Features

After two whirlwind years of touring—lighting up queer and punk festival stages from Pouzza in Montreal to Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas, Camp Punksylvania in Pennsylvania, and FEST in Gainesville—the self-described over-the-hill queer party punks Middle-Aged Queers somehow found the time (and energy) to dive back into the studio. The result? Theatre of Shame, their third album and most polished work to date, out now via Sell the Heart Records (US) and Engineer Records (UK). Still brimming with the irreverent charm, groove-driven hooks, and loud-and-proud anthems that have won over queerdos and cis-hets alike, the album also features guest spots from punk scene legends Anna Joy Springer (Blatz) and Jeff Suffering (Ninety Pound Wuss).

To celebrate the release, the band is taking a moment to reflect on the sounds that shaped them—sharing the bands and artists that left a permanent lipstick-stained mark on their hearts, instruments, and middle-aged souls.

BLACK FORK

Shauners: The unsung heroes of the East Bay, really. Frantic energy, chaotic live shows, and a spattering of recordings that left us all feeling like we’d fallen down a flight of stairs. While we never reach the same beats-per-minute as them, the guitar and bass tones and urgency in vocal delivery are still a pinnacle that we often strive for. 

F.Y.P.

Shauners: This is the well I drink the heaviest from. A photojournalist named Christian Larson took several photos at 924 Gilman Street in 1995, and you can see a 15-year-old me in every crowd shot from an F.Y.P show that year. Thirty years later, you can hear their influence (or possibly straight-up riff theft) in a few spots throughout this recording.

NERVE AGENTS

Niki Pretti: A  very critical band in the formation of my teen punk years, the Nerve Agents’ frenzied and short existence left an indelible mark on me. While I can’t say that Andy Granelli’s drumming directly influenced my style, his work with the Nerve Agents was badass and inspired me to push harder in my own drumming.

BABYLAND

Shauners: Babyland has always influenced the way I’ve written lyrics; Dan Gatto has such a beautiful way of wording his own inner and outer struggles and inviting the listener's empathy. For the tracks “Nobody Wants” and “Big Sisters,” I incorporated some very light layering of synth that I took a very deliberate influence from Babyland.

TEN IN THE SWEAR JAR

Fureigh: Hidden track influence? Ahem. (Oddly, though I was a huge Charles Mingus fan around the same time I saw Ten in the Swear Jar play llve, I think I didn’t connect the dots between his “Haitian Fight Song” and their “San Jose Fight Song,” both of which I listened to a lot.)

RANCID

Josh Levine: The early 1990s at 924 Gilman Street wasn't a singular band but an overall feeling. Rancid is the most notable of those bands that best captured the inspirational essence of the song "Queerdo." It came to me as an East Bay ballad when I wrote it. The song's overall vibe could have been easily slurred and sneered in the early days of Rancid, Grimple, or even The Gr'Ups.

BLATZ

Shauners: After playing Punk Rock Bowling in 2021, someone came up to me and said something along the lines of “You all are like a Gay Blatz!” which is hilarious to me considering how many members of Blatz are queer. But there’s some truth in it; when I was growing up, the Filth side of the “Shit Split” was rarely ever played. It was all Blatz, all the time! Speaking of Blatz, Anna Joy Springer contributed a spoken word piece that appears at the end of the song “Big Sisters.” We were incredibly honored to have her collaboration on that particular song.

BEFORE THE FALL

Niki Pretti: Megan March was the first fellow female drummer I knew as a peer when I started off playing in my first band, SPAG. I didn’t understand how she could drum without shoes on or sing while playing, the latterI finally started doing in Middle-Aged Queers.

GRIMPLE

Shauners: I never realized it until the first wave of reviews came in, but a lot of my vocal styling and delivery comes directly from early Grimple. I have a natural baritone vocal range that I have used throughout all the band's albums and appeared more while demoing this album. But after we finished tracking, the natural baritone was pretty much buried as backing vocals; I decided to just go “Full Grimple” on this album.

BATTALION OF SAINTS

Shauners: Much like F.Y.P, I have a track record of writing songs only to realize later that I have written something that Battalion of Saints recorded decades prior. What can I say? There’s a finite number of notes and combinations of notes possible.

GREEN DAY

Fureigh: I recently listened to Green Day for the first time in a long time and cracked up noticing how much they influenced my harmony writing.

OPERATION IVY

Fureigh: Cliché, perhaps, but true. As a teenager, I learned of Operation Ivy from friends. But for years, I didn’t know they were local, I just knew every band with a potential opening for a guitarist played songs with “ska parts” and “punk parts.” Fast forward to recording “Queerdo”... I suppose it’s come full circle.