BUTT BANG!
JUNE 2009
NYC

BUTT wanted to do something very special as an alternative to the regular Gay Pride festivities in New York, so on June 19th, 2009 at The Knitting Factory in New York City, we threw BANG!, a pre-gay pride concert, featuring three amazing new acts featured in BUTT: goth-juke band Salem from Chicago, garage punk band Hunx and his Punx from San Francisco, and New Orleans bounce rappers Sissy Nobby and Big Freedia. Zachary Araki of Patent Leather Daddy DJ'd in between sets.

Opening band Hunx and his Punx warmed up the crowd with a short set singing their signature sugary queerpunk tunes. Lead singer Seth Bogart hopped out into the crowd to grope his eager fans. Next up were Salem with their unique brand of super dark and and moody Dilaudid-juke music, which they played under a disturbing collection of home video footage. But the crowd really went from zero to sixty when Sissy and Freedia came out to unleash their ass shaking movies and powerful beats. Despite a few early technical difficulties, the ladies won the crowd over in a matter of seconds, and showed an audience of people who had no idea who the ladies were or what was coming why this ass-shaking duo were the perfect pair to headline our first ever concert event. Billy Miller and Slava Mogutin shot great footage of their performances (click here and here), including the moment when random audience members were brought onstage to shake their butts for the crowd. We also had photographer Miguel Villalobos backstage, Mark Tusk in the audience, and Althea Smith taking crowd photos against an airbrushed backdrop in the bar area.