Queercore
Encyclopedia
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk
. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay
, bisexual, and lesbian
communities and their "oppressive agenda". Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through zine
s, music, writing, art and film.
As a musical genre, it may be distinguished by lyrics exploring themes of prejudice and dealing with issues such as sexual identity
, gender identity
and the rights of the individual; more generally bands offer a critique of society endemic to their position within it, sometimes in a light-hearted way, sometimes seriously. Musically, many queercore bands originated in the punk
scene but the industrial music culture
has been influential as well. Queercore groups encompass many genres such as hardcore punk
, synthpunk
, indie rock
, power pop
, No Wave
, noise
, experimental
, industrial
and others.
, created by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce
, is widely acknowledged as being the zine which launched the movement. "J.D.s is seen by many to be the catalyst that pushed the queercore scene into existence", writes Amy Spencer in DIY: The Rise Of Lo-Fi Culture. Emerging out of the anarchist
scene, at first the editors of J.D.s had chosen the appellation "homocore" to describe the movement but replaced the word homo with queer
to better reflect the diversity of those involved, as well as to disassociate themselves completely from the confines of gay and lesbian orthodoxy.
The first issue was released in 1985, with a manifesto entitled "Don't Be Gay" published in the fanzine
Maximum RocknRoll
following soon after; inspiring, among many other zines, Holy Titclamps, edited by Larry-bob, Homocore
by Tom Jennings
and Deke Nihilson
,Donna Dresch
's Chainsaw, and Outpunk by Matt Wobensmith, these last two later functioning as music labels. These zines, and the movement, are characterised by an alternative to the self-imposed ghettoization of orthodox gay men and lesbians; sexual and gender diversity in opposition to the segregation practiced by the mainstream gay community; a dissatisfaction with a consumerist
culture, proposing a DIY ethos in its place in order to create a culture of its own; and opposition to oppressive religious tenets and political repression.
Later, in the U.S. during the eighties when the Hardcore punk
scene arose, The Dicks
' Gary Floyd was writing queer-themed songs, as were many hardcore bands, except that he, along with Randy Turner
of Big Boys
were both open about being homosexuals. In England, in the anarcho-punk
scene, Andy Martin of The Apostles
was equally forthright. Politically motivated bands such as MDC
and 7 Seconds in the U.S. were also introducing anti-homophobia messages into their songs at this time and , in a more personal vein, bands such as the Nip Drivers were including songs such as "Quentin", dedicated to Quentin Crisp
, on their albums.
which included bands from Canada, such as Fifth Column; Nikki Parasite
, Big Man
, and Bomb from the U.S.; from England, The Apostles
, Academy 23
and No Brain Cells; and, from New Zealand, Gorse.
During this period of queercore in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, many of the punk rock
bands involved were not necessarily queer but their ethics were motivation for supporting this movement. Other bands, such as Los Crudos
and Go!, had one queer and outspoken member. The sexuality of band members has never been an issue in the choice to align oneself with the queercore movement or not.
Other early queercore bands included Anti-Scrunti Faction
, who appeared in J.D.s, and Comrades In Arms, Homocore editor Deke Nihilson's band. Shortly after the release of the tape J.D.s ceased publication and a new crop of zines arose, such as Jane and Frankie by Klaus and Jena von Brücker, Shrimp by Vaginal Davis
and Fanorama
by REB. The zine BIMBOX published statements such as "BIMBOX hereby renounces it's [sic] past use of the term lesbian and/or gay in a positive manner. This is a civil war against the ultimate evil, and consequently we must identify us and them in no uncertain terms, a task which will prove to be half the battle". The first queer zine gathering occurred at this time; "Spew", held in Chicago
in 1991, offered an opportunity for all those involved in the scene to meet. Although organizer Steve LaFreniere was stabbed outside the venue at the end of the night, he quickly recovered and the event was deemed a success. Spew 2 took place in Los Angeles
in 1992
, and Spew III in Toronto
in 1993. These Spew events also included musical performances by queercore bands.
Among the better-known bands from the early 1990s are Fifth Column, God Is My Co-Pilot
, Pansy Division
, PME, Sister George
, Team Dresch
, Tribe 8
, and Mukilteo Fairies. As these bands gained popularity and awareness of the movement grew, zines began appearing from around the world; The Burning Times from Australia, and P.M.S. from the UK are examples.
In Chicago
, Mark Freitas and Joanna Brown organized a monthly "Homocore" night that featured queercore bands performing live, offering a stable venue for the scene to proliferate; most of the bands mentioned played at Homocore Chicago. As well, as Amy Spencer notes in DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, "Through Homocore events, they aimed to create a space for men and women to be together, as opposed to the sense of gender segregation which was the norm in mainstream gay culture - They attacked the idea that due to your sexuality you should be offered only one choice of social scene..."
In 1992 Matt Wobensmith's zine Outpunk
also became a record label, and began to release its own queercore compilations, singles, and albums, and was crucial to the development of queercore. The first recordings by Tribe 8 and Pansy Division were released by the label. Some of the bands appearing later in the mid-1990s on the label include Sta-Prest
, Cypher in the Snow
and Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live. It was also at this time in the early 1990s that Riot Grrrl
emerged. "In many ways the angry- girl genre owes its existence to punk homocore 'zines..." writes Emily White in Rock She Wrote. It follows that many of the participants, their zines, and bands like Excuse 17
were involved in both movements. Along with Outpunk, independent record labels such as Alternative Tentacles
, K Records
, Kill Rock Stars
, Lookout! Records
, Yoyo Recordings and Candy Ass Records
also supported and released material by queercore artists but in the mid to late 1990s several other small labels, alongside Outpunk, sprung up solely devoted to queercore.
