#53: "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our kind"
Talking Pride with Middle-Aged Queers and the Gay Agenda
I have a few favorite genres of band names: the patently ludicrous (Happy Mothers Day I Can’t Read), metal bands trying to sound dark but just looking silly (Fecal Corpse), and stridently queer (Grudgepacker).
The thing is, those first two types don’t put anything on the line. Ironic detachment is an easy way to avoid vulnerability (lifelong smartass here), and “scary” names do an excellent job repelling people (a great defense mechanism).
Until fairly recently, it was easy for us straight folk to take for granted the progress we’ve made as a society. Announcing to the world you’re here, you’re queer, and we should get used to it felt almost anachronistic—the product of a more close-minded age.
But if the past, say, seven years—and especially the past week—have taught us anything, it’s not to take freedom for granted. When you’re a performer, foregrounding your identity as a member of a marginalized group takes guts. And when you do it with some stridency, bigotry can be the response.
As Pride month wraps up, I reached out to a couple of Band Name Bureau faves to talk about this stuff: bassist Josh Levine and vocalist Shaun Osburn of Middle-Aged Queers, and vocalist David Hurtt of the Gay Agenda. It’s been edited for length and clarity, yada yada, and I’m pulling it from behind the paywall so more folks can see it.
Band Name Bureau: Which came first, the name or the POV of the band? Does the name reflect identity, or did you have the name, then the “mission,” for lack of a better term?
Josh Levine: The name reflects our mission as a queercore band, but it was about a month in before we decided it. Funny thing though, it’s become more like an identity.
Shaun Osburn: We kept referring to the band as our “middle-aged queercore band.” Ultimately, the idea for the band just became the name.
David Hurtt: I had my point of view for the band was long before we decided on the name the Gay Agenda. There were a couple of names I was floating around at the same time as the Gay Agenda, like “Faggot” and “Homo Superior.” We eventually landed on TGA due to [guitarist] Matt [Penning]’s father always freaking out over and regurgitating crazy conservative talking points throughout his childhood, most notably the “gay agenda” narrative. So it was kind of a “fuck you” and wink to his dad. Our name definitely reflects our identity, and has started to take on a deeper meaning for us as we’ve progressed.
BNB: The added twist I really appreciate about Middle-Aged Queers is how you appropriate hetero rock and punk iconography, like Mötley Crüe, Minor Threat, Crass, etc., into the band’s identity. Could you talk about your approach?
SO: Part of it is also a very tongue-in-cheek, passive-aggressive way of me reclaiming rock for queer people. The first rock musician, Little Richard, was a gay Black man. The Ramones sucked dick for heroin money. Darby Crash selectively opened his closet door to very few until death. Whenever we “steal” artwork from a straight and established band, it’s my way of saying, “Yeah, but you wouldn't be here if it wasn’t for our kind.”
BNB: How prominent of a role did sexuality play in the identities of your previous bands? Why do you think this approach felt best when the Gay Agenda formed?
DH: Sexuality was never a prominent role in any of my previous bands. My sexuality is a large part of who I am, my personality, the community I live in, and lens for my perspective of the world. I knew the Gay Agenda was often going to be the most honest music I’ve ever made, so not including my sexuality in our approach would be disingenuous.
BNB: After the Gay Agenda’s first show, you realized you needed to “gay it up hard.” What did that mean to y’all?
DH: The first time we played live showed a real lack of confidence from us. I watched a recording of it and just felt disappointed with myself. I had to think, if I went to see a queer hardcore band, what would I want to see? What we were doing was not that, so we made some changes to our appearance, and I forced myself out of my comfort zone with regard to my personal body issues. I guess “gay it up hard” was just a way of saying “do better.”
BNB: Punk and hardcore aren’t really known for theatricality, but were there other punk/hardcore bands—or other artists in general—you looked to for inspiration in gaying it up hard?
DH: We have influences from all over the place. I mean, Matt and Patrick [Erhard, bassist] are really into wrestling, which if you know that and look at what they wear onstage, you can see it. I think I take inspiration for my performance from artists Pete Burns, Klaus Nomi, Martin Sorrondeguy, Plack Blague, and maybe Robert Mapplethorpe. All of that sort of in a blender and then stuck in a microwave.
