Page 32 - FMH9

3. How does Identity play a role in the band/lyrics /music? And what about performance as a tool?
KC: haha I like how identity is capitalized there. i’d say identity- especially in the age of territorial identitarianism and trigger-happy language-policing- has become both a platform and crux/crucible to what we do. like, we are
a self-proclaimed queer people-of-color (qpoc) band, and almost exclusively push discourse on race, gender, rampant gaycism and how whiteness arbitrates queer communities (it’s what tea cake and i talk about all the time anyway, so why not attach a mic and big muff?). and this has kinda become SISSYFIT’s “look” and hook to book us for shows. yet, we definitely aren’t trying to rep entire communities (how exhausting!), nor claim to. so
it’s become this tricky thing where 1) we’d like to express our opinions as coming directly from ourselves- kyle,
tea cake, diana- but also 2) we’d like to carve out much- needed space in the pit for QPOC punks, as a group, to assert an aggressive, overarching political counterpoint to the opinions of screechy white dudes? like, how do you foster public discussions on race and politics in a prominently white community, while also, dismantling the idea that any one person/band can be a mouthpiece for an entire community? like, we are qpoc punks, but we are not ALL qpoc punks. Can we just say what we will without being a mouthpiece? but i guess tokenization can be a thing for any artist of color tryna get it.
in terms of performance, i’ve always been partial to femi- nine energy. thats. my. fuckin. SHIT. like a lot of queers, i
came into punk on riot grrl, but i also LOVED the raw power of hardcore. the thing is, even with flagship queercore like limp wrist - and dont get me wrong,
i luv that band- i still yearned/yearn for even more ostentatiously faggy i-broke-an-acrylic-and-just- farted-gizz-in-my-leotard power bottom energy. i feel like sometimes queercore bands get caught up in the traditional masc presentation of hardcore, and that contagious yippy femmeness gets unfortunately lost in the mix. SISSYFIT is kinda like our anthem to bring forth and herald that shit. make straight white hard- core bros super uncomfortable, and bring humor to gloom-n-doom dialogues on identity politics, which are very necessary, but all too often, overbreeds de- pression and cynicism.
4. How do you describe your politics?
KC: if you’d asked us that when we’d first started playing, i’d be inclined to say “radical”, but it’s kind of gotten to the point where i don’t even know what that word MEANS anymore. like, especially when used
in conjunction with “queer” and/or “feminist”, “radi- cal” has almost become synonymous with “operates according to an inverted hierarchy of oppression,” which i not only feel super alienated from, but also, am super bored/tired of. like, i don’t know what we’re actually BUILDING besides a culture of surveillance and shame. it’d be great / prolly healthy to not always come at things from a place of resistance, or reacting to negative bullshit.
a lot of SISSYFIT’s songs can be interpreted as “call- outs”, but i think what people don’t get is how incon- sequential screaming can be. like, we aren’t tryna be heroes, taking some noble stand as spokespeople, or trying to single-handedly advance people-kind one angst-ridden PSA at a time. its purely just us bitching. this rage needs to be let out and live somewhere- not just stifled and squirming within us- which is why we do what we do. so that vitriol doesn’t poison and per- meate everything we do. I hope folks don’t miscon- strue our songs as comprehensively capturing our politics! our shit is constantly changing and way more complex than any 30-second hardcore song! we just desperately need space to exorcise this colonial fuckery. and punk is just the place.
we hope it’s validating for u. u know who u r.