Paqua

PAQUA is a trans-Atlantic meeting of musical minds. Consisting of Claremont 56 head honcho Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy, Quinn Luke, aka Bing Ji Ling, Alex Searle, Patrick Dawes and Patrick Wood, the band evolved via friendships old and new and a desire to develop a more organic, focused sound away from their usual musical endeavours.

Paul and Alex had known each other for a long while, Alex having contributed his session skills to many of Paul’s early releases with Akwaaba as well as his solo work, when they realised they’d never actually written anything together despite their mutual musical admiration. Around this time, as luck would have it, Paul was introduced to Quinn as a potential music partner. Quinn, on a sabbatical from the Phenomenal Handclap Band dived in and PAQUA was born… Paul, Alex, Quinn United Artists

With Quinn on vocals and guitar, Alex on guitar and bass and Paul on keys a bit of oomph was needed for the back end. Enter Patrick Dawes, Groove Armada’s percussionist and acclaimed solo artist in his own right. The bedrock of the PAQUA sound was now in place and audio files were soon flying back and forth between London and New York creating the first release. The fruits of these labours were ‘Dinosaur Zappa’ and ‘The Visitor’ released on Paul’s Claremont 56 label. With striking artwork and two tracks representing the yin and yang of the PAQUA sound a Balearic supergroup was unleashed upon the world. CSNY, Cream et al had nothing on this!

Not wishing to become complacent and with an eye on future live performances a new addition was soon brought into the fold; Patrick Wood aka Woody, drummer/vocalist with the Phenomenal Handclap Band and bandmate of Quinn.

The band now complete the second release of ‘Late Train’ backed with ‘We Are What We Are’ came in time for their debut live performances in 2013. A handful of sellout dates in Manchester, Birmingham and London and a final show at Croatia’s Garden Festival saw the band expand their ever-growing fanbase.

With 2014 seeing the band release their debut album and tour across the UK and Europe the possibilities for this most mouth-watering of collaborations seem endless.