Pansy Division’s Jon Ginoli Reflects On ‘Undressed’ Turing 30: It Showed ‘The Joyful Side’ Of Being Gay (Exclusive)

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Image Credit: Courtesy of Pansy Division

In immoderate ways, the satellite has drastically changed since Pansy Division, the archetypal openly cheery stone set featuring predominantly cheery musicians, released Undressed in 1993. “At the clip we were forming the set and doing that archetypal album,” says Jon Ginoli, Pansy Divison’s co-founder, erstwhile talking with HollywoodLife, “that was the epoch of if you were going to person cheery sex, you person to usage condoms, oregon other it could termination you.”

The radical – vocalist/guitarist Jon Ginoli, bassist/vocals Chris Freeman, drummer Luis Illades and pb guitarist Joel Reader – volition commemorate Undressed‘s pearl day with a bid of shows, including a show astatine Chicago’s Beat Kitchen during Pride Weekend. It volition beryllium a triumph thigh for a radical that not lone has survived being a set for 3 decades but 1 that survived the callous cruelty of the AIDS epidemic.

12,000 Americans had died of the microorganism by the clip Ronal Reagan said the connection “AIDS” successful 1985 (his property caput famously laughed erstwhile asked if Reagan was monitoring the “gay plague”). By 1991, erstwhile the epidemic was implicit a decennary old, astir 750,000 radical were surviving with HIV, per the CDC. By 1995, AIDS was the azygous top slayer of men ages 25-44 successful America, per NBC News. It was a acheronian time, 1 that was rife with homophobia, ignorance, and violence.

Pansy Division: (From L-R) Luis Illades, Joel Reader, Jon Ginoli, and Chris Freeman (courtest of Pansy Division)

Yet, portion Undressed reflects the clip it was made, it is not a monochromatic representation painted with dour tones. It’s horny. It’s happy. It’s self-deprecating. There’s the bouncy bassline of “Fem successful a Black Leather Jacket.” Striking retired with consecutive guys ne'er sounded arsenic charming arsenic “The Story So Far,” portion “Crabby” shows immoderate problems erstwhile you do get lucky. There’s adjacent “Rock & Roll Queer Bar,” the screen of The Ramones’ “Rock N’ Roll High School” that would marque Johnny Ramone turn implicit successful his grave. Undressed is amusive from commencement to finish, and being jubilantly cheery amid that clip was probably the astir punk thing Pansy Division could do.

“We wanted to person joy,” Ginoli tells HL about Undressed, “especially astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile we started, it was precise fraught – politically — similar things now, but antithetic successful different ways. We wanted to contiguous the joyful broadside of it arsenic opposed to the achy side, though that comes retired astatine times.”

“Also, I thought,” helium continues, “if I’m going to get connected signifier and beryllium successful beforehand of people, I don’t privation to bash cheery propaganda. I don’t privation to bash thing fake. I wanted to sing astir the things that I hadn’t heard being sung astir successful songs and contiguous them successful a precise life-affirming mode astatine a clip erstwhile a batch of people’s lives were being taken conscionable due to the fact that they were trying to emotion somebody.”

“That was portion of our, I conjecture you could accidental strategy,” helium says, “but portion of our attack was conscionable there’s a batch to observe adjacent erstwhile things looked dark.”

This isn’t to accidental that Jon, Chris, and their cadre of drummers (before uncovering Luis Illades in 1996) were Pollyannas, choosing to disregard what was happening astir them. “We conscionable tried to observe those things,” Jon says, “and determination are much introspective songs connected our albums.”

“They thin not to beryllium the crowd-pleasers,” Ginoli says with a wry smile, “so they don’t get played arsenic overmuch arsenic others. But I deliberation overall, we person a balance. It’s not each astir sex, it’s not each astir joy, but we wanted to contiguous things successful a mode that was a mode we wanted to perceive and that we truly felt. I’m like, ‘Yes, determination are each these problems we could sing about, and close now, we’re going to absorption connected the much joyful extremity of things.’ That was conscionable an approach.”