Donna Dresch's zine Chainsaw
became a record label as well, and began to release recordings by newer bands such as The Need
, The Third Sex and Longstocking
. Heartcore Records is another label, whose bands have included The Little Deaths
, Addicted2Fiction, Crowns On 45 and Ninja Death Squad. These bands, many of whom are no longer together, constituted the 'second wave' of queercore bands which also included IAMLoved, Subtonix, Best Revenge
and Fagatron from the U.S., Skinjobs from Canada and, from Italy, Pussy Face. Of these early queercore labels, Chainsaw and Heartcore are still active and are still releasing new material.
By the mid 1990s, zines in the U.S., such as Marilyn Medusa, and in Canada, This Is The Salivation Army, began to link queercore with a Paganism
; at the same time, other strands in queercore began to link themselves with Riot Grrrl, and still others with anarchism
. Mainstream media coverage intensified when Pansy Division toured the U.S. with Green Day
,. In 1996 in San Francisco, the Dirtybird 96 Queercore Festival presaged other queer music gatherings which occurred in the following decade. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DUMBA
provided an ongoing venue in New York
for queercore bands, continuing in the path of Homocore Chicago and leading the way for other, similar clubs to come in the 2000s.
, IAMLoved, and Nick Name and The Normals played regularly. In Toronto, the queercore scene thrived for a number of years at the monthly club Vazaleen, or Club V, run by Will Munro
, which featured bands from across the U.S.A and Canada, including such legendary performers as Jayne County
. The festival Queer Panic was organized by Gordon Gordon of the zine Teen Fag in Seattle, Washington
in June 2000. Scutterfest was organized by Rudy Bleu of the zine Scutter in Los Angeles, California
in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
The Bent Festival was held in Seattle in 2002 and 2003.
The festival Homo-a-go-go was held the summers of 2002, 2004 and 2006 in Olympia, Washington
, featuring queer films, zines, performance and musical groups during the week-long event; in 2009 the festival was held in San Francisco.
Queeruption
, which takes place in a different city each year, has been hosted by Berlin, Rome, New York and London in the past. In 2004 and 2005, a group of queercore bands toured throughout the U.S.; the tour was called Queercore Blitz and was yet another way to connect the like-minded. Queer groups that are flourishing now in the UK are Edinburgh QueerMutiny Queers Without Borders, Queer Mutiny North, Cardiff Queer Mutiny, Queer Mutiny Brighton. A number of these are organised as Queer Mutiny
groups.
In 2002, Agitprop! Records
released a compilation titled Stand Up & Fucking Fight For It, which collected new music from queercore bands. It was the first release from the label, which features many queercore acts in its roster. 16 records is a queercore label that releases albums by such Pacific Northwest bands as Shemo, The Haggard, and Swan Island
, as well as the Brazilian band Dominatrix
. Other new labels include Queer Control, which features the bands Pariah Piranha, Tough Tough Skin, Nancy Fullforce, Once A Pawn, and others.
In September 2005, Homocore: The Loud and Raucous Rise of Queer Rock by David Ciminelli and Ken Knox was published by Alyson Books. It traced the history the movement in the 1990s in the United States, and included interviews with some of the contemporary musicians who have been inspired by it. Queercore became an increasingly international phenomenon in the early 2000s, with bands such as Low End Models and Rhythm King And Her Friends from Germany
, Kids Like Us out of Norway
and She Devils
, from Argentina
. From Toronto, Canada came Kids on TV
, whose industrial background offered a new, more electronic direction for queercore. Similar electronic instrumentation was explored by Lesbians on Ecstasy
from Montreal
. Canada also birthed The Hidden Cameras
, an anti-folk
band from Toronto.
The 2000s also brought a new crop of bands to prominence in the United States
. The straight edge
band Limp Wrist
represent a contemporary breed of hardcore punk
. Gravy Train!!!!, a raucous electropop band from Oakland, California
, known for their sexually explicit lyrics and onstage antics, has released several albums on Kill Rock Stars label. One offshoot of Gravy Train!!!!, Hunx and His Punx
, are a power pop
act more indebted to girl groups and 1960s garage rock
. Three Dollar Bill
from Chicago are an eclectic band whose sound ranges from punk to indie rock
to metal. Also citing metal as an inspiration are ASSACRE, a one man fantasy metal/spazz noise act from Austin, Texas
, and Gay for Johnny Depp
, a hardcore band from New York
. The Shondes
, a four piece rock band from Brooklyn
combine riot grrrl punk with classical and traditional Jewish music influences; similarly, Schmekel, an all-transgender, all-Jewish Brooklyn
band combines punk rock with klezmer
. The Homewreckers are a riot grrrl
/ pop-punk band, also based in Brooklyn. Your Heart Breaks
are a multi-instrumental low-fi band with a fluctuating line-up based in Seattle, Washington. Along with these new bands, queercore pioneers Team Dresch reunited in the mid-2000s for several tours.
In the UK there is a burgeoning queercore scene, fuelled by afore mentioned groups such as Queer Mutiny
, the now defunct Homocrime, and record labels such as Local Kid arranging shows and releasing records by bands such as The Corey Orbisons, Sleeping States
, Drunk Granny, Little Paper Squares, Husbands, Fake Tan and Lianne Hall. These bands all combine elements of the DIY culture that spurred queercore and the punk sensibility, as seen in two of Manchester's offerings, the lesbian disco-punk band Vile Vile Creatures and solo lo-fi electro-punk-popster Ste McCabe
(whose previous band Stephen Nancy were considered a major reference for UK queercore in the early 2000s). Collectives in the North West of England such as Manifesta
and Lola and the Cartwheels are currently working hard to promote and organise alternative queer events whilst simultaneously having a strong feminist identity. With each new band, the range of musical genres expands the definition of Queercore.
