Page 16 - Vo Vo | FIX MY HEAD #6: QTPOC PUNK ARTISTS

Rola: Yes ^^^ For me the formation of the band was kind of like a creative manifestation of these friendships; and
I don’t know if I could make this kind of music, or be as open with experiences & with lyrics, if we didn’t have that foundation.
We mostly make songs about shit we are dealing with. Writing them has helped me immensely in processing some things that have affected me deeply, and figuring out what it is I’m feeling, and releasing that, and then sharing it with people I love. It’s therapeutic. It does feel important to visibly be these queer, femmy, non white people per- forming at a show and to speak about it; and how we have varying experiences of how that informs us while finding solidarity in this. I try more these days during our sets
to explain ourselves - hating on patriarchy, the police, & white supremacy; & hating on nuclear power & u.s. mili- tary/capitalist bullshit in the pacific & Japanese imperial- ism/racism, etc.
RP: We are pretty intentional about the spaces we play
in and the bands we play with. There have been various times that we turned down a show because of a shitty person being involved or because the other bands just didn’t resonate with us. Ideally we’ll play in space and with people who make us feel stoked about who we are and what we stand for.
Do you have a story behind the name?
Side Boob Stretch Marks, because it was a joke. That’s ob- viously not what SBSM stands for. But it could be anything like, Sandy Bush Super Muff. We’re not excited about
the name but people for some reason liked it and we’re moody, indecisive bitches and it was way too much work and stress to come up with anything else.
What are your lyrics about?
destruction, death, sex negativity, love, etc.
What have you released?
2 tapes -
Welcome to the gay hell; we had this tape on our tour last year with Gorgeous Vermillion and Beast Nest (2012) Bitter Ends; re-recordings and more songs from the first tape (2014)
http://sbsmoakland.bandcamp.com http://analcube.tumblr.com
& Sep & Rosie’s radio show - screamqueensradio.tumblr. com (Tune in on berkeleyliberationradio.net on Wednes- days 10PM to whenever, west coast u.s.a. time)
Why, when and how did you start focussing
on QTPOC artists in particular?
My senior year of college I wrote my the-
sis for Ethnic Studies on a queer and
trans POC performance art organization
called Mangos with Chili. I thought their
work was really powerful and wanted to
look at the impact the QTPOC art, and this
organization in particular, was having on
people. It was right around the time when
everyone was talking about the queer youth
suicide epidemic in the US. Mangos with
Chili describes themselves as “committed
to showcasing high quality performance of
life saving importance by queer and trans
artists of color” and I wanted to inves-
tigate if their work actually save lives.
-
vents queer suicide, but people did say
that Mangos added value to their lives,
like their life was possible.