How Prince Influenced Neon Queen

Melbournites Neon Queen mesh R&B with hip hop and a good old lashing of rock'n'roll. "We've been playing and writing music together for several years now - since we were youngsters," says Christopher Spall [guitar]. "We always test the waters with our tracks. When we toured with Bootleg Rascal, the track [Real Love] was a definite banger. So we thought damn, let's give the people what they want," he laughs.

Real Love was recorded "entirely on our own in a studio we've built in the home of Oceanz [lead vocals] and Dench [drums], located in the mean streets of Lalor. The track really captures our sound perfectly with that mix of genres. It's also mixed by Alex Markwell from the Delta Riggs," he explains. "During the recording sessions we found out that Prince died - ultimate bummer - who we look up to so much. So we started listening to heaps of Prince. He definitely inspired the track in some way with the whole 'hold nothing back' attitude, which kinda shines through this ditty.

"The track is off a mixtape we plan to release in the near future. We thought we'd change things up a bit and do it real hip hop with a full-length mixtape instead of an EP consisting of only five or so tracks. It pays tribute to Melbourne City."