“State Trooper” was originally released on Bruce Springsteen’s sparse and haunting 1982 album Nebraska—a record about the destitution and dispossession of America’s working class that remains just as pertinent and relevant today. It’s one of four songs that Queen Kwong’s Carré Callaway included on her recent covers EP Strangers, which featured four songs originally recorded by male artists. “I chose to cover songs by men because I wanted to take a bigger risk creatively,” she shares. “As much as I love and admire the work of my favorite female musicians like PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Kim Deal, Beth Gibbons, and Björk, I don't believe I could bring anything new to their songs—those works feel perfect to me just as they are.”
The release is, in part, a way for Callaway to assert herself against that monolithic male presence in the music industry—especially after being sued for defamation by her ex-husband Wes Borland, following an interview and review that I wrote about Queen Kwong’s stunning 2022 album, Couples Only (“Happy you’re writing the FLOOD piece,” she texted ahead of this premiere. “Hopefully you don’t get me sued again!”). The legal action made Couples Only an even more important record—both in the musical and autobiographical sense—than it already was, and prompted Callaway to begin a Substack called Hysterical Hysteria that details the many incredible stories she has to tell both within and outside of the music industry.
While most of them are kind of fucked up and demonstrate just how difficult it is for a woman to make a dent in the industry, one stalwart supporter she’s had by her side is The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell. She recently recorded her forthcoming full-length at his studio, and the keyboardist also appears in the new video for “State Trooper.” Not only does her version of the track add an extra dose of gloominess to the original, but both the video and the fact that a woman is singing shift the lyrics from solely being about a guy on the run to also become a statement about the male gaze and male authority figures.
“I’m always down to take risks and stick my neck out,” Callaway says. “I’m kind of fearless in that way, which has bitten me in the ass before. But whatever. I’m the kind of person who always airs on the side of ‘Why not?’ My friend Mimi Supernova, with whom I made the video for ‘Without You, Whatever,’ co-directed it with me. We made it at Roger’s studio in England last month and used random things we had access to there. We went through his attic and found old TVs and camcorders. My intention for the video was to flip the male-gaze to the female gaze, much like my intention with the covers EP as a whole. Roger’s appearance in the video portrays the ‘kill your idols’ theme, which has been a common message in my art and writing recently.”
Watch the premiere for “State Trooper” below.
