10 Gay Indie Rockers (In Otherwise ‘Straight’ Bands) With Revolutionary Ideas
Even the casual Top-40-during-your-work-commute music listener can probably name a handful of young gay musicians: Adam Lambert, Lance Bass, Rufus Wainwright, John Barrowman (he’s also a pop-singer, didn’t you know?). But these guys are either soloists or mainstream pop stars. What about the handful of gay frontmen leading otherwise straight indie rock bands? They’re changing the musical landscape with fresh music and ideas unlike anything you’ve ever heard. We found 10 gays hiding in plain sight, and pulled out their best songs and juiciest queer bits your hungry little eyes and ears. Enjoy!
Just a note: We know there’s lots of gay solo musicians like Patrick Wolf, Chris Garneau, “Gentleman” Reg Vermue, etc., but here we’re focusing on gay indie rockers within larger groups. Also, we haven’t forgotten about you ladies. We’ve highlighted five lesbian indie rockers before, but we’ll profile even more this coming week. Promise.
@Daniel:
Not to be a prick but he DIDN’T come out with Butt!!
He’s been out for at least 2 years in the UK.
It’s never being a secret. Oh and the rest of Bloc Party? They’re gay but no one ever bothers to interview em cause they’re a bunch of shy dorky geeks.
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@holla: Not to put too fine a point on it, but Owen Pallett has credited Leon Taheny on his CDs as a drummer/engineer and more recently, Pallett has toured with guitarist/percussionist Thomas Gill. So even though he goes by his own name now, he’s still no soloist, not in the studio anyway.
As for “being out”, this is yet again the biographer dilemma, which is why I wrote “publicly out” as opposed to just “out” (that is, when did he come out to the public at large as a celebrity vs. when did he come out personally in his own pre-celebrity life). All I can do is post what’s been verified through previous interviews available online. So until I can find a document stating when he came otherwise or one where the rest of Bloc Party admits they’re a bunch of ‘mos, my hands are tied.
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Do The Feeling count as an indie band? Dan Gillespie-Sells is a homosexual as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Gillespie_Sells
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DANIEL the Title of your post says “10 Gay Indie Rockers (In Otherwise ‘Straight’ Bands) With Revolutionary Ideas” I am not sure I quite understand your logic with Owen Pallet and for that matter Stephin Merritt. Both gay centic bands and music.
And please, please stop just quoting and using wikipedia as your main source. We can all read up on that.
I think Holla’s point is that Owen Pallet is the main person in his 2 person band in the studio sense. Maybe on tour he hired a 3 person, but he hardly qualifies as a gay guy in an otherwise straight band. I mean do you even know the sexual peferences of Thomas Gill and Leon Taheny.
I like that you are profiling gay indie rock bands, but come on, do proper research and not just rehash wikipedia
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@eric: So do you have an actual point or are you just getting on me for quoting Wikipedia once in my comment?
You don’t qualify your statement that Stephin Merritt’s band is “gay centic” nor do you know the sexual preferences of Thomas Gill and Leon Taheny either.
And if you’ll read my article and click on the many links, you’ll see that I did lots of research with lots of different sources.
So… what were you saying exactly?
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My point is that some of these artists you are profiling are gay musicians in gay bands not gay musicians in otherwise straight bands. Your headline doesn’t make sense for ALL the people you have listed. Its misleading. Also fact check. Like I mentioned above, Final Fantasy is not the name of the band anymore. It’s called Owen Pallett. Again, that is misleading to try and fit your headline. Sorry buddy, but take some criticism.
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More nit-picking about Rostam from Vampire Weekend, cause I got nothing better to do right now: You got the lyrics to “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” from the Discovery Album wrong. The last stanza is “I can’t think straight at night,” not ” I can’t think at night”–that would be retarded.
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The New Gay isn’t all that. It’s just queens who love Britney, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. Repackaged as hipster indie. But they still all wear polos, cargo shorts, and flip flops. And they love their Britney, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. They don’t know squat about indie.
Take it from a guy who’s had experience with these so called The New Gay things. It’s more like Same Old Stereotypical Gay.
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LCD Soundsystem/ Hot Chip dual review:
http://thenewgay.net/2010/04/e.....inity.html
Exclusive Hidden Cameras acoustic session:
http://thenewgay.net/2009/11/t.....or-us.html
Interview/make out session with the Black Lips:
http://thenewgay.net/2010/03/t.....hobia.html
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Hunx & His Punx are certainly less well known, but they have a great sound and are awesomely gay.
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Oh, as for the flip flops:
http://thenewgay.net/2008/05/d.....party.html
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i would bang jamie stewart like a screen door in a hurricane.
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Wow….may I say that you people are taking this way to seriously…. Its not like this is like life or death or anything… So he made a few mistakes…big deal….we all do at some time or another….
Stop ragging on him for it….I’m sure you’ve made some yourself so stop acting like a bunch of self important jerks….I know I have made some before…
Well……This was a nice article. :)
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Awesome article Queerty, more please.