Is queer rock an anomaly? It shouldn’t be, especially when such iconic rockers like David Bowie, Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger have all admitted to experiencing same-sex relationships in their lives.
But Tim Cain, the lead singer of Boys' Entrance, says you can't hang a movement on dalliances. “They were all ambivalent regarding their sexuality,” he explains. “Townshend felt he was ‘probably bisexual’. Bowie was an exemplar of queer aesthetics but used it more to promote controversy. Jagger may have had experiences, but he, like Townsend and Bowie, was married to women and had children with them.” Cain sees their actions as a declaration of adherence to normalcy, not queerness.
Out and proud rockers like Tim Cain’s band, Boys' Entrance, are more important now than ever before.
“Queer Rock is a movement created by queer people for queer people,” he continues. “It is a sanctuary for an oppressed minority. It is a safe place for us to vent our feelings about our experiences.”
His new album, Tunnelvision, is a rock opera (much like The Who’s Tommy) set in the 1980’s, against a backdrop of the AIDS genocide. While AIDS is a subtext of the story and not the focus, Tunnelvision depicts the extremity of trying to have relationships in the face of plague.
On a surface level, it is a classic boy-meets-boy story, except the boys engage in a rollercoaster of a relationship: breaking up, running into one another at a Sexual Compulsive Anonymous meeting and getting back together, then breaking up again.
“It's an age old story, really,” remarks Cain.
Though he labels it a queer rock album, Cain says Tunnelvision is relatable to everyone.
“In the same way that the gay community has long supported literature, movies, RockMusic and plays by straight people and their lives,” he explains.
The album’s first single release is "The Wolf Is At The Door”.
It’s a song about temptation and the many forms and guises it comes in. “Whether you are straight or gay, when the wolf appears at your door, you should stay strong and resolved,” advises Cain. “Don’t open the door no matter what, and if the wolf manages to tear down the door, you still have the choice to run.”
Cain fears the LGBT community may be entering a new era of struggle.
“There was a short moment when it felt like there was no longer a need for queer rock.
Marriage rights were finally extended to the LGBT community. I personally felt Boys Entrance may have become anachronistic.”
With the upswing in hate crimes, and Donald Trump and the hard right challenging marriage and bathroom laws, he believes out and proud queer artists like Boys’ Entrance are relevant again.
“Boys’ Entrance has always been in the vanguard fighting for gay rights, championing our own First Amendment right to free speech. In many ways, we exist because of the Constitution. We will make full use of our First Amendment rights of expression even as the fascist right tries to take our rights.”
He worries a day may come when people will be required to show their birth certificates prior to entering a bathroom.
“I never imagined America would suffer a coup from within, aided by a party which always railed against Reds, only to roll over for them in a gutless gambit for power.”
He admits he did have a knee jerk response to hide. “But I have been a visible activist my whole career. There’s no point cowering now.”
Instead, Tim Cain and his band, Boys Entrance, have decided to double down and get louder.
