Guest Blog: Queer Cxntry

Saddle Up Y’all! Margate Punk Duo pink suits are bringing their cult night ‘Queer Cxntry’ to Signature Brew in Walthamstow for a FULL DAY TAKEOVER this bank holiday Saturday, 23rd August. Have a read all about it below, make sure you nab tickets, and listen to our special Queer Cxntry playlist to get you in the mood!

Is this your first Rodeo? For those who have not been to or heard of Queer Cxntry, here’s what to expect:

Queer Cxntry is a Country music themed LGBTQIA+ live gig and club night. Hosted by Lori Mae with performances from creators of the night pink suits‘ house band ‘The Northdown Rodeo’, plus drag legends The Cybils and special guest performers and DJs including Donna Poderosa, Izzy Aman and Dolly Parton tribute band, The Dumb Blondes. Audiences are encouraged to get involved! Come dressed to impress in your Cxntry Best for a chance to win the costume contest, join in some games for a chance to win some cxntry lovin’ prizes or jump up on the Rodeo Bull and show us what you got! Get your photos snapped in the iconic rose booth to show off  your outfits, and then dance the night away to country DJs and live music.

So, how did a political punk duo from Margate end up starting a Queer Cxntry night?

There were many things that lead to us starting Queer Cxntry. Lennie has always been really into cowboys, country music and dressing up. Johnny Cash and June Carter; The Highwaymen; Dolly Parton. And they’ve always been obsessed with watching cowboys that their mum loved growing up… Like Kevin Costner in Silverado, and concert videos of Ray Sawyer in Dr Hook and The Medicine Show, who were incredibly intriguing to a young bi boy from Manchester. Ray grew up in the real country, small town Colorado, USA! Surrounded by cowboys and country music, but in a very macho way. If you look closely, country has always been Queer!

More recent influences that directly lead to us starting Queer Cxntry in Margate were:

In late 2016 Lennie went for a piss in the iconic Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone. There was a country ‘n’ western night happening in the function room that they watched for a while. It was cute and wholesome, older couples line dancing and partner dancing, dressed in flannel shirts and cowboy hats and dresses and boots. But it was also very straight, and problematic with confederate flags hung on the walls. They thought it would be so great to see a Queer version of this… 

In 2019 Orville Peck exploded into our lives with the debut album Pony. This album, all of the songs, all of the aesthetics of Orville Peck and the music videos just crushed us. It was dark and romantic, and camp and silly, and unapologetically Queer. We were obsessed with all of it. That year we saw Orville Peck play in Leeds, London, Barcelona and Sydney. In Sydney we found a pink cowboy hat in a country store called Route 66 and decided to commit our lives to the Queer Cowboy aesthetic… 

Early 2020, right before the world shut down, there was a karaoke night at Tom Thumb Theatre in Margate. Lennie, newly back from Australia and newly committed to the Queer Country life, did a Cyrus mash up – singing Billy Ray Cyrus ‘Achey Breaky Heart’ dressed as Miley Cyrus in Wrecking Ball. Shelley Grotto was there and absolutely crushed Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ and we said there NEEDS to be a night where we can dress like cowboys and Shelley can sing Jolene with a live band…

In Summer 2021 as venues were opening up again, Sammy from Elsewhere (now WhereElse?) asked us to do a show. We wanted to get audiences back together and back in venues, but we are a punk band and the restrictions were still up and down. No basements, no full gigs, no drums, no moving around, stay seated, wear masks etc, which didn’t scream ‘punk night’. We thought it would be a good opportunity to try out a Queer Country night of audience dress up, some gentle live band country covers, some drag performances. We knew Janet District Council played fiddle, and we met Island Girl on the steps at the beach and talked about banjos, so we put a band together. We had one rehearsal that Lucky Deluz just turned up to out of the blue… Thank the country gods! We sold out, a whole forty tickets, for the first ever Queer Cxntry… The rest, as they say…

Why does country lend itself so well to queerness? Has country always been Queer?

This could take a long long time and a lifetime of discussion, which we are fully committed to having! However, for the sake of ease, we will give you the simple answer. Queers love a dress up! And country is a very camp and very varied dress up… And all of it is hot! The cowboy aesthetic is rugged, butch and macho, it can be eccentric and tabby, sexy or subtle, it works for the L’s, G’s the B’s, the T’s the Q’s. The whole Queer alphabet! Leather is hot. Dungarees are hot. Boots and Saddles and Chaps, bandannas and ropes and tight jeans… it’s ALL GOOOD! And let’s be clear, the straights also love cowboys and the hot masc wrangler… But for Queers it is the subversion of this archetype that is fun and silly and sexy.

