Menu
The Queers bring classic punk to Frankie's
Listen Up Toledo | 01/25/2011 7:00 am
I was going to write something about
The Queers playing at Frankie's (308 Main St.) on Tuesday, February 1
with The Apers and The Fight Within (8 p.m. $10/$12), but after
reading the bio Joe Queer wrote on the band's MySpace page, I figured
no one could quite tell the story better. So, here you go, a
wonderful and fascinating little piece of punk rock history.
"It began as a joke. We were sitting around drinking Budweiser and smoking pot and listening to The Ramones. We only liked two punk bands-The Ramones and Black Flag. We heard The Meatmen one day and decided that we were better than them and we didn't even have a band. I'd been out to the South Bay in LA visiting my brother and seen all the Black Flag graffiti all over the place. It struck a chord in my bosom. We hated the town we lived in-Portsmouth, NH. We'd call ourselves The Queers and spray paint the whole town with our name. We wanted to piss off the art fag community that acted all high and mighty strutting around town like they were better than everyone else there. Even today the town is full of snobs-art fags-posers-metal heads-punk rockers (perhaps the worst of the bunch)-rednecks-we hated them all. I suggested getting heroin to liven up the party that was our life at the time. Greeted by snorts of derision (we still had a few morals at the time-very few) I told my comrades,"Come on you guys. We'd have a riot doing heroin." Tulu immediately wrote the song-"We'd have A Riot Doing Heroin"- in about 30 seconds and we were off. We were deeply inspired by the teachings of the Black Flag TV Party EP and worshiped it as the piece of art it has come to be recognized as today. We also appreciated the way Black Flag dressed on the record sleeve. No well worn leather jackets-studded leather belts and wrist bands and cool ripped t-shirts. They looked like they were in the clothes they wore to high school 5 years before. Which was about our speed. We wouldn't be caught dead spending good beer/drug money on the phony accoutrements of every typical punk rocker of the day. Fuck that. It was too fake for us. We did 4 shows. We didn't just think we were the greatest band in the world-we knew it. Alas the sudden success we had-(we'd been offered a show with old pal GG Allin a'fag' from Manchester we'd befriended at a Ramones' show a few years back) went to our heads and we broke up amidst much bickering. Tulu bailed to NYC and we were left with some unrecorded classics and broken dreams.
In the mid 80's I met two good pals
in Boston-Hugh O'Neill and JJ Rassler. Hubie and The Razz. They
shared a taste with me for the finer things in life-booze, drugs and
punk rock. Hubie, Razz and I would comprise the core lineup of The
Queers for the next 4 years. We played mainly dives in Boston like
The Rat and Chet's in the north end having a particular fondness for
the latter. You'd get a contact high just walking in the place.
Someone always had something there. STD's-pot-dope-glue - Chet's had
it all. God I miss that place! We opened up for The Ramones-Angry
Samoans-Dickies to name a few. The list goes on and on. By 1989 we
had just about stopped playing. The band was really only an excuse to
party like it was 1999 all weekend anyway.
Hubie called one day in late 1989
and suggested getting The Queers back together. We met Bface at a
Social D show about this time. We admired his style. 18 years old and
living at his Mom's. Drinking beer all day and listening to good
tunes. He signed on as bass player and we started playing a bit. We
used to go to the UNH radio station and help spin records drunk off
our ass and heard a great band named Screeching Weasel from Chicago.
We saw the song title "I Hate Led Zeppelin" and said we
have to meet these jokers. In short order we did meet them and
somehow we recorded our 1st official album for Lookout Records called
"Love Songs For The Retarded". Produced by Ben Weasel. All
of a sudden we started touring the world-got on MTV-in Rolling Stone
and Spin Magazine and made some money. It was crazy. We had some
great times and some not so great times. Too much partying. We liked
our whiskey old and our women young in those days. We played together
for about 7 years. Hubie was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed
away in 1998. Bface had had enough of my antics and bailed.
I
signed the band to Hopeless Records and got new guys. Hubie had told
me to carry on the very last time I spoke to him. Chris Almighty and
Dangeous Dave from John Cougar Concentration Camp played for a while
with me with different drummers. Dave stuck around for a few years
and finally bailed back to SD. Lurch Nobody-Steve Stress-Rick
Respectable all drummed here and there. The last two recordings we
used Dusty Watson on drums. We met Dusty drumming for Dick Dale when
we opened for him Dick at La Luna in Portland. About 4 years ago
Phillip Hill from our pals The Teen Idols came along on 2nd guitar.
He ended up jumping on bass and we got Dave Trevino on drums. Then
Dave needed a break so Lurch Nobody aka Dick Disease aka Justin
Shaver came back after a 5 year break. That is the lineup now. We are
a 3 piece. We will record our next album in March of 2006. We
recorded a new album with Lisa Marr and Mikey Last helping at Sonic
Iguana. That will be out soon we hope. Tulu and I are hoping to
record a new album as The Drunken Cholos soon. We'll see what
happens." ~ Joe Queer, 2006
COMMENTS