The St. Louis garage-rock duo Bruiser Queen pulled its name from a mid 90s album by Deputy Trudy Wiegel.







Okay, it wasn’t Wiegel, but actress Kerri Kinney-Sliver’s band Cake Like’s second album that provided the name.







“It was (Kinney-Sliver) that ended up on ‘Reno 911!’ Cake Like had an album called ‘Bruiser Queen’ and Morgan Nusbaum (vocals/guitar) just loved that,” Jason Potter (drums) said. “Some bands are named after a song, so yeah, that is where she got the name. We usually say since there are two of us that she is the queen and I’m the bruiser.”







The band recently returned home after spending October and November on the road in support of their latest release “Sweet Static.”







“We came out with (the album) at the beginning of October and then we just set out on tour. October was before it got cold and messy every place that we usually go, like, in Wisconsin,” Potter said. “We are doing the tree rings (tour) out from St. Louis. On this tour, we added Pittsburgh to the farthest east we have gotten.”







“Sweet Static” is the band’s second album, but it’s first with Boxing Clever Records.







“We had done a couple of seven inches with some smaller labels. When we got to working on this full length, we had been talking to (Boxing Clever Records). The timing was right.”







The band got its start in 2010.







“When we started up (Bruiser Queen), Morgan and I were in different bands in the St. Louis scene. One of those other projects were wrapping up and she was telling me that she had some songs and I was like, ‘Hey, let’s get together and play some.’ So that is how that all kicked off.







“We originally came out of the gate as a four-piece band thing. Schedules, and all that kind of stuff, changed and we were like, ‘Shoot, we are writing all these songs together. It is just the two of us anyways, so let’s see what this does. It took off from there. Once we settled into the duo, we started writing songs like crazy. We started working on getting our first album out.”







The duo’s first release “Sweats” was issued in 2012.







“It was a self release. We needed something to tour on and get out there and show people what we are really about. We toured and played some shows. We were writing songs all along, sort of getting ready for the next full length. Morgan is such a prolific songwriter. She does so much stuff that we haven’t even scratched the surface for Bruiser Queen.







With material ready for what would be “Sweet Static,” the band booked time at 5 and Dime Studio in Memphis.







“Memphis is a five-hour drive on Rt 55. We had done some recording with Harry (Koniditsiotis), we knew what to expect from the studio. We just got Megabus tickets. Morgan grabbed her guitar and I grabbed my cymbal and we just got on the bus.”







Once in the studio, the duo played with expanding their sound.







“Before we went into the studio, these songs were guitar and drums. Morgan is really about seven people in one band. She is her own harmony, vocals, bassist, organist, pianist, and all that. She will pick up on something and lay down some cool line for it and Harry would capture it. I just pick it up. I will give some suggestions or will help on some parts.”







The band toured out in front and then in support of the album this fall, but now Potter, who books the tours, is eyeing future dates in warmer cities. With it just being Potter and Nusbaum on tour, the logistics aren’t as hard in planning a tour.







“Touring is easy. We did take vans this tour, but usually we use a Pontiac Vibe. It is a little station wagon, we put everything in there with us two in the front. It makes it nice and easy.”







But touring with two people, it doesn’t afford a mutual third party that can become the focal point for the road fatigue and irritable off days.







“It is good with the two of us. We feed off of each other’s energy. Some times it is awesome. Sometimes it is bad. There is no random bass player that we can all mutually be mad at for awhile.







“We help each other out. We keep each other in check a bit, like, ‘Oh, man, I can tell that you’re exhausted today, because you are being a jerk.’ And it is like, ‘Yes I am, I’m sorry.’ One of us will just disappear for a little bit, you know, just to get some space.”







The question that is percolating in the background is with it just the duo on tour, how do they represent the full sound of the album live? Don’t worry, they have their ways.







“When I met Morgan she was playing bass in her old band. This is the first band that she plays guitar. She comes from this bass-playing background and it just something wild about her playing that she is kind of our bass player too. We will split off her main guitar to another DI, so we can run a bass signal through the PA. We can fake it a little bit.







“I think that was part of making this record is how do we pull this off live. It is always in the back of our minds. Some bands will have some sort of backing track or, like, an accompanying track with all those horns that are on the album, but we are a little scrappier than that.”













