After more than a decade of playing music in Seattle and releasing three excellent rock records, Visqueen is going on an indefinite hiatus. The band will perform it’s final show (for now) Nov. 26 at the Neptune Theatre.
While it is sad that Visqueen is taking a break, you won’t be forgetting about the band’s members anytime soon. Rachel Flotard, the group’s fiery and hilarious sparkplug of a singer, is the head of Local 638 Records. The label released Star Anna’s third album earlier this year and will release the debut album from Shelby Earle, a woman who I contend is one of Seattle’s best kept secrets. Flotard also plays a role in Cobirds Unite, so she isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Also, Christina Bautista, the band’s bass player, releases a solo album a little while back (on Local 638) so you can expect to see her out rocking clubs on a regular basis.
As for the reason for the decision to take a break, it seems like it’s one of this situations where life just happened. The split, if you can call it that, was an amicable one.
I reached out to Flotard and asked about the reasons Visqueen decided to take a break and this is what she had to say:
Ben and I have been playing together since 1996 and that won’t change. But the demands of touring with a young family are hard. I had to do a Visqueen tour without Ben last year and it’s just not funny in the van without him. The heartbeat of the band has always been the two of us together. So while in this period of “what next?” we decided to take a bow at 3 records we’re super proud of and continue making art and music and taking risks while we get older without and rules or expectations from Visqueen.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s bittersweet as hell to turn a page on a chapter this meaningful but it makes me twice as excited to see what’s next. Ben and I text each other 40 times a day about farts and the weather, and that’s the way it will always be. Only with less hearing loss.
Not sad, just life. And there’s more to come.