, Jack Smith
, early Andy Warhol
and early John Waters
, Vivienne Dick
and the aforementioned Derek Jarman were influential in their depictions of queer subcultures. In 1990 the editors of J.D.s began presenting J.D.s movie nights in various cities showing films such as Bruce LaBruce's Boy, Girl
and Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies
, and G.B. Jones' The Troublemakers; after the demise of J.D.s, each made films exploring the queercore milieu; LaBruce released the feature length No Skin Off My Ass
in 1991; G.B. Jones' The Troublemakers was released in 1990, followed by The Yo-Yo Gang
in 1992. In 1996, J.D.s contributor Anonymous Boy
completed the first animated queercore film, Green Pubes.
Documentary films about queercore include the 1996 releases She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane
and Queercore: A Punk-u-mentary by Scott Treleaven
. Gay Shame '98 by Scott Berry documents the first Gay shame
event. Tracy Flannigan
's Rise Above: A Tribe 8 Documentary
was released in 2003, and Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band by Michael Carmona debuted in 2008, both films playing regularly at film festivals around the world.
2003 saw the premiere of the no budget
comedy Malaqueerche: Queer Punk Rock Show by Sarah Adorable (of Scream Club) and Devon Devine, which brought the third wave of queercore to the screen. In 2008, G.B. Jones released the feature film The Lollipop Generation
, featuring many of the participants in the queercore scene, including Jena von Brücker, Mark Ewert
, Vaginal Davis
, Jane Danger of Three Dollar Bill
, Jen Smith
, Joel Gibb
, Anonymous Boy
, Scott Treleaven
and Gary Fembot of Sta-Prest
, with music by The Hidden Cameras
, Anonymous Boy and the Abominations, Bunny and the Lakers, Jane Danger, Swishin' Duds and Mariae Nascenti
. All these films impacted the scene and broadened the scope of queercore to include film as another of its mediums of expression.
increased, many queercore zines, such as Noise Queen could be found online as well as in print. The queercore zine label Xerox Revolutionaries run by Hank Revolt, was available online and distributed zines from 2000 to 2005. Queercore forums and chatrooms, such as QueerPunks started up. The Queer Zine Archive Project is an internet database of scanned queer zines that continues to grow. All these developments allowed queercore to become a self-sustaining and self-determined subculture, expressing itself through a variety of mediums independent of the straight and gay establishment.
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
communities and their "oppressive agenda". Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
s, music, writing, art and film.
As a musical genre, it may be distinguished by lyrics exploring themes of prejudice and dealing with issues such as sexual identity
Sexual identity
Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...
, gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
and the rights of the individual; more generally bands offer a critique of society endemic to their position within it, sometimes in a light-hearted way, sometimes seriously. Musically, many queercore bands originated in the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene but the industrial music culture
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
has been influential as well. Queercore groups encompass many genres such as hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, synthpunk
Synthpunk
Synthpunk is a music genre combining elements of electronic music and punk rock. The term was coined by Damian Ramsey in 1999 as an attempt to retroactively identify a small sub-genre of punk music from 1977 to 1984 that involved musicians playing synthesizers in place of electric...
, indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
, power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
, No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
, noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
, experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and others.
History
The zine J.D.sJ.D.s
J.D.s is a queer punk zine founded in Toronto by G.B. Jones and co-published with Bruce LaBruce, that ran for eight issues from 1985 to 1991....
, created by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, photographer and underground gay porn director based in Toronto, Ontario.-Biography:...
, is widely acknowledged as being the zine which launched the movement. "J.D.s is seen by many to be the catalyst that pushed the queercore scene into existence", writes Amy Spencer in DIY: The Rise Of Lo-Fi Culture. Emerging out of the anarchist
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
scene, at first the editors of J.D.s had chosen the appellation "homocore" to describe the movement but replaced the word homo with queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
to better reflect the diversity of those involved, as well as to disassociate themselves completely from the confines of gay and lesbian orthodoxy.
The first issue was released in 1985, with a manifesto entitled "Don't Be Gay" published in the fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
Maximum RocknRoll
Maximum RocknRoll
Maximum rocknroll is a widely distributed, monthly not-for-profit fanzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors...
following soon after; inspiring, among many other zines, Holy Titclamps, edited by Larry-bob, Homocore
Homocore (zine)
Homocore is an American anarcho-punk zine created by Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson, and published in San Francisco from 1988 to 1991. One of the first queer zines, Homocore was directed toward the hardcore punk youth of the gay underground...
by Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings
Tom Jennings is a Los Angeles-based artist and technician. He is the creator of FidoNet, the first message and file networking system for BBSes...
and Deke Nihilson
Deke Nihilson
Daniel "Deke" Frontino Elash is an American zine editor, musician, actor, activist and historian.In 1988, he and co-editor Tom Jennings began publishing Homocore zine out of San Francisco. One of the earliest queercore zines, it followed in the wake of J.D.s and was instrumental in the expansion...
,Donna Dresch
Donna Dresch
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch and the Queen of Grunge....
's Chainsaw, and Outpunk by Matt Wobensmith, these last two later functioning as music labels. These zines, and the movement, are characterised by an alternative to the self-imposed ghettoization of orthodox gay men and lesbians; sexual and gender diversity in opposition to the segregation practiced by the mainstream gay community; a dissatisfaction with a consumerist
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
culture, proposing a DIY ethos in its place in order to create a culture of its own; and opposition to oppressive religious tenets and political repression.
