LEOPARD, BOUND, & QUEER AS FUX

Retro teenage dreams aren’t just for the 60s girl groups. While hardcore and punk are alive and well, Hunx and his Punx turn back the clock, keeping it steady yet evolutionary with bubblegum pop and garage punk sounds. For people who grew up watching Cry-Baby and listening to The Shangri-Las, these punks & punkettes are a John Waters film come to life, and have no issue standing out. The East Bay continues to pump out creatives like Seth Bogart (Hunx), who’s been an enigma within the scene since the 90s, creating personal zines and indie record labels like “Super Eight Underground,” uplifting local zines and indie bands, later closing in 2000. Oakland CA, in the 2000s was the breeding ground for Seth, where he founded Hunx and his Punx with core member Shannon Shaw of Shannon and the Clams. 

In the beginning, Seth surrounded himself with queer culture and was first established as a background dancer for an electroclash band, Gravy Train!! He later became the frontman and guitarist under Hunx. It was no surprise he’d end up birthing a band of his own, meeting Shannon Shaw at the historic San Fran LGBTQ+ leather bar, the Eagle, forming a garage-punk project band with a heavy camp aesthetic and music for yearners and lovers in mind. Hunx and his Punx recruited a full-femme backing band and gained popularity upon the release of early singles such as “Gimme Gimme Back Your Love”. Blending girl group-style music and punk melodies. It would come as no surprise that the underground scene embraced their flamboyant stage presence through wearing bondage, leopard thongs, the occasional spilling of Hunx junk, and drinking his own piss: “it tastes like Gatorade”. They played their first U.S. tour with Jay Reatard, who headlined and created a bond over hating normal people. Wild Jay was a well-known artist who was known for his prolific musical output and fronted many garage-punk bands. As an artist, he used reatard as a defense mechanism for provocation before anyone else could use it against him. Passing in 2010, Hunx played one of their last shows before disbanding as a tribute to honor their late friend. 

Among the hiatus, Seth moved to LA, where he produced solo work and focused on an artistic career while keeping his punx in mind. The Punx made a surprise reunion at the Pope of Trash's birthday celebration in 2019 and later toured with Bikini Kill while brewing up new music. Shannon relocated to LA with Seth after the passing of her fiancé, where they began writing. As exciting as it was making a more recent album, the band dealt with harsh times and many setbacks. Walk Out On This World would become their most recent studio full-length album but took 5 years to complete after dealing with loss and a global pandemic. During the last touches of the album, the LA fires swallowed Bogart's home, containing majority of the writing material and pushing back the release date. 

Walk Out On This World released in 2025 as an homage to the harsh times and losses the members faced. Through it all, with the end times near they wear white lipstick, laugh through the pain, and take acid alone in Hollywood. Leather Bound is one way to elucidate this band. They have a trashy pop aesthetic with raw tunes about raw feelings. Leaving sore lovers behind and welcoming the bad girls and boys, gays and theys with open arms to any of their shows.