There was never any question that Seth Bogart was an explicitly queer artist, in every sense of the term. In an era when artists are pushing against the already fraught boundaries of identity - the most obvious example being the hoards of creative women demanding freedom from being forever qualified as "women artists" - Bogart's definite positioning as a queer artist doesn't bother him in the slightest.
But why would it? Queerness is inextricable from the garage pop and lo-fi punk he spent the better part of a decade making. He started as a Bay Area fixture, one of those gorgeous and effortlessly artistic outsider waifs in Girls' moment-defining "Lust for Life" music video - a nearly nude (save for a pair of red underpants and a clapboard) cameo which, as he admitted to Paste's Evan Minsker in 2010, garnered him more recognition as "the guy in that Girls video" than he would have liked.
That said, Bogart was never just the boy in the video. He was the boy in many videos, mainly as the frontman, occasional guitarist, and sleaze-loving leader of Hunx and His Punx, a quartet Bogart formed in 2008 after leaving Oakland electroclash outfit Gravy Train.
By 2010, the band, which includes Shannon and the Clams frontwoman Shannon Shaw, had caught critics' attention with debut record "Gay Singles." The album cover features a close-up of Bogart modeling his best zebra print underwear. By the time the Punx released 2011's "Too Young To Be in Love," Bogart was an underground queer hero.
It was a flurry of lipstick, leather, nail polish, and horned-up garage rock campy enough to please Dr. Frank N. Furter. Think hard-driving, Ramones-style rhythms; scuzzy, 70s punk-inspired guitarwork; and lyrics lamenting disappointing but nevertheless irresistible boys, acne, and the overuse of the word "fabulous."
But writing a 26-second song to issue a moratorium on the other F-word wasn't Bogart's only critique of gay culture. Case in point: "U Don't Like Rock n Roll" describes Bogart's displeasure over the discovery that his adorable new boo has extremely questionable taste in musical genres.
He doubles down on this sentiment in the accompanying video, in which Bogart's new man suggests they listen to "Liza or Judy or Babs" instead of "Gay Singles." It's a funny, trenchant moment, and an accessible critique of the mainstream monopolization of gay culture that predates the straight embrace of "RuPaul's Drag Race."
"I think a lot of gay culture is super-boring, just like straight culture," he said. "Top 40 can monopolize all the gay culture it wants. There's only so many interesting people in the world, and endless squares."
Since its inception, punk and queerness have maintained a simultaneously tenuous and fruitful relationship. The genre has long provided an outlet for queer expression, be it through the riotous bisexual rage of Sleater-Kinney or the flamboyant defiance of Pansy Division. But punk has also been co-opted by groups courting homophobic, white supremacist, and misogynist ideals more than a few times. All the same, Bogart's faith in queer punk remains undimmed.
"In 2018, we need stuff like queer punk more than ever," he said.
Hunx and His Punx never officially disbanded, but its members dived into other projects after the 2013 release of "Street Punk." Bogart relocated to Los Angeles that same year, and released music under his own name before dedicating himself to a visual art practice.
It was the Burger Boogaloo event organizers that got the band back together, specifically by asking them to play this year's festival. Then Bogart got a birthday party invitation from John Waters, who asked the band to play in his celebration at El Club in Detroit.
"Who turns that down?" asked Bogart. "We needed to practice. It was really fun, but I got stoned out of my mind, which is a really great and really terrible idea at the same time."
For the record, this doesn't count among the Punx's wilder exploits. That title belongs to when drunken French fans stripped him naked onstage. There's also a tale starring Jay Reatard, Nobunny, and urine briefly touched on in a 2011 Nardwuar interview. A bare-chested Bogart wears dark glasses, a loose bowtie, and a striped blazer throughout.
Burger Boogaloo offers Bogart a return to that musical madness, however temporary. There are still no plans to try to make his campy, queer punk mainstream.
"In L.A. I immediately found that a lot of bands were focused on having managers and getting as famous as possible. It grossed me out," he said. "I could care less now. I just want to make things."
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