Influences
Influences vary for each musician, zine editor and filmmaker involved.Later, in the U.S. during the eighties when the Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
scene arose, The Dicks
The Dicks
The Dicks are an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, originally formed in 1980. They initially disbanded in 1986 before reforming in 2004...
' Gary Floyd was writing queer-themed songs, as were many hardcore bands, except that he, along with Randy Turner
Randy Turner
Randy J. "Biscuit" Turner was an American punk singer and artist. He was born in Gladewater, Texas. He was the lead singer for the seminal hardcore punk band Big Boys, formed in Austin in the 1970s....
of Big Boys
Big Boys (band)
The Big Boys were a pioneering band who are credited with helping introduce the new style of hardcore punk that became popular in the 1980s.-History:...
were both open about being homosexuals. In England, in the anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
scene, Andy Martin of The Apostles
The Apostles
The Apostles are an experimental punk rock band who developed within the confines of the 1980s Anarcho Punk scene in the UK, but did not necessarily adhere to the aesthetics of that movement.-History:...
was equally forthright. Politically motivated bands such as MDC
MDC (band)
MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...
and 7 Seconds in the U.S. were also introducing anti-homophobia messages into their songs at this time and , in a more personal vein, bands such as the Nip Drivers were including songs such as "Quentin", dedicated to Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp , was an English writer and raconteur. He became a gay icon in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant.- Early life :...
, on their albums.
1990s
In 1990, the J.D.s editors released the first queercore compilation, J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape, a cassetteCassette culture
Cassette culture, or the cassette underground , refers to the practices surrounding amateur production and distribution of recorded music that emerged in the late 1970s via home-made audio cassettes...
which included bands from Canada, such as Fifth Column; Nikki Parasite
Parasites (band)
Parasites are an American pop-punk band. The band was formed in 1985 by guitarist and singer Dave Parasite and bassist Ron Nole in New Jersey. Dave later relocated to Berkeley, California, forming a new band with local players...
, Big Man
Mykel Board
Mykel Board is a regularly published journalist, especially well known for his articles in Maximumrocknroll....
, and Bomb from the U.S.; from England, The Apostles
The Apostles
The Apostles are an experimental punk rock band who developed within the confines of the 1980s Anarcho Punk scene in the UK, but did not necessarily adhere to the aesthetics of that movement.-History:...
, Academy 23
Academy 23
Academy 23 was a British experimental music project created by Andy Martin and Dave Fanning, immediately after disbanding their former group The Apostles. Founded in London in 1989, the band released music primarily on audio cassette, as part of the cassette culture movement...
and No Brain Cells; and, from New Zealand, Gorse.
During this period of queercore in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, many of the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
bands involved were not necessarily queer but their ethics were motivation for supporting this movement. Other bands, such as Los Crudos
Los Crudos
Los Crudos was an American hardcore punk band from Chicago, Illinois that existed from 1991 to 1998. The band played in the hardcore punk style, and were a popular act within the DIY underground of the 1990s. Being Latino, they paved the way for later Spanish-speaking punk bands and helped to...
and Go!, had one queer and outspoken member. The sexuality of band members has never been an issue in the choice to align oneself with the queercore movement or not.
Other early queercore bands included Anti-Scrunti Faction
Anti-Scrunti Faction
Anti-Scrunti Faction were an all-women punk trio from Boulder, Colorado, United States.The band made their first appearance in 1984 on the Restless Records compilation LP entitled FlipSide Vinyl Fanzine Volume 1, assembled by the fanzine Flipside from California, with the song "Big Women". In...
, who appeared in J.D.s, and Comrades In Arms, Homocore editor Deke Nihilson's band. Shortly after the release of the tape J.D.s ceased publication and a new crop of zines arose, such as Jane and Frankie by Klaus and Jena von Brücker, Shrimp by Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.-Life and career:Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement...
and Fanorama
Fanorama
Fanorama is a Rhode Island-based zine and zine-distro produced by journalist/activist REB . According the their website it is the "grand-daddy of the queer zine scene"....
by REB. The zine BIMBOX published statements such as "BIMBOX hereby renounces it's [sic] past use of the term lesbian and/or gay in a positive manner. This is a civil war against the ultimate evil, and consequently we must identify us and them in no uncertain terms, a task which will prove to be half the battle". The first queer zine gathering occurred at this time; "Spew", held in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1991, offered an opportunity for all those involved in the scene to meet. Although organizer Steve LaFreniere was stabbed outside the venue at the end of the night, he quickly recovered and the event was deemed a success. Spew 2 took place in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1992
, and Spew III in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in 1993. These Spew events also included musical performances by queercore bands.
Among the better-known bands from the early 1990s are Fifth Column, God Is My Co-Pilot
God Is My Co-Pilot (band)
God Is My Co-Pilot is a queercore band from New York City that's been recording and playing music since 1991. The two main members of God is My Co-Pilot are vocalist Sharon Topper and guitarist Craig Flanagin...
, Pansy Division
Pansy Division
Pansy Division is an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California in 1991. Featuring primarily gay musicians and focusing mostly on gay-related themes, Pansy Division is one of the more melodic-oriented bands to emerge from the "queercore" movement that began in the 1980s.-Early...
, PME, Sister George
Sister George
Sister George was an influential queercore band from London that was formed in 1994. The groups' name was inspired by the 1968 UK movie The Killing of Sister George, which was an adaptation of a BBC radio play of the same name...