In immoderate ways, the satellite hasn’t changed that overmuch since 1993. Gay rights proceed to beryllium nether attack, with conservatives successful authorities legislatures filing astir 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, per the ACLU. In a clip erstwhile aging stone musicians are angrily firing semiautomatic rifles astatine cases of brew due to the fact that an planetary beverage conglomerate paid a trans TikToker to marque a video, Undressed still has a extremist borderline to it. Somehow, it’s inactive edgy to beryllium truthful pleasantly unrepentantly gay.

“I would alternatively not person america beryllium this applicable for those reasons,” says Ginoli, “but yeah, conscionable to beryllium gay, conscionable to beryllium queer, it’s inactive a situation to a batch of radical successful society, adjacent though the acceptance is overmuch greater than it was successful the aboriginal nineties erstwhile we were starting out.”

Undressed continues to resonate with the youth, and Pansy Division has laid a instauration upon which queercore and modern queer punk proudly stand. And they inactive person a spot alongside their progeny – not what galore thirty-two-year-old bands tin say. “I deliberation that the archetypal medium holds up beauteous well. I’m beauteous blessed with it,” Ginoli says erstwhile reasoning astir Undressed. “There’s a mates of songs which I volition not sanction that I don’t deliberation are rather arsenic bully arsenic the rest, successful retrospect. But the happening is, you besides person to instrumentality chances, and if immoderate of the chances aren’t rather arsenic palmy arsenic others, past those are the risks you take. But a batch of the songs that we play to this time are connected that album.”

(Courtesy of Pansy Division)

“One of the things astir this medium that truly isn’t similar our others is that the vocals are mode retired front,” helium adds. “On the different albums, they’re much mixed successful with the instruments more. But connected the archetypal album, I did not privation radical to miss what we were singing. Once radical had an thought of what we were singing, they didn’t person to beryllium truthful upfront. But that’s 1 of the things astir the archetypal medium that I’m truly arrogant of is that we pushed the connection retired there. I thought the euphony matched the connection beauteous well. It’s wherefore I deliberation the grounds holds up.”

“Remember,” helium shares, “when you bash your archetypal album, you don’t cognize if anyone’s going to hear it. You don’t cognize what’s going to happen. You don’t know. When you marque your 2nd album, you person immoderate thought of what radical deliberation of you oregon however overmuch involvement determination is. Do you adjacent get to bash a 2nd album? We didn’t know. So, we thought we’re conscionable going to enactment into the archetypal medium each the things that we privation to accidental connected a definite level. We did that, and I tin perceive to it present and spot the territory that it covers, the things that we sing about, and I’m beauteous satisfied with that.

“We’re celebrating 30 years of being around, and we are celebrating Undressed,” Ginoli states. “We’re commemorating it, but we’re besides celebrating it.”

There volition beryllium galore fans, aged and young, celebrating on with the band. Three decades aft Jon recovered Chris and created the benignant of cheery punk stone euphony they wanted to hear, determination are inactive young queer kids coating the Pansy Division logo connected their conflict vests. People are buying aged Pansy Division 7″ disconnected Discogs. They’re streaming Undressed — “Fem In A Black Leather Jacket” is the band’s astir streamed song. “It’s the archetypal opus I wrote for the band, and I inactive deliberation it’s the champion one,” Ginoli tells HL about “Fem.”

“We’ve written truthful galore songs that I’m truly arrogant of, but that 1 really, that was the formative song,” helium explains. “It’s like, what bash I privation to sing about? And it’s successful there. It’s besides truly catchy, and galore of our songs are, but there’s conscionable thing astir that 1 that captures a feeling due to the fact that it’s funny, sincere, and snarky astatine the aforesaid time. There’s wit successful there, but it’s not jokey.”

“The absorbing happening was that — I’m a Spotify user, and astatine 1 constituent a portion back, possibly astir 10 years ago, by far, astatine that time, the astir played opus of ours was the opus ‘That’s So Gay’ from the medium of the aforesaid name, which came retired successful 2009,” helium says. “Our aboriginal worldly didn’t get arsenic overmuch announcement arsenic the aboriginal worldly successful the nineties, truthful we were astonished that of each songs was the 1 that was mode retired up of the others. It’s since been overtaken.”

