About AQ

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Who are AQ?
AQ is an Australian and New Zealand Queen Fan club. AQ is run and owned by Nicole Pule-Leech (aka Isis) and Davyd Leech (aka Icarus Falls). AQ mission statement is

From the fans for the fans and for the band Queen - Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Roger Taylor and Brian May

How did it come about?
AQ was an idea of Davyd Leech and Nicole Pule-Leech. It emerged from an online petition that we ran online in 2005 to get Queen and Paul Rodgers to tour Australia. The petition was called 'Aussie Queens Petition' and we started as a post on QueenZone. The aim of the petition was to get 400 emailed in signatures and messages to Brian May.

We were going to email a note to Brian May at his website www.brianmay.com along with the signatures and message from his fans down under asking him to reconsider touring Australia as it was dropped from the first tour list. It was only a matter of a week before we realised that this was not going to be enough to convince Brian to tour Australia and it was going to require us to make this as big as we could make it to get the old boys attention. We knew that we would need to get everyone that was needed to make the tour happen at the table and to start to talk with Queen about a possible tour. We moved the project from the Boards and created a formal petition website http://www.freewebs.com/aussiequeens.

It was on the Aussie Queens Freewebs website that the action for the petition took place. Various online communities, media houses, significant associated Queen businesses and Queen fans supported this project. The support did not stream in from just Australia and New Zealand but it came in from all over the world. This became a global online event and people were coming in from all over the world to us.

We have had one formal response to the petition once it closed and the details to all that can be found on this post in our forum:
AQ Petition Post

We were formally asked by the bands representatives to submit a presentation the band showing them what we had done. This was submitted and was passed on to the band for their viewing.

As the petition grew in size and support from the online Queen community, there was a call for the organisers and owners of the project (Nicole Pule-Leech and Davyd Leech) to formalise and protect AQ. It was from this call that the AQ Australia and New Zealand Queen Fan Club was created and AQ Pty LTD TM opened.

Why is it a New Zealand and Australia Fan Club when the owners live in Australia?
New Zealand was added on to AQ after Nicole was flooded with message from New Zealand Queen Fans that were signing the petition to open the petition and club up to New Zealand.

AQ has a formal AQ New Zealand representative Michelle Knight aka Shellz. Michelle represents AQ in New Zealand where she can. If we want to know things that are on in NZ or want to keep an eye out on Queen activities Michelle is our eyes and ears down there. We also have other members and contacts that also keep us in the loop if we need to keep an eye on New Zealand and what is happening down there on a ground level.

There are many New Zealanders that are subscribed to the AQ newsletters, members of the fan club and visit the AQ forum.

So what sort of things does your club do?
AQ tries to create new online community projects that involves the various online Queen factions with the aim of giving the fans that are part of AQ community what they want as Queen fans. AQ also tries to help keep the Queen wheels spinning when they may slow down at time. We try to look at ways to give the fans an avenue to get their voices heard. This is what our projects are about.

Do you have to be a famous or well known fan in the Queen scene to get involved with your community projects?
No way. AQ has spent most of its time and developed itself to ensure that all fans no matter how new or old they are to have a place where they can have some space to get their point of view across about the Queen and the scene that goes with it.

There were many old fans that had splintered off from the main stream scene as they were not happy with various aspects of what the official scene since the death of Freddie Mercury. These older original fans had over time lost their passion for the band and were now isolated from the main Queen community with no desire to return. AQ has tried to fix this wedge and bring them back to the Queen community even if they only keep themselves in the loop with the AQ newsletter. New fans are always welcome at our doorway and we try to include them in our community projects if they want to get involved.

Are you official yet?
No not yet as we were not sure what we were going to do after the petition. We are still discussing this matter today. It is something we will need to sort out with Queen Productions if we want to head down this track.

Do you have other websites and where is the fan club site?
Yes we have other sites out there. You can find them here:
www.aussiequeens.com
www.rogersmeadows.com
www.fmspiritoffire.com
www.myspace.com/aussiequeens

How many people run and are part of the design team of AQ?
Nicole and Davyd are the think tanks and drivers of the AQ machine. So the answer is 2 but we are supported in a massive way by the various communities and Queen fans out there that are supporting them to keep it all going.

Did you think AQ would ever get to where it is today?
No not really. We had a big vision for it if the tour went through when the petition closed. It was a matter of looking at where that stopped and looking at what to do with everything we had created and managed from the petition. There are so many more things AQ can do out there. Just a matter of time, interest and support for AQ to level and direction it will take in the future.

Does it take you heaps of time to do all this?
Yes both of us spend what little spare time we have modifying our websites and developing them even further. If we think up a community project that we want to run we spend hours getting it to work and then months in closed door chats with critical online communities that we feel will enhance the project and therefore community as a whole.

Was all this worth it for you both?
Yes we both enjoy what we have created and continue to create. As long as we can do it and there is a drive to keep this all going we will stay out there. Why not?

