In our post-Gravy Train!!!! world, there are two solo off-shoots that I’ve been closely watching. Hunx And His Punx seem to get a lot of attention and The Younger Lovers (headed by Brontez, formerly known as Junx) tends to be the other side project. On the surface, they are both doing similar things: whiny, charged classic punk with nods to girl groups and the Ramones. However, a quick glance at the Hype Machine shows 10 Hunx posts and 2 for the Younger Lovers (and just to be clear, those hard numbers low low low for The Hype Machine, TPR is NICHE AUDIENCE, I love you). It’s a shame, really–where Hunx has perfect style, a delish set of limited 7″ singles and is fascinatingly slutty (see: twitter), Brontez writes his own songs, plays all the instruments and he makes his own print zine (Hunx’s songs are written by No Bunny). You could say Hunx is like Kim Zolciak, and Brontez is like Kandi Burruss…J/K. I’m not knocking Hunx – he is delivering the punk rock goods, but their paths split when you take a look at their agendas. Whereas Hunx is looking to get laid and party, Brontez is looking to find community (you don’t make Fag School, his zine, unless you are looking to meet people). Both fit into the spirit of Rock ‘N Roll, but you can’t forget that as a black queer punk Brontez has higher stakes. His hysterical essay in BUTT Magazine #26 was just as horny as Hunx, but there was considerable longing for other black punks in his large U.S. city and there weren’t any. Struggle makes the hustle, being wronged makes better songs and you can hear it. Yes, some of you might want to look past race, but if you count brown folks at indie shows you’ll be done really quickly–the only recent time I’ve seen a direct racial line between artists and fans is when I noticed all the MINI-MY-A’s at the last M.I.A. show I went to. Not even TV on the Radio brings out the black folks. There are cultural barriers between being brown and being punk, and to think otherwise is to be more post-racial than current reality allows. On The Younger Lovers’ “Newest Romantic” LP, casual fly-aways and runaway hooks co-mingle in deeper ways than just appropriation of punk’s historical sounds. He’s got some real angst in there and considering the swing of the hate-pendulum every time queers get a little more on the books, the authentic thrash of an underdog is raw power. Stream and download my fave track from the record below and keep up with Brontez at his blog, Newest Romantic.
The Younger Lovers–Danny
And just to make sure you know I love them both:
Hunx and His Punx–Dontcha Want Me Back (Teenage Fantasy Rip NRG mix)
