Photo Credit: Larry Schwarm
Milwaukee duo The Quilz (Sage Schwarm and Becky Heck) make electronic dance pop that is rooted in ‘80s music. It seems they never got the memo on that era’s tag as the Slacker Generation. The indefatigable couple also ran the Bay View’s funky Luv Unlimited boutique for 16 years until a fire last year forced them to close shop and focus on online sales. Yet the music has been an insistent presence since they began The Quilz in 2015. Schwarm spoke about their creativity has thrived during the pandemic.
How has the lockdown affected your creativity?
The Quilz are in a unique situation. Unlike most bands, we are quarantined together, so creativity has kind of flourished for us during the lockdown.
We’ve managed to officially release six singles (three originals and three covers) plus one official remix. We’re working on releasing two collaboration tracks with local electronic musicians (details to be released soon), and we are finalizing our newest full-length release, an all-cover LP called Beneath the Covers With The Quilz. We’ve got 14 covers done and are finishing up one more. We’ll press 10 or 11 songs on vinyl and the whole collection of 15 will be available as a package digitally and on CD.
During lockdown we’ve played one livestream show and played live on a float for the Bay View Bash Porch Parade which was a blast. During the break we’ve released four produced videos and four “live” single videos from the parade.
Do you have a routine or schedule for staying in practice or working on new material?
We are constantly writing and creating—Becky is even currently working on a photography book, called Happy Blythe Happy Life in which each photo is based on a Quilz title. As for our writing process—I usually write instrumental bits and hand them over to Becky to see if anything inspires her. She sequesters herself in a room with the laptop and a microphone and when she has something, I’ll record her ideas so we can block it out. It goes back and forth like this until we eventually wind up with a song! That’s our general way of writing before and after Covid.
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Are you making plans for when you can resume playing in front of people again?
We have only one show booked at the moment, it’s far enough out that we can safely assume clubs will be open again. It’s New Wave Fest at Shank Hall with local legends Xposed 4Heads on Saturday, Nov. 13.
As soon as we get the word that it’s safe to start booking shows we’ll be hitting it hard! Our plan is to take Chicago and Minneapolis by storm this fall. Right now, about 25% of our Spotify streams, etc. are in Chicago. So, first Chi-town and then the world!
