New Album by Bay Area queercore kings PANSY DIVISION: 'Quite Contrary'

Setting monument as the worlds first openly gay rock/punk band, straight outta San Fransisco with a whole lot of attitude and bucket load of seriously fun and impelling tunes, Pansy Division have always been iconoclast pioneers of fore-fronted sexuality in music.

Formed in 1991 by the provocative and alacritous singer-songwriter, Jon Ginoli and equally dynamic bassist Chris Freeman, the band were snatched up barely 2 years later by Bay area punk label 'Lookout! Records'. They have since been otherwise linked with Matt Wobensmith's San Francisco based 'Outpunk' records movement, championing the queercore scene. They have also worked alongside Jello Biafra and East Bay Ray's Emeryville outlet 'Alternative Tentacles', and also the label Mint. They have since expanded their line up to include lead guitarist Joel Reader and Luis Illades on drum duty.

The date the band have released seven studio albums, including their latest piece de resistance, 2016's September release 'Quite Contrary'.

The album is filled to the brim with cranked guitar and romping regalement, and is bold in it's rock infused alt pop power; it feels sort of like opening a shaken bottle of champagne. It strays slightly from their earlier sound, staking itself firmly in the grounds of innovative alternative and perhaps almost indie, but still lashed with enough punk and rough DIY elements to scream out to the unmistakable urging of what everyone has always loved about Pansy Divisions sound. This band are true originals and it'd be sin to ask them to stop.

Here is what Jon Ginoli had to say:

"It’s been 25 years now! That’s why we decided to do a record this year. There were a few others, but it’s kind of amazing how few there were when we began. One of the things that precipitated [forming Pansy Division] was when N.W.A. came along. I thought wow, here is the voice of people you don’t usually hear on records. That’s cool—but they’re homophobic. You can talk about being violent, you can talk about committing crimes, but you can’t talk about love and you can’t talk about sex in the way that we wanted to. We thought there was something wrong with that.... I certainly didn’t think I was going to be the one to change this. Chris [Freeman, bassist] and I were waiting for a quote/unquote gay band to come along. When we were starting, what gay people were supposed to do within gay culture was very proscribed. You were allowed to be interested in certain kinds of music if you were gay, otherwise, it was irrelevant to the gay experience. And I thought, 'Well that is bullshit!' I thought [it was] a real limitation I wanted to change. And I’m really glad we were able to do that until other people said, 'Yes, you don’t have to listen to show tunes and disco.' I think this is our least punk-sounding record. The idea was, Let’s make a record that’s true to our age. We’re all in our 40s or 50s. We did do 'I’m Gonna Be A Slut' way back when. That was one of our more popular songs. But none of us wants to be a slut at this point! The album’s called Quite Contrary. We came up with the title after much deliberation because we felt like we just don’t fit into any easy category. We’re punk, but we’re not punk. We’re gay but we don’t play the kind of music that most gay people listen to. We’re an indie-rock band, but we’re queer, and that makes us different, too. I think our band would be more popular if we could easily slot into something. But we combine from these different areas. "

Highlights from the new record include the new single release, freshly beautiful on vinyl, 'Blame the Bible', a strongly worded anti-condemnation anthem, and an unapologetic diss on the convolution of modern culture , troubled times and the tendency for people to justify sour actions by wielding the Bible in the name of hatred and self failure. Pansy Division are unmistakable as compelling Queercore dystopia antagonists. 'Mistakes' and 'Halfway to nowhere' are brilliant too, but having said that there's really not much on this album that isn't.

One thing is for sure, these boys are not shy, and if you're angry, alt and queer then there's no fathomable reason for you not to have Pansy Division in your ear holes. Sing along LOUD baby.

Listen to Blame the Bible here on youtube: -

https://youtu.be/XiGAylyOL0o

You can find more information, music and tour dates on the bands official website - http://www.pansydivision.com/

#PansyDivision #Queercore #Punk #QuiteContrary