, Team Dresch
Team Dresch
Team Dresch is an American punk band from Portland, Oregon, originally formed in Olympia, Washington, which was initially active from 1993 until 1998. The band made a significant impression on the do-it-yourself movement queercore, which gave voice through zines and music to the passions and...
, Tribe 8
Tribe 8
This article is about the San Francisco based lesbian punk band Tribe 8. See Tribe 8 for Dream Pod 9s post-apocalyptic fantasy role-playing game.Tribe 8 was an all-women outspoken dyke punk band from San Francisco...
, and Mukilteo Fairies. As these bands gained popularity and awareness of the movement grew, zines began appearing from around the world; The Burning Times from Australia, and P.M.S. from the UK are examples.
In Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Mark Freitas and Joanna Brown organized a monthly "Homocore" night that featured queercore bands performing live, offering a stable venue for the scene to proliferate; most of the bands mentioned played at Homocore Chicago. As well, as Amy Spencer notes in DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, "Through Homocore events, they aimed to create a space for men and women to be together, as opposed to the sense of gender segregation which was the norm in mainstream gay culture - They attacked the idea that due to your sexuality you should be offered only one choice of social scene..."
In 1992 Matt Wobensmith's zine Outpunk
Outpunk
Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands.The label was run out of San Francisco and began as an extension of Matt Wobensmith's fanzine, Outpunk. Outpunk ran for seven issues, from 1992 till 1997, with contributions from queer punks such as...
also became a record label, and began to release its own queercore compilations, singles, and albums, and was crucial to the development of queercore. The first recordings by Tribe 8 and Pansy Division were released by the label. Some of the bands appearing later in the mid-1990s on the label include Sta-Prest
Sta-Prest (band)
-Biography:The band first made its appearance on the queercore record label Outpunk Records, on its compilation Outpunk Dance Party. Soon afterwards they released their first EP, Vespa Sex, also on Outpunk, followed later by a 7" single...
, Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow
Cypher in the Snow were an all women queercore band from San Francisco.One of the band's first appearances was at the Dirtybird Queercore Festival in San Francisco in 1996. This historic festival also featured Tribe 8, Sta-Prest, Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live, The Need and many others...
and Behead the Prophet, No Lord Shall Live. It was also at this time in the early 1990s that Riot Grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
emerged. "In many ways the angry- girl genre owes its existence to punk homocore 'zines..." writes Emily White in Rock She Wrote. It follows that many of the participants, their zines, and bands like Excuse 17
Excuse 17
Excuse 17 was a punk rock band from Olympia, Washington that performed and recorded from 1993 to 1995.Carrie Brownstein, Becca Albee and CJ Phillips came together to form Excuse 17, a band that would only last a few years but would prove to be influential. Carrie and Becca both played guitar and...
were involved in both movements. Along with Outpunk, independent record labels such as Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label originally based in San Francisco, California and was established in 1979. It was originally used as the label name by the Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single "California Über Alles", and after realizing the potential for an independent...
, K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
, Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
, Lookout! Records
Lookout! Records
-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
, Yoyo Recordings and Candy Ass Records
Candy Ass Records
Candy Ass Records is an independent record label run out of Portland, Oregon by Jody Bleyle, a member of the band Team Dresch as well as member of Hazel and formerly of the queercore bands Family Outing and Infinite Xs....
also supported and released material by queercore artists but in the mid to late 1990s several other small labels, alongside Outpunk, sprung up solely devoted to queercore.
Donna Dresch's zine Chainsaw
Chainsaw Records
Chainsaw Records is an independent record label run by Donna Dresch, devoted to Queercore bands and operating out of Portland, Oregon.-History:...
became a record label as well, and began to release recordings by newer bands such as The Need
The Need
The Need was a queercore band that originated in Olympia, Washington in the late 1990s. It was formed by Rachel Carns and Radio Sloan ; both were veterans of other indie rock bands...
, The Third Sex and Longstocking
Longstocking
Longstocking were a Los Angeles queercore-punk band.Formed in 1995 by singer and guitarist Tamala Poljak, the group had originally been a guitar and drums duo. Tamala had previously been in the bands Oiler and Fleabag...
. Heartcore Records is another label, whose bands have included The Little Deaths
The Little Deaths
The Little Deaths was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1997. The band was associated with the 1990s Queercore movement and became part of the San Francisco Bay-Area's late-90's musical renaissance which spawned bands like Subtonix, The Phantom Limbs, Erase Errata, The...
, Addicted2Fiction, Crowns On 45 and Ninja Death Squad. These bands, many of whom are no longer together, constituted the 'second wave' of queercore bands which also included IAMLoved, Subtonix, Best Revenge
Best Revenge
Best Revenge is a queercore punk band from Los Angeles, CA. They were active as a studio and live act from the beginning of 1998 until December 2002.-History and Founding:...
and Fagatron from the U.S., Skinjobs from Canada and, from Italy, Pussy Face. Of these early queercore labels, Chainsaw and Heartcore are still active and are still releasing new material.
By the mid 1990s, zines in the U.S., such as Marilyn Medusa, and in Canada, This Is The Salivation Army, began to link queercore with a Paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
; at the same time, other strands in queercore began to link themselves with Riot Grrrl, and still others with anarchism
Anarchy
Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
. Mainstream media coverage intensified when Pansy Division toured the U.S. with Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
,. In 1996 in San Francisco, the Dirtybird 96 Queercore Festival presaged other queer music gatherings which occurred in the following decade. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DUMBA
Dumba
DUMBA was a collective living space and anarchist, queer, all-ages community center and venue in Brooklyn, New York.DUMBA became a radical cultural nexus point around which the Queercore movement flourished and an independent film scene developed...
provided an ongoing venue in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for queercore bands, continuing in the path of Homocore Chicago and leading the way for other, similar clubs to come in the 2000s.
