Gypsy Wizard Queen are a three-piece Psychedelic-Stoner-Rock-Metal band based out of Fargo, North Dakota. The band is made up of drummer Chad Heille, bassist Mitch Martin, and vocalist & guitarist, Chris Ellingson. Gypsy Wizard Queen originally was a one-man-band formed by Chris, debuting a self-titled four-song instrumental EP in January of 2020.
Chad contacted Chris about doing some shows with his other band, El Supremo, but Chris didn’t have a band a the time, so Chad offered to be the drummer. The two began jamming together and Chad mentioned he knew Mitch Martin, who also plays drums in the local Black Metal band, Demifiend, but is a bass player as well. The three have been jamming together ever since.
On December 9th of 2022, Gypsy Wizard Queen released their first self-titled, full-length album that consists of four tracks. The album was mixed & mastered by Neil Stein, who also produced Agony Reborn by Gorgatron. Chris commented on their experience working with Neil, “He’s just got a great fuckin’ ear. He did the Egypt records and El Supremo stuff. We sent him our stuff, he sent us some stuff back, and then we sent some notes to him, and then it was good to go. He’s out in Montana so we had to do it remotely. “
The album Artwork was created by Jason Knudson, who plays drums in a band called Loadie, who are from Mankato, Minnesota. On one of the nights Gypsy Wizard Queen were performing with Loadie, the band spotted an old Budweiser sign on the wall at the venue of a Clydesdale and a wagon, and Chad thought it would be a cool image for their album cover.
Gypsy Wizard Queen’s guitar riffs and solos are inspired by a lot of late 60’s and 70’s Hard Rock, Blues Rock, and Rock ‘n Roll, naming bands like Mountain, Free, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Motorhead, KISS, and of course Black Sabbath.
You can check out our interview with Chris Ellingson at the video above, which was filmed at their show at The Aquarium in Downtown Fargo above Dempsey’s Pub on December 10th of 2022. You can purchase digital and physical copies of Gypsy Wizard Queen’s self-titled album on their official Bandcamp page!
