Queer Punk Duo PWR BTTM Invades the Rickshaw Stop

They never travelled that much, but now their success as a queer punk band brings them all across the States. Queer punk band will leave their upstate New York home and start their first ever West Coast Tour in February, visiting cities such as San Francisco, Portland and Los Angeles. Equally adept at guitar and drums, the duo switch instruments and share the stage with others, even crowd-surf. They're fun, and are on the cusp of a bigger fandom.

Here's our interview with Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce, the two men behind PWR BTTM.

This is going to be your first West Coast tour ever. What are you most excited about?

Ben: Well, I've never been to the West Coast. I've barely been anywhere, actually, so it's great to be going on tour. I never thought that I would be traveling the country in drag, so that's what I'm most excited about! Also, just the fact that we're going to see all these cool cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I see it as all these places with weird fried food.

Liv: I can't wait to go to In-N-Out Burger, but we're also looking forward to seeing a different audience on the West Coast. Everyone seems chiller than they are over here. All I do is chill, so I think I would be more at home around these audiences.

When did you both realize: 'We like punk, we like drag, let's combine those two,' and was it perceived well?

Ben: It was never a conscious decision. It just happened. For our first show, I wondered what to wear. Then I pulled a dress out from my friend's house, and that was that. And I think that overall, we've been perceived well by the Punk community.

Liv: We once went for a photo shoot in New York City and we thought we were going to get harassed a lot. But people were hopping out of their car not to say, 'Fuck you,' but to say, 'That's cool!'

Do you see a lot of drag in your audience?

Liv: Our audience is very diverse, a lot of people come to our shows dressed up, which we always encourage. People wear very good costumes, not just dresses. As long as you're respectful of others, wear what you want to wear.

Is there a bigger agenda? As in making drag more acceptable in the punk community?

Ben: I'm not sure if that's part of the agenda, the whole point is to write songs so that Liv and I feel less alone, feel like we have something to say in drag. For me, I always loved drag, I thought of it as this magical Avatar thing. Through drag, I can represent who I truly am.

Liv: I wouldn't call it making drag more acceptable as much as I would call it being visibly queer within the punk community. When I first discovered my queerness as a kid, I was really worried. I knew I wanted to become a musician but didn't see anyone in the music industry who was like me. I didn't think there was room for me. The goal of this project is to give a visible example of queer people in the music scene. Someone who feels uncertain can now see: I can do whatever I want, I can become a musician. I can become anything.

PWR BTTM performs at The Rickshaw Stop, Monday, January 25, at 8pm. Dude York and Try the Pie also play. $10. All ages. 155 Fell St. www.rickshawstop.com www.pwrbttm.bandcamp.com