Why is your newsletter so important?
The AQ newsletter is important as this is where Nicole and Davyd bring all the Queen and AQ news. You will find heaps more news in their newsletter than you will on any of their websites news pages and even the forum. If you are not on the newsletter mailing list then you are really out of the AQ underground news loop. It is free and all you have to do is tick a box to subscribe to it when you go to join the club

Do I have to join all three registration databases (ie Fan Club, newsletter and forum) with AQ?
No. The way we have set it all up allows our users to pick from the three locations. Many subscribe to all three though. If you want to be part of all three sections of the club please make sure you are subscribe to all three. If you are not sure email us and we can check. aussiequeens@aussiequeens.com

What online community projects has AQ run?
The Freddie Mercury 60th Birthday online radio show (Joint project with FM2000)
Live Feed Vancouver Queen + Paul Rodgers Concert from aka Lamo (AQ Petition Hub member)
The AQ petition to get Queen + Paul Rodgers to tour Australia and New Zealand
USA Press pressure campaign to help get Queen + Paul Rodgers media coverage during their major USA tour
AQ We Will Rock You New Zealand website
AQ Queen + Paul Rodgers 2008 Tour website
The AQ Podcasting Station

Do you do anything with club members in the real world?
Yes at times we have had meetups or attend concerts together. It really depends what our members would like us to do for them and what we are doing in our private lives. We tend to keep most of our outings online as such. This way we can all stay together.

We held our first AQ Queen Fan Gathering Feb 27th 2010 to coincide with the Peter Hince Queen exhibition in Ballarat. Pictures of the event can be found HERE. We are planning another future Gathering for 2011 to be held up in the city of Melbourne. If you want to keep in the loop about our progress on our 2011 AQ Austrlaian Queen Fan Gathering best to jump on our mailing list.

Where is the club physically located?
The club is a virtual club with real people behind it and in it. It is hosted from Bendigo, Victoria, Australia where we live. We have had members come up and visit us and look over our Queen collection in the past.

Why don't you open up a physical shop for the club?
It is not something we as the owners of AQ want to lay out our money on. As it is a free club for our members to join and AQ generates enough income from the business side of it to cover costs, to open a actual space for a club is not at all viable direction for us to head in. We will not consider this move especially since the Official International Queen Fan Club has shut down from their physical site and have now had to move their fan club into a virtual space. There is just no demand or need for a physical Queen Fan Club with an office space in the street these days. Times have changed.

What makes you two so special?
We are not special at all. We are from the other side of the fan base - the people out on the streets that have loved Queen for ages and just kept to ourselves with it all for our own enjoyment - "punters" the music industry refers to people like us. We just walked into the slip stream of Queen and had no idea what was awaiting us when we put up that post in QueenZone. We were only thinking small at that point. When we realised just how big it was becoming and the speed it was travelling at we had to do all we could to try and keep up and sort out what was going on. We got there in the end and what you are seeing now is what we have created along the way of the petition and since the petition closed. The dilemma we as the owners were in was 'do we switch this all off and shut out those that were linked into Queen through us out?' We did not want to turn the lights out on these people as we were the link to Queen for them. So for all these people that supported us from the beginning and stayed with us until today we have kept the lights burning and kept it all going. We intend to keep it all going for as long as we can and as long as our members need us to be out there.

What are you doing to get funds together to help cover rising costs of the club?
For several years my husband and I absorbed all costs of the running AQ. It has got to the stage now where for both licensing issues and rising costs of the club AQ needs to generate its own income and stand on its own two feet and at least show it can cover its costs. We have introduced the following areas to try and raise some funds to help keep the club online and the business afloat.

1. Donations from those that wish to help out with a $ contribution to help the club stay afloat (introduced instead of introducing a membership fee to join the club)
2. AQ Annual. We are now publishing and selling our own publication each year. It is our yearly fund raiser (again introduced in place of a membership fee to join the club)
3. AQ Gold Membership We now offer a paid level of membership to the club
4. Merchandise. We do sell club tops, beer coolers, calendars, key rings and so on to try and help generate some sort of income for the business.

What is AQ working on now?
Right now AQ is working on our Australian and New Zealand Queen Archives. So far it has had some media attention and some great donations from our members out there. Come and take a look it is now opened up for public and members viewing-

http://www.aussiequeens.com/archives/mainpage.htm

Can you help us out? Please feel free to email us if you have something you feel you can contribute to this project. aussiequeens@hotmail.com

We are also starting to make plans for a 2011 AQ Australian Queen Fan Gathering. If you want to get involved email us and let us know early so we can factor your contributions and suggestions in.

Why has Aussie Queens become AQ?
Unfortunately after many comments and mis-interpretations of our name, we have decided to re-image the Fan Club. The official name is now AQ - The Australia and New Zealand Queen Fan Club. Our URL is still www.aussiequeens.com, but the club and associates are now AQ.