They didn’t invent the genre, but The Queers are the epitome of what a great REAL pop punk band is. Joe King is just a master songwriter, knowing how to put words together in all the right places to make everything come out perfectly. Lyrically, they mostly sing songs about girls, but also about listening to the Ramones, and hating the Grateful Dead. Which is just perfect. Simple and to the point. Musically, they are the Ramones meets the Beach Boys, and while singer/guitarist/songwriter Joe King can even write songs showing each of those influences separately, I love it when they’re mashed together. It’s all amazing though, no matter what they do, and I often dreamt about the Queers doing a collaboration with Brian Wilson, which would’ve been amazing. I’d have to check my interviews with the Queers from the past, but I think there were songs written for the Ramones, but things fell through. All that doesn’t matter though, because the Queers are a force of their own.
Live, they are what you’d expect them to be. Fast. Fun. Punk. Loud. It was just Joe on vocals and guitar, their bassist, a keyboardist who fills in with them now and then, and a fill in drummer. Their regular drummer, Hoglog, had to sit out the first week of this tour. His daughter just had surgery to have a brain tumor removed, which Joe was very concerned about, mentioning it onstage a couple times, and even afterwards when I got a chance to catch up with him. If you can help with expenses for Hoglog’s daughter, there’s a GoFundMe here. I’m sure every little bit helps.
The Queers basically stormed through all the “hits”. Or most of them. They got so many freaking songs that are just so amazing, they could play a 5 hour set of “hits”. But tonight, it was mostly songs from the classic (and the best pop/punk album of all time) “Love Songs For The Retarded” along with other classics like “Love Love Love”, “Goodbye California”, “Like A Parasite”, “Punk Rock Girls”, and “Born To Do Dishes”. For the encore they brought out their roadie Hiro to play guitar so Joe could be like “David Lee Roth” (his words, not mine) to cover “Rockaway Beach” from the Ramones. They were extremely loud. And extremely great!
I’ve interviewed Joe King and the Queers twice for Flipside. I think another interview is due, because a lot has happened in the past 25 years. They got a few upcoming shows in California, so maybe I’ll hit Joe up for another one. There’s a lot more I want to know. Plus I’m a much better interviewer these days. Look for a possible new one in the future and I’ll post the old ones too when I get a chance.
Here’s pictures and some video:
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