[rating=4]
Released June 10, 2013
The second Hunx And His Punx album is quite a surprise: a dirty, distorted departure from their first.

“Street Punk ups the aggression and distortion, while the influence of early rock ‘n’ roll is still evident on this album; it’s buried underneath a wall of primitive punk venom.”

Living The Blues

Walter Beck talks to Sleepy Eyes Nelson about what it means to be a blues singer in the 21st century.

After a top gig in Austin, loaded with moonshine and Lone Star we headed for Oklahoma, we played at a great wee bar in Norman called The Blue Bonnet. We saw some sights that night that … You know some things that happen on the road must stay on the road.”

[rating=5]
Released 2001
The debut 7″ from Limp Wrist, What’s Up With the Kids, remains the hardest, meanest, most revolutionary five minutes in American queercore.

“This quartet of hardcore punks raises the Rainbow flag in a battle cry, a call to arms for all the brothers who reject the pretty boys and the fashion for which they stand.”

Rocky Horror.

The pleasures of Rocky Horror audience participation are many, and Walter Beck has enjoyed them, from being in the audience to playing as part of the screenings’ shadow cast.

“I marched the Indianapolis Pride Parade as part of Transylvanian Lip Treatment, getting many hoots, hollers, and flat strange looks from the crowd. And as tends to happen with me, photos were taken that proved to be controversial later on.”

[rating=4]
Released August, 1996
A fitting tribute to the metal gods of old, and a powerful cry against laws that criminalized gay sex.

“Pansy Division have delivered a fitting tribute to the metal gods of old and the long-haired ten percenters who love their heavy sound.”

There’s More to Queer Than Pop Divas.

There is more to queer music than the officially sanctioned slick-pop, says Walter Beck. There is an alternative.

“We stayed up most of the night making picket signs and getting ready. You think we were blasting Lady Gaga? Fuck no! We were getting ready to face the craziest bastards on the religious fringe to 100db of MC5’s Kick Out the Jams.”

I Do: The End of DOMA & Prop 8

Walter Beck examines the reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that spells the end for DOMA and Prop 8

“What we are seeing is the utter breakdown of the Religious Right. The Supreme Court has dealt a fatal blow to their political power and now they will wither away.”

Gay Scouts, Yes, Gay Scoutmasters, No.

Walter Beck looks at the path to the recent vote by the Boy Scouts of America leadership on the issue of allowing gay scouts into the ranks, and how its compromise is not a solution but a stop-gap.

“What are they going to do when the kid who is gay earns his Eagle and turns 18? Are they just going to tell him, ‘Well you reached the peak, you’re an Eagle Scout, congratulations, now get the hell out of here, you’re no longer welcome’?”

[rating=4]
Released 1979
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks’ self titled 1979 EP broke new ground on what was and wasn’t music.

“This was violent, abrasive, a primal scream in the face of the dying original punk scene and a fuck you to the artsy arrogant post-punk movement that was beginning to spawn. “

IDAHOT 2013.

Walter Beck writes about how he was turned away from helping out at a Day of Silence demonstration because he was not a well-groomed a-lister.

“They were the pretty boy types; they stood there in their nice khakis and designer jeans, their perfectly laundered polo shirts, with the bright sun reflecting off their gelled hair. They didn’t have a place for the likes of me.”