2000s
In the 2000s, queercore club nights and events continued to take place throughout Europe and North America. In Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighbourhood an underground queer music scene was in existence at the monthly queercore club called "The Freak Show" hosted by the leather bar The Gauntlet II for three years, where bands such as Best RevengeBest Revenge
Best Revenge is a queercore punk band from Los Angeles, CA. They were active as a studio and live act from the beginning of 1998 until December 2002.-History and Founding:...
, IAMLoved, and Nick Name and The Normals played regularly. In Toronto, the queercore scene thrived for a number of years at the monthly club Vazaleen, or Club V, run by Will Munro
Will Munro
William Grant "Will" Munro was a Toronto artist, club promoter, and restaurateur known for his work as a community builder among disparate Toronto groups...
, which featured bands from across the U.S.A and Canada, including such legendary performers as Jayne County
Jayne County
Jayne County , formerly known as Wayne County, is an American male-to-female transsexual performer, musician and actress whose career has spanned several decades. County would go on to be known as rock's first transsexual singer...
. The festival Queer Panic was organized by Gordon Gordon of the zine Teen Fag in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in June 2000. Scutterfest was organized by Rudy Bleu of the zine Scutter in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
The Bent Festival was held in Seattle in 2002 and 2003.
The festival Homo-a-go-go was held the summers of 2002, 2004 and 2006 in Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, featuring queer films, zines, performance and musical groups during the week-long event; in 2009 the festival was held in San Francisco.
Queeruption
Queeruption
Queeruption is an annual international Queercore festival and gathering where alternative/radical/disenfranchised queers can exchange information, network, organize, inspire and get inspired, self-represent, and challenge mainstream society with DIY ideas and ethics...
, which takes place in a different city each year, has been hosted by Berlin, Rome, New York and London in the past. In 2004 and 2005, a group of queercore bands toured throughout the U.S.; the tour was called Queercore Blitz and was yet another way to connect the like-minded. Queer groups that are flourishing now in the UK are Edinburgh QueerMutiny Queers Without Borders, Queer Mutiny North, Cardiff Queer Mutiny, Queer Mutiny Brighton. A number of these are organised as Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny is an anarchist Queer organization. There are branches in Edinburgh, London, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Leeds in the United Kingdom....
groups.
In 2002, Agitprop! Records
Agitprop! Records
Agitprop! Records is a 'revolutionary hardcore and hip hop' independent record label based in Boston, USA, founded by Angela Tavares.One of the label's notable releases is the compilation Stand Up & Fucking Fight For It, its first full-length CD, released in 2002...
released a compilation titled Stand Up & Fucking Fight For It, which collected new music from queercore bands. It was the first release from the label, which features many queercore acts in its roster. 16 records is a queercore label that releases albums by such Pacific Northwest bands as Shemo, The Haggard, and Swan Island
Swan Island (band)
Swan Island is a five-piece rock band from Portland, Oregon. Their music is influenced by classic rock, New Wave, progressive rock, and metal, as well as Queercore bands from the Pacific Northwest....
, as well as the Brazilian band Dominatrix
Dominatrix (band)
Dominatrix was a synthpop band from New York City, best remembered for their 1984 club hit, "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight". Although short lived as a group, their lone hit single was highly influential in the freestyle genre.-History:...
. Other new labels include Queer Control, which features the bands Pariah Piranha, Tough Tough Skin, Nancy Fullforce, Once A Pawn, and others.
In September 2005, Homocore: The Loud and Raucous Rise of Queer Rock by David Ciminelli and Ken Knox was published by Alyson Books. It traced the history the movement in the 1990s in the United States, and included interviews with some of the contemporary musicians who have been inspired by it. Queercore became an increasingly international phenomenon in the early 2000s, with bands such as Low End Models and Rhythm King And Her Friends from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Kids Like Us out of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and She Devils
She Devils
She-Devils is an Argentine punk band that started to play in the year 1995.The band has often been associated with the homocore genre.The band members are: Patricia Pietrafiesa , Pilar and Inés...
, from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. From Toronto, Canada came Kids on TV
Kids on TV
Kids on TV are a punk-house queercore band based in Toronto.The group consists of John Caffery on bass and vocals, Minus Smile on drums, electronics and vocals, Wolf on guitar and vocals, and Roxy on keyboard and vocals. The band is known for performing outside of the usual venues, such as bars,...
, whose industrial background offered a new, more electronic direction for queercore. Similar electronic instrumentation was explored by Lesbians on Ecstasy
Lesbians on Ecstasy
Lesbians on Ecstasy is an electronic band from Montreal, Quebec.The band toured across Canada and the U.S. with Le Tigre before the release of their first recording.The first album, the self-titled Lesbians on Ecstasy was released on October 26, 2004...
from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Canada also birthed The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the band consists of a varying roster of musicians who play what Gibb once described as "gay church folk music"...
, an anti-folk
Anti-folk
Anti-folk is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next...
band from Toronto.
