
Yeah, the head of high house light, right?
She's one of the good guys.
Yeah, maybe.
Oh, okay.
I haven't finished reading all books.
I thought she was a good guy.
Your singer sounds like a goddess, I must say.
Wow.
But all of you together, that hits.
And now I can't wait to hear your new music,
which I know we're gonna have that coming up
right after the interview.
Oh, yeah, we're excited.
Now, we were just kind of even just saying,
epic fantasy literature is a bedrock of inspiration
for your music.
Tell us a little more about that.
Like, where does that come from?
Oh, that is just an interest that several of us have
and share.
Yeah, again, the song we just heard,
can the dragon still fly?
Inspired by book called Midnight Tides
in the series that we just mentioned.
So every song kind of has definitely some hook here.
It sounds like most of them.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I think we like to think it's not,
we're not necessarily like retelling the stories themselves,
but we're kind of drawing on the same kinds
of emotional beats and themes that we like
out of these books that we wouldn't be able to share
in a different medium.
Nice.
Yeah, it works.
Your new album, it's called Subnivium.
That's right.
Tell us about the new record and its name.
Sure.
So the name Subnivium comes from a word
that was basically invented by our keyboardist
grad school department.
She was a wildlife biology researcher
and the Subnivium is the name for the seasonal microclimate
that exists underneath snow in places
where you get a lot of snowfall in the winter.
So seasonal microclimate that are underneath snow.
Yeah, so on the mice and the voles and the martens
and the small mammals, like burrow tunnels through the snow
and it's actually insulated so it's warmer there
than it is on the surface.
So there's a whole sort of secret world down there
that wildlife researchers are only just sort of discovering.
And we thought that was appropriate
to the music that we're doing.
It's a new thing to discover
that people haven't heard before.
Do you happen to have a song about the Arctic Fox
jumping headfirst into the snow to catch the mole
or the rat?
Well, we do have a song that is called beneath the ice and snow.
Wow, what a privilege.
We never said that people will not learn anything by listening.
We did say that we're nervous.
I love it, you guys.
I love it.
The Subnivium, oh boy, the bean of gardeners, right?
Now, I hear you guys have a Kickstarter campaign going on.
What's up with that?
Yeah, the Kickstarter's live right now producing an album
is very expensive.
And we all are just trying to offset some of the costs of that.
The Kickstarter is the only way that you can get the album
before its official release date,
which is January 31st.
But if you want to get it early
and also get some exclusive merch hop on the Kickstarter,
it is fully funded right now.
So it's all the awards are coming out great.
But again, yeah, if you want to get in on that exclusive stuff,
this is the only chance.
Very good, congratulations.
Thank you.
And the new album release party is going to be at the Crucible.
That is in Madison, January 31st.
You said that's when it is coming out.
That's right.
Are you going to have any physical copies?
Are you going to have CD?
Are you doing vinyl?
What's your pleasure?
Well, we will be doing CDs.
I don't think we'll be doing vinyl.
Vinyl is even more expensive to produce.
I know, and it takes longer to afford.
Ooh, yeah.
It's the bigger Kickstarter.
That's true.
Maybe if we get it up there in the stretch goals,
we'll see if I get some vinyl pressed.
Nice.
Well, Queen of dreams, thank you so much for taking the time out
to come down to the studio and speak with us tonight.
We really appreciate it.
Glad to be here.
Now, we're about to hear a brand new song
from your brand new album, Subnivium.
It's called Beneath the Ice and Snow.
Tell us something about this song we need to know
before we listen.
Who's got the ball?
This song has the seven, eight time signature in it
for a good portion of it.
So it splits off a beat from four over four.
It sounds pretty cool.
You might be able to hear it.
You did say you were nerdy.
So perfect.
Oh, you've got chess.
Yeah, that's awesome.
And this song also inspired by a fantasy series
called The Book of the Ice by Mark Lawrence.
Wow, excellent.
Well, let's hear it.
This is brand new from the brand new Subnivium album,
Queen of Dreams.
Beneath the Ice and Snow,
you're listening to Maxing Radio.
We are local music.
As the chef begins to fade
through the gate, have I come to lead?
All the change, one moment's made.
Tangle threads that weave our fate.
I can feel the weight and beneath the ice
and snow the stars burn bright.
You beneath the ice and snow the stars burn bright.
And breathe runs through all things.
So it seems, don't know what it means.
All the change, the river brings.
When your hair is branching, streams
running through my dreams.
And beneath the ice and snow the stars burn bright.
Don't know what none shall go, the stars burn bright as for me.
Now we are the broken, we're only the broken.
Beneath the ice and snow the stars burn bright.
All the change, one moment's made.
Tangle threads that weave our fate.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
The light is hatching, and the broken can survive.
When the ice wind blows, the sun will never light.
And all that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the moment comes, I'll never see the thought.
And I accept my fate, it's how it has to be.
When the moment came, it did not come for me.
And then I'll know how I can change.
The light is hatching, and the broken can survive.
All that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
The light is hatching, and the broken can survive.
When the ice wind blows, the sun will never light.
And all that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the moment comes, I'll never see the sun.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
And all that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the moment comes, I'll never see the sun.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
And all that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
And all that I believe to be, there's world's heart's rules
that just excuse themselves.
It's said I've known I must possess control.
When the ice wind blows, the strongest will endure.
I must possess control.