“But I deliberation it’s conscionable due to the fact that of the rubric that radical saw the rubric [‘That’s So Gay’] and passed that opus around,” ass Ginoli. “Chris wrote the opus due to the fact that we would perceive that operation being utilized derogatorily, and we thought that is thing we wanted to combat backmost against. That opus is an aggravated song, but it’s comic too.”

That’s So Gay contains Pansy Division’s collaboration with Jello Biafra of the legendary punk set Dead Kennedys (and co-founder of Alternative Tentacles, the statement that released immoderate of those second Pansy Division albums.) The documentary Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band features a moment erstwhile Jello said helium “talked to each 3 members of Nirvana at once, and they person perfectly nary occupation with ‘Smells Like Queer Spirit.'”

“That’s an existent voicemail message,” says Ginoli, who inactive has the aged answering instrumentality micro-cassette with Jello’s connection astir the band’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” cover. “We were trying to enactment this opus out, which successful retrospect, it’s not 1 of my favourite Pansy Division songs. It was from that infinitesimal erstwhile ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was ubiquitous, truthful we were putting our rotation connected it, but that infinitesimal faded away. But we got Jello Biafra to inquire Nirvana’s support due to the fact that helium was MC’ing a payment amusement against an anti-gay instrumentality successful Oregon. That was a precise bully convergence of radical and issues.”

The set hasn’t played it since Kurt Cobain‘s passing successful 1994. They besides haven’t heard immoderate absorption from Iggy Pop. When Undressed was released independently and somewhat primordially arsenic a cassette, Ginoli utilized Gerard Malanga‘s 1971 nude photograph of The Stooges‘ frontman arsenic the artwork.

“I’ve ne'er heard Iggy notation us,” Ginoli says with that grin of his. “We besides were connected that tribute medium that came retired successful ’97 [Wee Will Fall: The Iggy Pop Tribute], which is actually, arsenic tribute albums go, that is simply a beauteous bully one.”

“We’ve done a song, and past we ripped him disconnected to usage that screen image, the celebrated bare photograph of Iggy from the aboriginal seventies, which we utilized connected our demo tape,” explains Ginoli. “But then, erstwhile it came clip to bash our archetypal medium Undressed, a person of excavation posed nude alternatively truthful we didn’t person to get sued by Iggy. But no, ne'er heard from him.”

There’s inactive time. Pansy Division plays 3 shows successful June – astatine Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry connected the 15th, Milwaukee’s X-Ray Arcade connected the 16th, and Chicago’s Beat Kitchen connected the 17th – earlier hitting the Pacific Northwest successful September earlier concluding the Undressed shows successful Philly, Baltimore, and New York successful November. The set is looking to scope 1,000 performances successful its 30+ twelvemonth vocation (they’re astatine 976), meaning Pansy Division volition inactive spell beardown for a while.

“You tin ne'er foretell erstwhile you commencement a set however good it’s going to go, however agelong it’s going to last, oregon however galore radical really get to perceive you,” says Jon Ginoli erstwhile reflecting connected Pansy Division’s legacy. “We person a batch of gratitude astatine this point. We ever did. We didn’t expect things to happen. We knew that if things did happen, we had to spell retired and effort to marque them happen. That’s truly a large portion of wherefore we’ve lasted. We support plugging away, adjacent if we don’t marque records arsenic often arsenic we utilized to oregon circuit arsenic overmuch arsenic we utilized to. It’s inactive thing that’s truly important to our lives, though.”

“Undressed coming retired was 1 of the things that led america to being a set full-time for astatine slightest 5 years,” helium concludes. “That was a tube dream. It’s like, ‘We’re going to person a band. We’re going to sing astir being gay. We’re going to sing astir enactment and beryllium uncensored, and this is going to beryllium a occupation for america wherever we tin really discontinue our jobs and spell connected circuit and marque records each the time!’ That was not thing we were counting on. That was champion lawsuit scenario, and that’s what happened.”

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