The 2000s also brought a new crop of bands to prominence in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The straight edge
Straight edge
Straight edge is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. It was a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. For some, this extends to not engaging in promiscuous sex, following a...
band Limp Wrist
Limp Wrist
Limp Wrist is an American hardcore punk band featuring members of Los Crudos, Hail Mary, Devoid of Faith, and Kill the Man Who Questions. Playing short, fast hardcore punk-styled music, the band touches upon themes concerning the LGBT community in their live performances and lyrics. They identify...
represent a contemporary breed of hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
. Gravy Train!!!!, a raucous electropop band from Oakland, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, known for their sexually explicit lyrics and onstage antics, has released several albums on Kill Rock Stars label. One offshoot of Gravy Train!!!!, Hunx and His Punx
Hunx and His Punx
Hunx and His Punx is a rock and roll band from Oakland, California.Hunx, real name Seth Bogart, started the band in 2008 after years of fronting a queer-themed electro outfit called Gravy Train!!!! The group's sound has been compared to 1960s girl groups, early power pop, and punk music. Arizonan...
, are a power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
act more indebted to girl groups and 1960s garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
. Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill is a band founded by Jane Danger and Chris Piss, in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. The name comes from the expression "Queer as a three dollar bill". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has never been authorized to print a $3 note. However, before the Civil War, banks operating...
from Chicago are an eclectic band whose sound ranges from punk to indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
to metal. Also citing metal as an inspiration are ASSACRE, a one man fantasy metal/spazz noise act from Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, and Gay for Johnny Depp
Gay for Johnny Depp
Gay for Johnny Depp was a hardcore band formed in New York, USA. Members were: Sid Jagger , Marty Leopard , Chelsea Piers , JJ Samanen...
, a hardcore band from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The Shondes
The Shondes
The Shondes are an indie punk band from Brooklyn, NY, best known for their brand of pop-rock, featuring Jewish influences and radical political messages, and for organizing and performing at benefit events for organizations such as Birthright Unplugged, Jews Against the Occupation, and The Sylvia...
, a four piece rock band from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
combine riot grrrl punk with classical and traditional Jewish music influences; similarly, Schmekel, an all-transgender, all-Jewish Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
band combines punk rock with klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
. The Homewreckers are a riot grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
/ pop-punk band, also based in Brooklyn. Your Heart Breaks
Your Heart Breaks
Your Heart Breaks is a collaborative music project. It began in Bellingham, Washington in 1999.The project has spread throughout the United States, but resides in Seattle, Washington when not on tour. They now have over 50 members in the lower 48 states and have produced seven albums...
are a multi-instrumental low-fi band with a fluctuating line-up based in Seattle, Washington. Along with these new bands, queercore pioneers Team Dresch reunited in the mid-2000s for several tours.
In the UK there is a burgeoning queercore scene, fuelled by afore mentioned groups such as Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny is an anarchist Queer organization. There are branches in Edinburgh, London, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Leeds in the United Kingdom....
, the now defunct Homocrime, and record labels such as Local Kid arranging shows and releasing records by bands such as The Corey Orbisons, Sleeping States
Sleeping States
Sleeping States is a musical solo project of British musician Markland Starkie .Started in 2004 in London, Sleeping States falls predominantly in the songwriter genre...
, Drunk Granny, Little Paper Squares, Husbands, Fake Tan and Lianne Hall. These bands all combine elements of the DIY culture that spurred queercore and the punk sensibility, as seen in two of Manchester's offerings, the lesbian disco-punk band Vile Vile Creatures and solo lo-fi electro-punk-popster Ste McCabe
Ste McCabe
Ste McCabe is a British DIY, queercore singer, songwriter and radio DJ. He is currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.- Career :...
(whose previous band Stephen Nancy were considered a major reference for UK queercore in the early 2000s). Collectives in the North West of England such as Manifesta
Manifesta
Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...
and Lola and the Cartwheels are currently working hard to promote and organise alternative queer events whilst simultaneously having a strong feminist identity. With each new band, the range of musical genres expands the definition of Queercore.
Film
Filmmakers such as Kenneth AngerKenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
, Jack Smith
Jack Smith (film director)
Jack Smith was an American filmmaker, actor, and pioneer of underground cinema...
, early Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and early John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
, Vivienne Dick
Vivienne Dick
Vivienne Dick is an Irish experimental and documentary filmmaker.She was born in Dublin but moved to the United States in the 1970s. In the U.S., Dick became active in No Wave film culture and produced a series of Super8 short films. Many of her films were staged around well-known New York City...
and the aforementioned Derek Jarman were influential in their depictions of queer subcultures. In 1990 the editors of J.D.s began presenting J.D.s movie nights in various cities showing films such as Bruce LaBruce's Boy, Girl
Boy, Girl
Boy, Girl is a short experimental film directed by Bruce LaBruce.Boy, Girl stars G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce and was made in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1987. It is an experimental film which, aside from the two stars, features segments filmed from television of Mary Tyler Moore from the Elvis...
and Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies
Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies
Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies also known as Home Movies is a short experimental film by Bruce LaBruce and Candy Parker.Made in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1988, it is filmed in colour and black and white on Super 8mm film and is 12 minutes long.The conceptual premise of the film is that...
, and G.B. Jones' The Troublemakers; after the demise of J.D.s, each made films exploring the queercore milieu; LaBruce released the feature length No Skin Off My Ass
No Skin off My Ass
No Skin Off My Ass is a 1993 comedy-drama film by Bruce LaBruce.Filmed in black and white, this is LaBruce's debut feature film, in which he plays the role of a punk hairdresser with Klaus von Brücker as the skinhead with whom he is obsessed. G.B...
in 1991; G.B. Jones' The Troublemakers was released in 1990, followed by The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang
The Yo-Yo Gang is a thirty minute 'exploitation movie' about girl gangs released in 1992 that has become a cult film.Directed by G.B. Jones, this 'no budget film' follows the exploits of two girl gangs, the "Yo-Yo Gang" and the "Skateboard Bitches", as a gangwar erupts between them...
in 1992. In 1996, J.D.s contributor Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.- Comics and Artistic Work :...
completed the first animated queercore film, Green Pubes.
