No Prima Donnas captures the essence of QJB. There is a playful humour, taking the art and music seriously, but never too seriously. These are passion, commitment to humanism, radical, progressive and related social causes, a deep interest in people, their minds and feelings. He has an understanding of how art and music saves mental health and lives, because they saved his. He shares a fascination with the subconscious and the darker parts of our minds with co-Real King Doc Satori and they explore this within the RKoS work.
He has wanted to be a full professional musician since his early teens. That dream is finally coming true.
A Bowie fan from his early playing years he takes a keen interest in all things Bowie via his group The Genius of David Bowie (GoDBowie).
No Prima Donnas was originally set up in Bristol by QJB and Somerset musician Michael Adrian for various one-off projects.
These days it is a vehicle for Q’s original songs with guest musicians and producers as required. Recently reviewed after Q started writing on his own again following several years of productive collaboration with Doc Satori in The Real King(s) of Spain it was kick started by a songwriting retreat curated by Rosie Bans, a musician and friend met through SongSmith when she was touring, and developed over lockdown within an online group run by Rosie and singer / songwriter Becci Wallace.
2021 saw the first track for 12 years released under this name called ‘Eagle Child Twice Born’ a spoken word and orchestral collaboration with Scottish musician Jen Athan, also a member of the lockdown songwriting group. 2022/23 will see six more releases all ready for the world plus various live ventures.
Working from his own project ‘SongSmith Studios’ currently located near Valencia, Spain, Q is regularly working on various writing projects, leading The Genius of David Bowie and still releasing material with The Real King(s) of Spain. He is a member of Becoming the Artist Community run by Bernii Mac and an alumni and active member of Radical Songwriters Academy run by Rosie Bans who set him on his current songwriting path back in 2019.
Some of the ‘heritage’ material is available online via Bandcamp and physical copies of ‘Chaos and Dysfunction’ still exist though not available at the moment other than digitally. A collection of other miscellaneous recordings from pre 2012 will appear at some point included the QJB contribution to the Bristol album ‘Songs of Katrina’ compiled to raise money for the musicians of New Orleans after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.