Pansy Division

by Will Grega & Corey AparA San Francisco band that celebrates the deep subculture fringes of gay life, Pansy Division formed in 1991 with guitarist Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman. They drew influences from 60s pop and 70s punk, producing a sound that was catchy yet crunchy. Starting in 1993 with the album Undressed, Pansy Division released an album a year for six years on Lookout. Included in this time were Deflowered (1994), Pile Up (1995), Wish Id Taken Pictures (1996), and More Lovin from Our Oven (1997). They were also touring throughout this time, and gained mainstream attention when they supported Green Day on their 1994 tour. Consequently, the band became the de facto leader of the punk rock queercore movement and developed a small mainstream following. Recruited along the way were drummer Luis Illades and lead guitarist Patrick Goodwin. In the fall of 1998, the band released the more serious Absurd Pop Song Romance, their last release for Lookout. August 2003 found the band on a new label, Alternative Tentacles, with a new album, Total Entertainment!, that found middle ground between the humor of early records and the maturity of their prior album. Goodwin left the band in the fall of 2004 to concentrate on his other band, Dirty Power, and was replaced by Bernard Yin. Pansy Division released the joint CD/DVD album The Essential Pansy Division in January 2006.