Documentary films about queercore include the 1996 releases She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane
Lucy Thane
Lucy Thane is a documentary filmmaker.One of her most notable works is It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The UK in which she followed the 1990s riot grrrl band Bikini Kill while they were on tour in the UK with Huggy Bear....
and Queercore: A Punk-u-mentary by Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven is a Canadian artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation.-Artwork:...
. Gay Shame '98 by Scott Berry documents the first Gay shame
Gay shame
Gay Shame is a movement from within the LGBT and queer communities described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming and directly posits an alternative view of traditional "gay pride" events and activities which have become increasingly commercialized with corporate sponsors and "safer"...
event. Tracy Flannigan
Tracy Flannigan
Tracy Flannigan is an award winning independent filmmaker residing in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles who began making movies when she was seventeen years old. She has worked professionally for the last fifteen years in the film business and has created numerous short films and music videos...
's Rise Above: A Tribe 8 Documentary
Rise Above: A Tribe 8 Documentary
Rise Above: The Tribe 8 Documentary is a feature film directed and produced by Tracy Flannigan that documents the all women queercore punk band Tribe 8....
was released in 2003, and Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band by Michael Carmona debuted in 2008, both films playing regularly at film festivals around the world.
2003 saw the premiere of the no budget
No budget film
A no budget film is a produced film made with very little, or no money.Young directors starting out in filmmaking commonly use this method because there are few other options available to them at that point. All the actors and technicians are employed without remuneration, and the films are largely...
comedy Malaqueerche: Queer Punk Rock Show by Sarah Adorable (of Scream Club) and Devon Devine, which brought the third wave of queercore to the screen. In 2008, G.B. Jones released the feature film The Lollipop Generation
The Lollipop Generation
The Lollipop Generation is the first feature film by G.B. Jones.The Lollipop Generation premiered as the Gala Feature presentation of the Images Festival in Toronto on April 3, 2008....
, featuring many of the participants in the queercore scene, including Jena von Brücker, Mark Ewert
Mark Ewert
Marcus Ewert, previously known as Mark Ewert, is an American writer, actor and director, living in San Francisco.Marcus Ewert began making and appearing in films in the 1990s. He has appeared in the Gus Van Sant short film Four Naked Boys and a Gun, in Sadie Benning's Flat Is Beautiful, and the...
, Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis
Vaginal Davis is an American genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis's name is a homage to activist Angela Davis.-Life and career:Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queer-Core Zine Movement...
, Jane Danger of Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill is a band founded by Jane Danger and Chris Piss, in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. The name comes from the expression "Queer as a three dollar bill". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has never been authorized to print a $3 note. However, before the Civil War, banks operating...
, Jen Smith
Jen Smith
Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor, and activist from the United States.Jen Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term Riot Grrrl and being one of the architects of the movement...
, Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb
Joel Gibb is a Berlin-based Canadian artist and singer-songwriter who leads the "gay church folk" group The Hidden Cameras. He was born in Kincardine, Ontario.-Career:...
, Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy
Anonymous Boy is the pen name of Tony Arena, an artist, writer and filmmaker who resides in New York City. Anonymous Boy is also the title of his self-published comics zine.- Comics and Artistic Work :...
, Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven is a Canadian artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation.-Artwork:...
and Gary Fembot of Sta-Prest
Sta-Prest (band)
-Biography:The band first made its appearance on the queercore record label Outpunk Records, on its compilation Outpunk Dance Party. Soon afterwards they released their first EP, Vespa Sex, also on Outpunk, followed later by a 7" single...
, with music by The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the band consists of a varying roster of musicians who play what Gibb once described as "gay church folk music"...
, Anonymous Boy and the Abominations, Bunny and the Lakers, Jane Danger, Swishin' Duds and Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti
Mariae Nascenti is a one-man industrial music project from Milan, Italy.The creation of Ango Visone, Maria Nascenti has been described as 'dark ambient', 'harsh electronics' and 'ambient industrial'. Songs consist of soundscapes, sometimes employing "found sound", and are frequently accompanied by...
. All these films impacted the scene and broadened the scope of queercore to include film as another of its mediums of expression.
Zines
As with punk, queercore culture existed outside of the mainstream so zines were crucial to its development. Hundreds of zines formed an intercontinental network that enabled queercore to spread and allow those in smaller, more repressive communities to participate. The DIY attitude of punk was integral to queercore as well. In the 1990s, as the availability of the internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
increased, many queercore zines, such as Noise Queen could be found online as well as in print. The queercore zine label Xerox Revolutionaries run by Hank Revolt, was available online and distributed zines from 2000 to 2005. Queercore forums and chatrooms, such as QueerPunks started up. The Queer Zine Archive Project is an internet database of scanned queer zines that continues to grow. All these developments allowed queercore to become a self-sustaining and self-determined subculture, expressing itself through a variety of mediums independent of the straight and gay establishment.
See also
- Gay shameGay shameGay Shame is a movement from within the LGBT and queer communities described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming and directly posits an alternative view of traditional "gay pride" events and activities which have become increasingly commercialized with corporate sponsors and "safer"...
- GenderqueerGenderqueerGenderqueer is a catch-all term for gender identities other than man and woman, thus outside of the gender binary and heteronormativity...
- Homo hopHomo hopHomo hop is a genre of hip hop music performed by LGBT artists and performers. It has been described as "a global movement of gay hip-hop MCs and fans determined to stake their claim in a genre too often associated with homophobia and anti-gay lyrics."...