Buy Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band on DVD

Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band

DVD
2-disc set

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Usually ships in
5-10 days

$19.99

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Synopsis

This documentary about the kings of homocore- Pansy Division- was assembled by Director Michael Carmona and PD's bassist Chris Freeman. Life In A Gay Rock Band starts with co-founders Chris Freeman & Jon Ginoli's pre-PD bands (The Attachments & The Outnumbered respectively) & their reactions to the prevalent San Francisco gay scene of disco & show tunes. They joined the radical new queer scene that came out of organizations like ACT-UP & Queernation, clubs like Klubstitute, & zines like Tom Jennings' Homocore, and ran with queer activists & punx like Matt Wobensmith (Outpunk Records). Along with riotgrrl, queer core created a perfect storm of explicitly "out" gay & gay-friendly bands- from Bikini Kill to Tribe 8 to Team Dresch to Blatz to God Is My Co-Pilot.

The documentary features interviews with past & present band members, Jello Biafra, Matt Wobensmith (Outpunk fanzine & record label), Larry Livermore (Lookout Records), Jesse Luscious (Blatz, AT Mail Male).

The bonus dvd features great-sounding live performances from the Green Day tour & many other 1990s shows.

Review

From the '90s San Franciso punk underground came a band whose career was built on defying the oft-closeted norms of gay artists. Not only were they openly gay, they kicked down the closet door and put the splinters into song. Pansy Division, one of the most influential gay music acts ever, built a cult status with songs that were sometimes highly offensive, often humorous but always honest. Michael Carmona uses interviews with the band and artists such as Billy Joe (Green Day) and Jello Biafiro (Dead Kennedys) in conjunction with archival footage that shows how Pansy Division created the genre known as "Queercore." Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band is more than a documentary about a punk band; the film is an intimate journey on the road less traveled. For fans of Pansy Division, the film has inside stories from their days performing in small clubs up to their tours opening for Green Day in arenas around the globe. For those new to the band there lies an inspirational story of being true to oneself and making a stance when it's not the cool thing to do. Is there anything more punk that that?

-- Clay Dempsey

Product Format Information

DVD : $19.99 (2-disc set)

Availability: Usually ships in
5-10 days
Region Code: 1
UPC: 721616039696

Studio : Alternative Tenacles

Keywords

Documentary/Documentaries, Gay Male, Gay/Lesbian, Music/Musician, Performing Arts

Customer Reviews

Queer Rock and Roll

Amos Lassen wrote on 04/08/2009:

“Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band”

Queer Rock and Roll

Amos Lassen

I have long been a fan of Pansy Division. I once had all of their CDs, their singles and their satiric video of “Bob and Ted’s Homosexual Adventure”. All of that is gone with Katrina now…but then I read that Pansy Division made a movie and all of the memories came back. I spent a while looking for a way to get a copy only to learn that it has nor yet been released commercially and was make the gay film festival rounds. That did not stop me however anf I went to the PD website and wrote them a letter—not only for my own selfish desires but also I thought it would be a great way to open this years film festival. Alas, I got no answer but being persistent, I tried again and waited and waited and finally I got a note from band member Jon Ginoli, who actually remembered me and the DVD was on its way. When it arriced last Friday, I cleared my schedule and sat down to watch.
I did not realize how long Pansy Division has been around. The band was founded in 1991 and it is here that the documentary begins. The guys in the band were out of the closet when few others dared to admit to being gay. They began to perform coast to coast with their special brand of queer rock and roll and became an influential act over the last twenty years. In fact, the band was the pioneer group of the phenomenon known as “Queercore” and they continue right up to the present day. What is so amazing is that they did this with no major record lavel to back them and no airplay on the radio