But country music is also very Queer. Not the business of country music, and a lot of the people who historically have been successful in it. Not the mainstream idea we have of the country music demographic, that has been unfairly co-opted by ideas of homophobia and misogyny, which is definitely rife in country music. But, at its heart, country music is about the experiences of life, love, loss, family and friends, and contemplating how we spend this time together. It is about heartbreak and beauty and struggles and pain. There is so much in country music that speaks to the Queer experience and – despite this idea that we have about country music not being a place for Queer people – a lot of the champions of country music have always been champions of Queer people and have spoken out about peoples right to live and love freely. I am talking about people like: Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, The Chicks, Tim McGraw, Brandi Carlisle, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes… And now we have many out Queer country artists like: Orville Peck, Paisley Fields, Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah, Lil Nas X, Dixon Dallas and many more.

Queer people have always been here. In every part of society. That includes country. It includes country music. It includes cowboys and ranchers and farmers and wranglers. There are some great resources out there that go into more historic detail of Queer life in the American West. 

A couple of our favourite Queer Cxntry albums (in addition to everything by Orville Peck’s Pony):

Noah Cyrus – I Want My Loved Ones To Go With Me
Noah Cyrus just dropped one of our favourite albums of all time. It has come out of nowhere and absolutely crushed us. If you do one thing off of the back of this blog, then listen to this album. If you do two things, then listen to the album AND book tickets for the Bank Holiday all dayer!


Allison Russell – Outside Child
We have made this recommendation on GIHE before I believe? But we will never ever stop shouting about this album. It has been four years, and we still listen to it a few times a week. Allison Russell is an unbelievable artist and a wonder to see live! 


A few other must-listen Queer Cxntry songs: 

Lavender Country – ‘Straight White Patterns‘
Mary Gauthier – ‘Drag Queens In Limosines‘
Orville Peck – ‘Hope To Die‘
Paisley Fields – ‘Iowa‘


Like what you’ve heard / seen / read?! Come join the Queer Cxntry revolution at the special All-Dayer event THIS SATURDAY 23RD AUGUST at Signature Brew on Blackhorse Road – tickets here. These events are always the most joyous, most life-affirming of times, so we really cannot recommend it enough to our queer community (and lovely allies)!
If you can’t make it this Saturday, listen to the Queer Cxntry playlist and make sure you catch the whole thing on tour this Autumn – details here.


mariangelicalaneLeave a comment

Five Favourites: pink suits

Having released their blazing debut, Political Child, back in 2021, Margate duo pink suits have now just released their second album. Inspired by the relentless over saturation of bleak news cycles, Dystopian Hellscape may be a little more self-reflective, silly and sexy than its predecessor, but loses none of the band’s politically aggressive, anti-Tory, anti-Fascist, Feminist Queer Energy. Inspired by a newspaper article entitled The News Comes So Often, It Makes You Sick, Dystopian Hellscape explores the effects of modern society and neoliberal politics on our mental health with pinks suits’ trademark tenacious spirit and raw musicality. Reflecting on the sense of confusion and frustration that comes with the over-saturation of scandal and disaster within mainstream media, the album also discusses themes of self-care, grief, gender identity, sexuality, queer joy and – of course – coffee. From the riotous power of searing rallying cry ‘Refuse The Rules’, and the fiercely uncompromising reclamation of being confident in who you are, ‘Are You Gay Yet?’, the album showcases pink suits’ ability to channel frustration into a perfect raging catharsis. 

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of the Dystopian Hellscape, I caught up with Ray and Lennie to find out about the music that inspires them the most. Read about their five favourite albums, watch the video for recent single ‘C.O.F.F.E.E‘ and make sure you check out the full album on bandcamp now!

