Seth Bogart

Bay Area musician Seth Bogart, better known for most of his career as Hunx, got his start as a backup in the early-2000s queer-themed electropunk band Gravy Train!!!! Following the band's dissolution, Bogart assembled a crew of friends and musicians and formed Hunx & His Punx in 2008. As an openly gay and outrageously flamboyant frontman, Hunx's larger-than-life persona was equally as impressive as the band's catchy girl group-inspired sound, self-described as "young oldies." Bogart co-wrote some of the first Hunx & His Punx songs with Arizona garage rocker Nobunny, who invited the band along on its first touring experience. Opening for Nobunny and Jay Reatard, the group developed its over the top stage show, which could find Bogart crowd-surfing, cajoling the audience, or trying to make out with the entire front row, depending on the show. A compilation of tracks called Gay Singles arrived in early 2010. The band continued to tour, doing support slots for Girls and Harlem before embarking on their own headlining tours in 2011. They signed a deal with Sub Pop subsidiary Hardly Art and released their first proper full-length, Too Young to Be in Love, in 2011. In between tours, Hunx kept busy as a co-owner and stylist at Down at Lulu's, a hair salon in Oakland, California. He also appeared in a controversial role in the sexually explicit video for Girls' song "Lust for Life." In 2012, Hunx, now an L.A. resident, released the album Hairdresser Blues sans Punks, recording in New York with Ivan Julian, an original member of Richard Hell & the Voidoids. The Punx were back on board soon after for the hardcore punk-influenced Street Punk album. Looking for new outlets for his talents, Bogart soon turned to the visual arts. He had a gallery show in 2014 that incorporated sculpture, painting, and music videos, then started his own fashion line, Wacky Wacko. When he came back to music, it was as a solo artist working under his own name for the first time. Burger Records released his self-titled album in early 2016. It sported guest appearances from Kathleen Hanna and Tavi Gevinson, and featured an electro-bubblegum sound that was a departure, but still totally Bogart. For his next solo effort, 2020's Men on the Verge of Nothing, Bogart launched his own Wacky Wacko Recordings label; the LP included guest vocals from Kathleen Hanna and Kate Nash on a cover of the X-Ray Spex classic "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!"
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