Composer and performer Fay Wang’s work spans and draws on a variety of genres, including avant-garde concert music, theater, film, electronic music, Chinese folk music and indie pop.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Fay Kueen is the solo experimental pop/rock project of composer/singer-songwriter Fay Kueen Wang. Fay is the songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist, as well as album producer. Mark Lee was the album’s co-producer and sound engineer. The live band currently includes guitarist Brendon Randall-Myers and drummer Mark Utley.

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior toFay Kueen? How long has the band been around?

Fay: I started out in China as more of a classical composer, so I’ve written music for orchestras as well as commercial music. I also sang in several local rock and jazz bands in Beijing, including a Shiina Ringo cover band in college. After I came to the States in 2008 I found myself more and more working elements of my rock and jazz bands into my chamber music, and writing more for myself as a singer. The songs on this EP were some of the first ones where I stopped really making a distinction between the rock and the classical music and just wrote whatever I wanted.

As far as other bands go, my dudes and I all have a number of different projects. Brendon and I also play in an indie-chamber band called Invisible Anatomy, and Brendon and Mark play in a math rock band called Marateck. Brendon also composes classical music and plays in the Glenn Branca Ensemble and in an art rock band called Ecce Shnak. Mark plays in a percussion group called Mantra Percussion.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before? 

My legal name in Chinese is Feinan Wang. My last name literally means “king” in Chinese, and my first name’s a homophone for “not male”, so Kueen combines the “female king” meaning into one word. I’ve been using this name since I came to the States, since I realized that people could never pronounced my Chinese name correctly and I could never tell when a person was calling my name.

 Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

I write all the music and lyrics, arranged and produced these songs. My long-time collaborator producer Mark Lee does all the mixing and mastering and has a lot of input on the programming/production side. For the live versions, Brendon and Mark work from the studio recordings and kind of figure out how to translate their own parts from that.

The content of my songs goes in phases. I’d say most of my songs so far are autobiographical. They are always about a personal experience, an emotional state, or how I feel after watching/attending something. Some of the lyrics that I wrote for my Chinese pop songs are more like contemporary poems. But you could also say that there is source material that I draw from, since there is always a subject or a character in each song, such as a samurai, a dream interpreter etc.

The songs in this EP are more abstract, and I was influenced a lot by surrealist artists. Each song has a lot of objects and images in it, each of which has a story behind it. Right now I’m working on a new set of songs that’s more influenced by modern social events, culture, and common psychological issues within different groups of people.  

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

My current hero is Mitski. She’s one of the most influential Asian female artists in American indie rock scene and her music speaks to me a lot. The songs in this coming EP have been mostly influenced by my all-time moody dark favorites include Bjork, radiohead’s later albums, portishead, Kate Bush, The Dø, Blond Redhead, also the Chinese rock pioneer Dou Wei etc. The new songs that I’m currently working on are probably more influenced by artists like Fiona Apple, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and my all-time love Shiina Ringo.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

I can’t remember a particular artist or concert that inspired me to start a band, but playing in bands has always been a passion since I was a teenager. I played in many bands casually but none of them performed my music until pretty recently. I was mostly doing gigs as a composer for my entire career, since it was safer and more stable. Until I realized that I’d rather do something that’s riskier but also that I’m more passionate about before I get too old.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …

I don’t normally do any particular exercises for preparing a show. I do get anxious before a show but when on stage I feel really calm immediately. I avoid interacting with people too much before starting a performance, but stay alone and set my mind in a focused and meditated place.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far? 

I played a show in Beijing right by the Great Wall opening for Cui Jian, who’s often called “the Father of Chinese rock”. That was a big show and also definitely a big honor.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why? 

I’d like to share concerts with many bands. But in terms of touring, I’d want to have a good vibe with them and be able to become friends. It seems like it would be fun to tour with Mitski, we are both astrology nerds and both have Scorpio Ascendant, so we would probably vibe well and we could analyze people’s charts together during the tour, lol.