The Runaways – The Runaways
The Runaways’ debut album, which was released in 1976, is one of my fave albums of all time, as well as being a huge influence on the kind of music I (Ray) wanted to make when we started pink suits. I think I discovered The Runaways when I was about 14 and got completely obsessed with them. I think the fact that they were so young on this record, and when I found them I was also so young, it gave me a radical feeling of possibility. Which when you’re 14 feels pretty wild! I think I immediately assembled a band of misfits and people I thought could kick-off pretty well given the chance, which we were all extremely excited about and equally I think all knew it was never actually gonna happen. I loved the uninhibited energy they had, and I’m still waiting for my front-man moment – out from behind the drums! I wanna be front and centre, swinging the mic around and working the crowd.

** Sadly and disappointedly, it turns out Cherie Currie is a massive terf! But Joan Jett is still an icon, so we can breathe easy for that! Although this album and The Runaways will always be a big influence on us as a band we cannot support anyone with transphobic views. We have played ‘Cherry Bomb’ for the last time…

Amyl and The Sniffers – Big Attraction and Giddy Up
This album was one of the biggest references of sound for Dystopian Hellscape. Everyone went mad for Comfort To Me, which is a great album, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up is the most exciting LP. It is 2 EPs – Giddy Up was written and released all in a 12 hour time span, and then Big Attraction was written later that year. You can get the LP of both of these EPs together (though it has just disappeared from Spotify?). We love this LP, it feels so rough and ready. Amy is such a force as a front person and we love the energy they bring every time; you can feel it through the record just as much as you do live, which is definitely something we strive for as well. We find recording hard because of the challenge of getting the live feel and energy across. Not that many bands manage it, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up really feels like the live band.

Allison Russell – Outside Child
This debut album from Allison Russell came out in 2021, and is probably our most listened to album of all time. I think we listened to it a few times a day everyday for over a year – the best thing that we did during lockdown! It’s just incredible. It is a very personal and heart wrenching album about trauma, childhood, love, loss, growth, and her voice is just amazing. We have had the chance to see her live a couple times and wept throughout the whole show; honestly one of the most stunning humans to see. The content of the music is often quite heavy, but she is able to bring a joy and lightness to it. We love her so much!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RNJgwj8d9eo%3Fsi%3DW4cXc3dZz6viy_b7

Orville Peck – Pony
As some of you probably know, when we aren’t being a punk band we are full country babes – we run a night called Queer Cuntry, and we owe a lot of that to Orville Peck. We got immediately obsessed with him as soon as we heard this debut album of his, he really brought back a sort of old country sound which is the style of country music we love. He is also just very camp and queer and theatrical, which we relate to in a lot of ways. This album and the music videos and performances we saw from him were pretty incredible; he combines a sort of cinematic storytelling with camp aesthetics in a way that just works. There’s no fighting it! He also used to be in a punk band and trained in ballet, so really we are kindred spirits in so many ways. We saw him four times in 2019, and the live shows are so much fun. Queer Cuntry has taken off in a big way for us (we are bringing it to Chaka Khan’s Meltdown Festival in June!), and Pony was the album that gave us a kick up the ass and made us start doing country.
(You can catch pink suits in their country guise supporting Dolly Parton tribute band The Dumb Blondes on 19th July at Sebright Arms – tickets are already moving quick, so don’t miss out!)

Bob Vylan – We Live Here
This is another album that we absolutely rinsed when it came out. As soon as we heard the title track we were obsessed, and then we got the whole album and every song is fucking killer. This was such an inspiring album as we were putting together our debut album political child and were thinking about how aggressively violent and political it was; we were not worried about saying what we wanted to say, but we were curious how it would land as we were not hearing that much new music that was so full of rage. Then we heard We Live Here and we were like YES! Let’s fucking go with this angry and violent protest album! I used to go running and listen to political child straight into We Live Here to see if our album stood up next to the Bobbys… We think it does, and we got to support Bob Vylan in Ramsgate a year later, and the live show is just so so good! These guys give it absolutely everything and deserve all the success they are having.

We just realised we have a kink for debut albums! I guess that makes sense, it is so exciting to see how a new artist chooses to burst into the world. All of the subsequent material from these artists is amazing too, but clearly we love that first fresh taste. 

Massive thanks to pink suits for sharing their Five Favourites with us! Make sure you check out their full new album, Dystopian Hellscape, now. And catch them live across the country over the next few months, including at Cro Cro Land in South London this Saturday, 13th April.



