News: Queenz Sounds festival announces line up for its second outing, and first in Glasgow this October

Queenz Sounds, the festival whose goals are to promote minorities in the music industry, as well as encouraging diversity and inclusivity. The organise it will be a fun night of unique acts taken from the women and LGBTQIA community featuring drag queens, dancing and much more. It’s the second time the festival has taken place and the first in Glasgow. It’s being held at Slay on the 21st October at 7pm – tickets here

Of the night, festival organisers say “This will be a night showcasing six women and LGBTQIA musicians, hosted by the amazing local drag queen Geezah Gobble. The event will be held on the 21st of October, 19:00pm at Slay in Glasgow.

Slay Glasgow is a beautiful venue with a lovely team, their values and ethics align perfectly with ours. The space itself screams everyone is welcome, with disabled access and seating, non alcoholic drink options and so much more!

Our headliner is the incredible, Edinburgh based Megan Black. Tipped as being a top 23 artist for 2023, Scotland’s ‘Hippy-Dippy Drag Queen’, Megan Black, is an award-winning musician, vocalist, and songwriter. After being picked up as ‘one of the finest singer-songwriters working in Britain today’, Megan’s music holds nothing back – writing ‘sad, yet funky, feminist anthems’, Megan explores themes of gender, sexuality, and mental health through music – creating a sonic bridge between a ‘70’s inspired sound with a contemporary view on feminism and the LGBTQ+ community.

Back for the second time coming up from Birmingham we have the stunning Bentley Jones. Recording artist, producer, composer, performer and lyricist. After headlining the Tokyo Bon Festival, Bentley gained acclaim for live events including Miami Beach Pride, Global Pride and Maspalomas Pride. Ben’s latest original works include “The Weight of the World”, “I Never Left”, “Love Me Til It Hurts” (+100,000 streams) and “Stay Close to Me” – the official theme of the Gayming Awards and Ben’s performance opened the 2023 awards in New York to their +320,000 live broadcast audience.

We can’t wait to see the wonderful Mike McKenzie performing with his band. Mike is an award winning singer/songwriter based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His eclectic influences have lead him to a unique style of writing landing somewhere between Tom Odell, Maggie Rogers, David Gray and Brandi Carlile. Mike’s music has been featured by Jo Whiley on her BBC Radio 2 show and received huge support from Grant Stott, Roddy Hart and Janice Forsyth on BBC Radio Scotland as well as Jim Gellatly on Amazing Radio, Ruth Clark at RTÉ and countless online stations across the UK.

Local artist, the fabulous Anna Secret Poet will also be performing with their band. Anna is a genderfluid singer/songwriter and model, she has been defying genres, genders and expectations on stages up and down the UK since 2016. Her self-produced 6th album ‘Shoutin’ Into the Void’ dropped in February this year across all the usual streaming platforms. You can find her bothering stages at a variety of different shows in the central belt including cabarets, drag shows, comedy nights, spoken word events and grassroots rock gigs. 

Coming back to his roots the wonderful Venn Smyth will grace our stage. Unashamedly pop with a strong message, Venn writes songs that dance around subjects and stories important to him. These include identity, queerness, community and finding your voice. Currently living in London and alongside writing and performing, teaches and works with young people, including leading LGBTQ+ youth music projects. From rural Central Scotland and found himself captivated by music and words from an early age. He studied Classical Music at Edinburgh Napier University, with saxophone and composition as his focus.

Our opener for the evening will be the fantastic Bella Gate! Based in London, Barcelona & Edinburgh. She has been writing music and performing from a young age. Her debut single ‘Self-Erosion’ came out last year in March and there is much more to come as she is recording her first album. Beloved by many Bella had the highest vote to perform on our Socials. She has performed at Queenz Sounds events in Spain and is performing for the first time for us in the UK at this festival. We are very excited for her to open for us and look forward to working with her moving forward.

We look forward to seeing you all!”