Leading up to our November 10 showcase, we'll be getting you familiar with some of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, either via past features we've done on them, or new ones. You can vote for your favorite acts, venues and more right here.
Denton foursome the Atomic Tanlines stole the show a few months ago at Rubber Gloves, bringing the night to a grinding halt with their brass-knuckle mix of queer politics and classic three-minute punk purge. Singer Ally and guitarist Pablo answered a few burning questions we had, and enlightened us on various topics, including whether Tupac liked being choked with his own bandanas.
So, let's start on something tan-related. What do you think of "Tan Mom"? Should we leave her alone, or is she crying out for help? "Tan Mom" just wants to be black. Who can blame her? Hell, if i was a middle-aged white woman, I'd wanna be black too. She's not on drugs, she just fried all her brains out in the tanning bed. I think the kids can learn a lot from her. Would you rather your child be doing crack or being a chronic tanner?
If you could give Rick Perry a couple pointers about women's reproductive rights, what would you say to him? I wouldn't say a goddamn thing to that prick. You can't talk to people like him. I'd just throw a rotten banana at him (because we don't waste food) make a sour face and vote his hick ass out of dictatorship next election.
What political figures, past or present, would you like to see fight in the Thunderdome from Mad Max? Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney. Because in about 10 seconds, it will turn into softcore pornography and that's far more entertaining than bloodshed.
You have a song called "BDSM vs. Tupac." Was Pac into some weird shit we don't know about? I had a dream that Pac was a kinky-ass queer with a gun fetish. He also was a sub and I dom'ed the shit out of him. I was raised on Tupac. He was my idea of a real man. But then over time those ideals changed and I stopped viewing people within the confines of the gender binary and started viewing people as people. So, needless to say, that spilled over into my dream and I imagined Pac as a queer who liked guns and being choked by bandanas. I mean, let's face it, Pac was a queer. He was too much of a free spirit not to be. And I'm sure he was a kinkster, too. A person with that much charisma was probably the type of dude who likes to be debased in bed.
What does punk rock mean to you in 2012? To us, punk rock isn't dead. It isn't alive either. In 2012, punk is undead; it's like a zombie, a shadow of what it use to be. It has been taken over by scummy privileged kids who think that they are more important than what they are. To them, punk rock gives them a excuse to try to be better than someone. It's a competition with these people, a SICK SOCIAL GAME. It's not about coming together for a common purpose anymore, it's a fad...a trap fad. It's been going on since the dawn of punk, from the dawn of any form of expression really. It's a capitalist mind set.
Punk has always been and it always will be. It's about expression, acceptance and uniqueness and it has strayed from that source well before we were born. But there are still those warriors who don't take the bullshit. We are those warriors. We have seen those warriors. We won't partake in the poison. We can't speak for the punk scene anywhere else, but we can for the Denton punk scene, because we are right here, right now, living it. We are here to say it is just as it has always been -- a tiny elitist, privileged, freakshow, and we won't be a commodity. Contrary to popular belief, we are not the freaks, they are. Their prefabricated look, idea and being is disgusting and, quite honestly, astounding. It has been going on for years and we, and the many before us, won't take it.
Many of us have come together, and the future is unpredictable, but what we can say is the warriors will not be defended and slowly but surely punk will be revived and rid of all the social dogma associated with the mass consumers of "punk" today. We don't put you on a pedestal. Don't put yourselves on a pedestal. Don't put us, your friends or even your mentors on a pedestal. No one is better than anyone else. We all breathe the same air and equality will soon prevail. Don't fuck with the queer kids.
Catch the Atomic Tanlines on Wednesday, October 31, at Bryan Street Tavern, with Leg Sweeper and Cheap Time.