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WATCH: Grace Petrie – ‘The Last Man On Earth’

Having been a big fan of Grace Petrie and her politically-charged, but beautifully catchy, folk-strewn anthems since first hearing 2018’s Queer As Folk, I was excited to hear that she will be releasing her new album, Connectivity, next month (read all about this and more in our in-depth interview with her). Following the release of her euphoric last single ‘Storm To Weather’, she has now shared ‘The Last Man On Earth’ and its accompanying brand new video.

Showcasing Petrie’s exquisite smooth vocals at their most angelic, ‘The Last Man On Earth‘ fuses together a heartwarming ode to friendship with a moving reflection on the confused headspace that can come from mixed messages and unrequited feelings… Flowing with lilting, folk-strewn melodies – complete with jangling banjo refrains and sweeping strings – it’s a perfect example of the Leicester songwriter’s knack for combining beautifully harmonious sounds with a gritty, stirring lyricism, and often a touch of playful wit. Shimmering with Petrie’s crystalline charm, it poignantly juxtaposes the raw emotion of its heartfelt sentiment with a refreshingly joyous musicality and instantly catchy energy. Of the track, she explains:

“… it’s a country-inspired bop that we couldn’t stop singing during the recording sessions. It’s about the age-old experience of being a butch lesbian in a slightly confusing friendship with a straight woman where you both know the lines are a bit blurred but ultimately it will never come to anything. It seemed like country was the best medium for that message, sort of a slightly satirical take on the classic “sad country music” cliche.”

‘The Last Man On Earth’ is accompanied by a fun-filled video of people young and old line-dancing along to Grace and her band; a perfect reflection of the feeling of solidarity and joy of coming together with like-minded folk that runs throughout the upcoming album. So, fling on those daisy dukes, nab the cowboy hat that’s been hanging in the wardrobe since that fancy dress party in Fresher’s week 2005, and immerse yourself in the uptempo twinkling spirit of this spirited new offering.

Connectivity, the upcoming new album from Grace Petrie, is set for release 4th October. Pre-order here.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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Introducing Interview: Anna Krantz

Having just released the third single from her latest series New Moon, New Tune, Dublin-based artist Anna Krantz has just released a beautiful new single.

Written on Zoom with friend and co-producer Simon Johnson, ‘The Trouble With Suzie’ flows with twinkling country-inspired melodies and Krantz’ smooth rich vocals, creating a heartfelt shimmering alt-pop gem.

We caught up with Anna to find out more…

Hi Anna, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks for having me. I’m a born and bred Londoner, currently living with my partner in Dublin. I’m really happy to be in Dublin as Irish music was a huge influence for me growing up. So, this is a fun adventure. Although I’ve been quite homesick through lockdown with not being able to travel home as much.

How did you initially decide to start creating music?
It wasn’t really a decision. I sat at a piano when I was eight years old and a song just kind of fell out of me. I’ve been writing ever since. 

Your beautiful new single ‘The Trouble With Suzie’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about?
Suzie is a fictional character who represents those unadvisable decisions we all make from time to time. She does the things she knows are bad for her over and over again because they just feel so good!

You’ve been compared to the likes of Suzanne Vega and Fleetwood Mac, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
My main influences change every time I answer because there are so many! However, they always include Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Van Morrison.

What music scenes are you into – offline and online?
I used to live in Nashville and it’s like a second home to me now. Many of my friends live there, including my best friend Lucie Silvas. I’m always inspired by what’s coming out of Nashville. 

How are you connecting with your audience and other musicians during the pandemic?
 Zoom. Zoom. Zoom.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new artists at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
I’d say it’s very difficult until it isn’t, if that makes sense? So many people are releasing music, more than ever before, so the odds of rising to the surface are very low. However, there are also far more ways to be seen these days and sharing music is easier than ever.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists that you’d recommend we check out?
YES! How long have you got?! Fancy Hagood (a good friend of mine) has some incredible new music out. His music and his heart move me to tears of joy every time I listen. Check out Kree Harrison too. She has a voice like butter, covered in maple syrup and sprinkled with fairy dust. Really traditional country sound with modern lyrics and relatable sentiments. 

Finally, what does 2021 have in store for you?
First and foremost, a trip home to see my family! What’s more important than that? I’d like to release a full length album next year too. Meanwhile, I have more singles planned for release in the early part of the year.

Massive thanks to Anna for answering our questions! Listen to ‘The Trouble With Suzie’ below:

 

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