The soundtrack of my college days eh, I mean kindergarten – PANSY DIVISION is coming to Seattle and playing at one of my absolute favorite intimate venues, THE FUNHOUSE. If you are, for some reason, unfamiliar with Pansy Division, go to Google now: keywords “Queercore” “Queer Punk” “Hot gay punks” – in fairness, that last keyword combo may bring you other stuff that’s decidedly NOT safe work work.
In the early 90’s when the entire Queercore aesthetic began to really take root (thanks to Bruce LaBruce, Gregg Araki and others) and make itself known to the world, Pansy Division was the loudest musical voice. They were the first musical group to not only be publicly “out” to this degree, but to be vocal about and to talk unapologetically about the sex they were having, the sex they wanted to have and boys they admired. For a teenager coming off of the Reagan administration, who was discovering not only his own sexuality, but also his dissident sensibility and complete disregard for authority, they were the voice of God. Except that I didn’t believe in God, because I believed that God was a creation of the heteronormal, patriarchal construct created to subvert the power of the proletariat. They took back the word “queer” and riffed on what was popular, and did the most un-punk thing of all: They sang happy lyrics.
But I digress…
The genius of Pansy Division, for me, is that they are meta-punks – punks who refuse to follow the constraints of punkdom, which in and of itself eschews anything perceived as constraint. Make sense?
Maybe it’ll make more sense if you hear them perform:
It’s kind of an ideal way to kick off the whole Pride Season adventure, I think.
Get yourself to The Funhouse on Tuesday night, May 22, at 9:30 and catch PANSY DIVISION, with The Avengers and “guests”. CLICK HERE for tickets.