Photo: The Quilz - Facebook
The Quilz
The Quilz
Milwaukee duo The Quilz have long relied on imaginative creativity as a key ingredient to their music. A genuine creepiness enhances the video for their latest song “Love Submission.” The sublime techno sound hints at The Psychedelic Furs and Human League as Becky Heck’s near-deadpan vocals are portrayed by a singing doll with a superimposed mouth recalling the nightmarish syncro-vox style of the Clutch Cargo animations from the late ‘50s.
“You can’t crash a party that you’re invited to,” sings the peculiar stand-in, “such a handsome devil, what’s an angel gonna do?” In less than three minutes the brilliant video connects the dots from Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death” to Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery.”
Catching up with The Quilz
Sage Schwarm caught us up with happenings in the Quilz camp. He said the video’s visuals are the creation of partner Becky Heck. “She customizes Blythe dolls,” he said, “she takes stock Blythe dolls dismantles them, carves the faces, puts in custom eye chips, repaints new faces, redoes the hair, clothes them with her own creations or vintage finds. She's working on a book of Blythe photographs called Happy Blythe, Happy Life.”
They have been integrating more of Heck’s artwork into The Quilz. The video is a loose interpretation of the Cinderella story; the longing to connect with someone who the singer feels is unreachable. Maybe they’ve been in the friend zone for too long? “There's so much of her in every doll she makes that it only made sense to meld the real Becky with one of her mini Bs,” Schwarm added.
The creative process and technology
Songs typically start with an instrumental idea that Schwarm comes up with. “I'll block out a verse and a chorus and maybe a musical hook. I'll hand over four or five of those to Becky and she'll disappear for a couple of days,” he said. Heck will gravitate to one or two of them, writing several pages of lyrics. His job then is to edit those down to two or three verses of the strongest material and polish it into a finished song.
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Making videos is a relatively new endeavor for The Quilz. “I’ve always let others do videos for me. The pandemic coupled with our store being destroyed by a fire https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/mke-speaks/luv-unlimited-s-plan-to-carry-on-after-june-fire/ gave me a lot of time to concentrate on the band but at the same time, due to COVID, we were unable to play live,” he said, “so I learned how to make videos myself.”
The duo usually works on videos together for the concepts and then Schwarm handles the tech side. “Like most artists I try to get them done weeks ahead of time, but I always find myself finishing them at 11:59 on the night before the song drops,” he laughs.
As a self-contained group, the duo covers all the bases for live performances. Programming the entire light show so that it is synchronized to the songs allows everything to stay in perfect time. “LED technology has made the whole thing much more compact. We can fit all the instruments, lights, us and our dog into one SUV, Schwarm said. For live shows he plays guitar, keys and dubs out the vocals and backing tracks in real time. “It’s a lot of balls in the air, but technology has made it very possible.”
The Future
With a May 27 show with Galaxis set for Company Brewing, The Quilz are gearing up for a second album targeted for a November release. Beneath The Covers with The Quilz will be an homage to the group’s favorites with both vinyl and digital releases.
The group will also contribute a version of The Waitresses “Christmas Wrapping” to the forthcoming compilation Season For a Smile. Proceeds from the Milwaukee-centric holiday album will benefit Team Bryce Foundation, which helps children with special needs.
“Love Submission” by The Quilz