BNB: When you released your album Penetrating, were you like, “Mission accomplished” when it comes to gaying it up? That album has one of the more provocative covers I’ve seen in recent memory. What kinds of hassles did it create for getting it out?
DH: We were relieved when we released the record because we had been sitting on it for over a year before it was published. We were really excited to see what people thought and were mentally preparing ourselves for everyone to trash us. I don’t think I will ever feel like our mission was accomplished because we still have a lot to say and music that still needs to be put out there. The record’s two covers didn’t really create an issue for us except for the streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. We had to submit 14 different alterations censoring the cover before they would finally accept it.
BNB: There are always people who claim to have no problem with homosexuality, so long as it’s not in their face. Your bands feel like a direct confrontation to that perspective. How much do you think about the “just don’t be gay in front of me” crowd?
DH: Fuck ’em.
SO: I have to spend the majority of my life seeing heterosexuality. I’m not stressed by it; heterosexuality is ubiquitous, and despite any claims to the contrary, there’s nothing I can do to convert people to queerness.
People who don’t want to be exposed to our music or live shows have every right not to put their faces in our general direction. Easy solution right there. But you basically know what you’re signing up for the very minute you encounter our name.
BNB: Surely you’ve encountered people who weren’t okay with your bands. Could you share a time that happened?
DH: Honestly we have an amazing supportive punk community here in San Diego with lots of diversity in gender identity and sexuality. We haven’t run into any issues so far.
SO: It’s really been a rare occurrence so far! We will occasionally get online trolls or conservatives upset that we are coming through their town. The actual shows are totally different.
We played in Bakersfield recently, and I was concerned that a group of motorcycle club members at the bar might not take too kindly to our set. Surprisingly, one of them approached me after the show to tell me they had come specifically to make sure nobody hassled us at the show.
BNB: Middle-Aged Queers are playing the Fest this fall, a well-established and much beloved festival, but it’s in Florida. Was there discussion about whether you’d perform, or was it a foregone conclusion because it’s the Fest? Any qualms?
SO: Absolutely no qualms and zero discussions regarding if we should or not. In fact, I would argue that places like Florida need more bands like us. We have discussed making some sort of commemorative merch for our Florida shows that show stick figures of us infiltrating the state of Florida screaming “Gay! Gay! Gay!” We’ll see if we can actually make that happen.
BNB: You’ll be playing to an (ostensibly) friendly crowd, but do you adjust your approach when you travel to places like Florida?
SO: We don’t. I’ve seen people storm out while we play, and they have every right to do so. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because of the queer thing or if they just find our music to be terrible?
BNB: It’s Pride, and from what my gay friends say, it’s easy to get cynical or apathetic about it as you age. How has your relationship to Pride changed over the years?
DH: I’ve always enjoyed celebrating Pride. The only issue I have is with the corporate floats like Wells Fargo in the parade. They have nothing to do with Pride, and their intentions are painfully obvious and awful. I wouldn’t say I’ve grown cynical; I’ve always been cynical.
SO: I attended my first Pride Parade at the age of 6; my father was one of the first straight members of the volunteer medical committee for the San Francisco event. Back then, the attention was very focused on HIV/AIDS. After the cocktail and PrEP, the main focus for many turned to marriage.
I personally believe that Pride has served its purpose for most cis-white gays. I used to be “professionally gay,” working at LGBTQ+ non-profits that were advancing equality for LGBTQ+ people. Eventually, I left that kind of organizing to make way for trans and BIPOC leaders. I would be perfectly content with turning the month of June over to them as well.
Right now, I see my contributions as a cathartic joy through music. Middle-Aged Queers makes it a point to play all-ages shows as much as possible. Every time we do, we get tons of younger queers showing up, often in towns that don’t afford them spaces to be their authentic selves. And doing it allows us to show those younger people something that the AIDS epidemic took away from us as we grew up: models of what it’s like to live past the age of 30.
POST-SCRIPTS
With all respect to Middle-Aged Queers and the Gay Agenda, Closet Monster may be the best queercore name ever?
That said, here’s a queercore Name For Free: Undercover Fag. It came to me years ago when I was listening to “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The song is rightly heralded a seminal, ground-breaking track that took rap from party music to something more substantive, but it still drops this particular f-word twice. Progress isn’t a straight line (literally) .