Queer Cuntry: 'Our dream is that Chaka will sing live for us dressed as a giant husk of corn'

After stumbling across a "mostly very sweet" country and western night in Folkstone, Lennie and Ray from Margate punk band pink suits realised country music spaces needed an overhaul.

Lots of older straight couples were dancing in a room where confederate flags hung, which are inherently racist and still associated with the country aesthetic.

With plans already brewing, the duo set about to create an inclusive queer country space, subverting the genre's macho and problematic troupes with tools already in the country music's toolbox.

Their first Queer Cuntry show took place at Where Else in 2021. It now includes a nine-piece band, drag performers and guest acts. Later this month, they will join the likes of Mica Paris, Todrick Hall and anaiis as part of Chaka Khan's Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank Centre, after a fortuitous Google 'queer country UK' search pulled up the Margate-based show.

Here, pink suits talks to Strange Tourist about subverting problematic tropes and turning a show filled with nudity and swearing into something suitable for a PG audience.

Tell us a bit about the need to make queer country music spaces.

We believe that all spaces should be inclusive, accepting and tolerant of everyone and there is no space in places like this for racist or intolerant imagery.

For country music as a whole, there is a general viewpoint that it is very straight, white and misogynistic. This is certainly not the history of cowboys or country music, but the genre has been in some ways co-opted by lots of people with these viewpoints.

There are certainly small-town cowboy bars in the US that don't feel comfortable to be out and visibly queer in, but there are equally many pubs and bars around the UK that would not feel comfortable being out and visibly queer in.

Our main aim with Queer Cuntry is to create a space where people can gather in a safe, welcoming, open and tolerant space where they can dress up and express themselves freely. We just happen to love country music and the gays love dressing up like cowboys! It feels great to have made a space in the UK where people can express their love of country music or country aesthetics in a welcoming and openly Queer space. 

So you intentionally set out to subvert macho or problematic tropes when hatching Queer Cuntry? 

Definitely! A big part of what we want to do is subvert the idea that country music is innately problematic, as a lot of people associate it with being macho, misogynistic and intolerant. We want to challenge this perception and show that there are many, many Queer country artists and that the history of cowboys is a very queer one.

We also want to show that a lot of the music from straight country artists is not intolerant and violent and problematic but are universal stories about love, loss, family, friendship, grief, hope and community and there is something that can speak to all of us in country music. But yes, there is also a lot of macho bullshit and we aim to subvert that and find joy in reclaiming a lot of the aesthetics that are associated with this.

The fact is it is fun to dress up as these tropes, butch cowboys in denim and leather chaps, big boots and rhinestone belts, big hats and big moustaches, or prairie dresses and fringe and big wigs and tiny shorts.

The aesthetics of country music are already incredibly camp. We are not making any of this stuff up — it's all part of country aesthetics, we just present it in a space that is knowingly and openly queer and say there are no rules in relation to sex, gender, bodies and style. You can wear whatever you want... as long as it's country! 

How does collaborating as pink suits differ from collaborating on Queer Cuntry work? And how are they similar? 

Pink suits as a punk band is just the two of us, so it's much much easier in every way. Queer Cuntry is the nine-piece band so there is a lot to work out musically. We also have a team of people helping organise on the day.

We have guest performers and a photo booth with Stephen Daly taking pictures for everyone who comes, and we have a merchandise stand — the team is massive and the set up is extensive.

We decorate the space, there is bunting and hay bails. The technical set up is extensive and the cost of these events is huge for us, which is why we have not been running them as much lately.

As a punk band we are happy to plug in and scream the house down in any space we can fit a drum kit, for Queer Cuntry its much more of a circus! 

Are you big Chaka Khan fans?  

Do we ever listen to Chaka Khan? No not really! Sorry babes. But we know all the hits and she is obviously an icon and has had a huge influence on music!

Funnily enough right before we were asked to do Meltdown, Chaka released a version of Cotton Eyed Joe with Rufus Wainwright, which is one of the most bizarre covers we have ever heard and we absolutely love it! So we had been listening to her a bit when we got the call. 

How will you be weaving in her influence into your show?

Also funnily enough, Chaka was already a bit of an influence on Queer Cuntry. At every event we play Dame James Games in which Dame Jame leads people from the audience in a different silly country-themed game where they compete to win a homemade fruit pie (homemade if you live at Morrisons).

One of the games is called Chak-a Corn, where we get people from the audience to shuck as much corn as they can to a Chaka Khan song, so she has already been part of our journey and we will be playing this game at Meltdown Festival.

Our absolute dream of course is that Chaka will come and sing live for us dressed as a giant husk of corn. We are still waiting to hear back from her team on that one.

Does performing outside during the day to a non-paying crowd change anything performance-wise or how you conceived the show? 

Yes, it's very different! At Meltdown there will be people that come specifically for Queer Cuntry and will dress up for it, but it will be mostly a transient central London crowd coming and going and passing through.

We are so excited about the prospect of so many people just stumbling upon us and not knowing what the hell they have gotten themselves in to!

It is a very different space for us than usual. For one, we are ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED to have any swearing and nudity, which throws a spanner in the works as our work is predominantly based around swearing and nudity!

However, we have worked out over seven hours of entertainment with songs and cabaret performances and dancing with no swearing and no nipples. 

How will it differ from your club nights?

The club nights are quite intimate, usually around a couple of hundred people in one room and it's a late night and 18+ affair. So it is usually quite sweet and wholesome but can descend into a sexy chaos and get a bit wild and rowdy.

At Meltdown, it's a family-friendly, outside, daytime event that is over by 10:30pm, so we will be aiming for large-scale sweet and wholesome family fun!

It's actually a wonderful challenge for us as we know so many queer families with kids who want to be able to go to queer events that they can enjoy as a family. This is a perfect place to dress up and play some games and have a great time whilst celebrating our community.

It also does mean the next time we get in the club we will all be itching to tear it all off and get freaky. 

Who will you be bringing on stage with you and what will they be doing?

Onstage you will see pink suits and The Northdown Rodeo. This is pink suits, Shelly Grotto, Janet District Council, Pretzel Cage, Em Foster, Spranks, Harry Pope and Dame Jame, who will be hosting the whole day, playing Dame James Games and also leading the costume contest.

There will be line dancing workshops lead by pink suits. Stephen Daly will be there taking photos in the Rose Photo Booth. There will be music from pink suits and Reverse Cowgirls as well as live cabaret performances from pink suits, The Cybils (Shelly Grotto, Janet District Council, Pretzel Cage) and cabaret performers Prinx Silver, Nat Funni and Symoné.

Plus there will be DJ sets from Reverse Cowgirls and Sunday Girl. We will also be bringing some lucky audience members onstage to compete for prizes!

And maybe, just maybe, we will be bringing Chaka Khan on stage to give us a rendition of the slowest ever Cotton Eyed Joe...

Queer Cuntry will perform on the Southbank Centre's Riverside Terrace next Saturday, June 22 as part of Chaka Khan's Meltdown. It's free and kicks off at 3pm.