Best Revenge | |
|---|---|
 Best Revenge 2006 reunion gig group photo | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, CA, United States |
| Genres | Punk rock, queercore |
| Years active | 1998-2002, 2006 |
| Labels | Spitshine Records |
| Past members | Ryan Revenge KT Bilito Peligro Frisky McNicholl Shug Glen Livid |
Best Revenge was a queercore punk band from Los Angeles. They were active as a studio and live act from the beginning of 1998 until December 2002.
Best Revenge was formed by members Ryan Revenge (vocals/guitar) and KT (bass/vocals) in early 1998. The two were previously in a band called Happybomb while attending college at the University of Southern California. [1] Revenge pitched to KT his idea of putting together a melodic punk rock band with queer-oriented lyrics, playing her a few songs he'd been working on including one that would later become one of the band's anthems, "Punk Rock Fag." [1]
While searching for a rehearsal space and a drummer, the two found both when they answered an ad to rent a garage space in Venice Beach, CA. The garage space was coincidentally at the former home of Jordan Crane, and the current occupant of the house was Bilito Peligro, who later joined the band on drums. [1]
The gathering scene created the need for a record label to document the music that would probably never find a place in the major label mainstream. Peligro and Revenge responded by starting up Spitshine Records, which went on to put out all of Best Revenge's releases as well as releases by local acts IAMLOVED, $3 Puta, Brian Grillo (of Extra Fancy and Lock Up), Hot-N-Heavy, the Sharpease and a Freak Show compilation CD. [2] [3]
After Best Revenge, Ryan Revenge played with the bands Exit Plan and Terrazzo. [2] In June 2012, he completed his doctoral work in Political Science, earning a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He is currently employed as an associate professor at Bradley University. [4] Bilito Peligro and Frisky McNichol played with the Gay-Gays, the all-gay Go-Go's tribute band. [5] Bilito has continued playing drums for Los Angeles bands Miata, Temperamentals, and Local Channel (LCL CHNNL). KT skated as Trixie Biscuit on a banked track roller derby team called Fight Crew, [6] performs as a stunt woman in film and television, and is Operations Specialist at the Maximum Fun podcast network. [7] [8]
The Best Revenge song, "Know You", was featured in the 2004 gay horror film Hellbent, which also featured songs by such notable queercore bands as Three Dollar Bill and Pansy Division. [9]
Best Revenge was featured in the 2005 book Homocore:The Loud and Raucous Rise of Queer Punk by Ken Knox and David Ciminelli. [10]
| Year | Title | Label | Other information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Begin | Spitshine Records | Debut EP |
| 2001 | Pink On the Inside | Spitshine Records | Split EP with prettypony |
| 2002 | Starts With You | Spitshine Records | LP |
| Year | Song Title | Album Title | Label | Other information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rockabilly Boy, Cockring for Christmas | Freak Show, Year One | The Freak Show | Compilation |
| 2002 | Bash Back | Stand Up & Fucking Fight For It | Agitprop! Records | Compilation |
| 2002 | Typical | One Year Later...It Still Hurts: Queers Against G8 | Speeddemon | Compilation |
| 2003 | Bash Back (Live on KXLU) | Freak Show, Year Three | The Freak Show | Compilation |
The band experienced several lineup changes, first spurred by the departure of bassist KT just after the completion of the Starts With You full-length.
Lineup 1, 1998-December 2001:
Ryan Revenge, vocals and guitar
KT, bass and vocals
Bilito Peligro, drums and vocals
Lineup 2, January 2002-May 2002:
Ryan Revenge, vocals and guitar
Bilito Peligro, drums and vocals
Shug, bass and vocals
Lineup 3, May 2002-December 2002:
Ryan Revenge, vocals and guitar
Bilito Peligro, drums and vocals
Glen Livid, bass
Frisky McNicholl, second guitar and vocals
Lineup 4, final show December 6, 2002:
Ryan Revenge, vocals and guitar
Bilito Peligro, drums and vocals
KT, bass and vocals
Frisky McNicholl, second guitar and vocals
Queercore is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society's disapproval of the LGBT community. Queercore expresses itself in a DIY style through magazines, music, writing and film.
Lock Up was a rock band that featured Tom Morello on guitar before Rage Against the Machine was formed.
The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joseph “Joe” P. King along with Scott Gildersleeve, and John “Jack” Hayes. With the addition of Keith Hages joining on bass in 1983 the band started playing their first public performances. The revised line-up played a total of six live shows between 1983 and 1984. This earliest era of The Queers formation initially broke up in late 1984; however, Joe Queer re-formed the band with an all-new line-up in 1986. In 1990, after several more band line-up changes the band signed with Shakin' Street Records to release their debut album, Grow Up. The album earned the band notability within New England, but with the release of their next album, 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, on Lookout! Records, their following grew.
Limp Wrist is an American punk rock band, who formed in 1998. Featuring members of Los Crudos, Hail Mary, Devoid of Faith, By the Throat, and Kill the Man Who Questions, the band plays short, fast hardcore music, and covers themes concerning the gay community in their live performances and lyrics. They are an openly gay band and they identify as part of the "queercore" punk subculture. The band declared in Frontiers magazine, "We put the 'core' back in 'Queercore'". The band are featured on the cover of My Brain Hurts, Liz Baillie's comic about queer teenagers in New York City.
Team Dresch is an American punk rock band originally formed in 1993 in Olympia, Washington.
Sister George were an English band from London, recognised as being significant in the 1990s queercore scene, who formed in 1993.
Agitprop! Records is a 'revolutionary hardcore and hip hop' independent record label based in Boston, US, founded by Jacob Tavares. The name comes from the term Agitprop, a genre of political propaganda from Soviet-Russia.
J.D.s was a Canadian queer punk zine which started in 1985 and ran for eight issues until 1991. The zine was co-authored by G.B Jones and Bruce LaBruce and is credited as being one of the first and most influential queer zines. The zine's content was centred around anarchic queer-punk themes and heavily discussed queer-skewed punk music from the late 1980s.
Donna Dresch is an American punk rock musician, perhaps best known as founder, guitarist and bass guitarist of Team Dresch.
She-Devils is an Argentine punk group that started 1995. The band has often been associated with the homocore and Queercore genres.
Undressed is the debut album by American queercore band Pansy Division, released in March 1993 on Lookout! Records.
Rachel Carns is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991. Carns began her career as drummer for Kicking Giant, later collaborating with several bands, including The Need. She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.
Glen Meadmore is a Canadian musician, actor, and performance artist currently residing in Los Angeles, United States. His music is often described as Cowpunk.
John Patrick Kamys, better known by his stage name Jinx Titanic is an American composer, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and author, best known for his outrageous stage persona, and image as the beer-swilling, cigar-smoking, sexually-candid, lead singer of the eponymous rock band. Occasionally he will appear as a stage actor, movie actor, comedian, television personality, or host, and is also considered a notable member of the Queercore and Homocore movements.
Chris Freeman is an American bassist and vocalist, best known as a member of the band Pansy Division.
Jon Latimer Ginoli is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a member of Pansy Division, a band that was founded by Ginoli and Chris Freeman in 1991. He is openly gay. Pansy Division is known as one of the founding examples of the queercore genre of punk rock, and has released seven studio albums, first on Lookout Records and later on Alternative Tentacles.
Lost Gems & Rare Tracks is a compilation of singles, unreleased tracks, demos and other rare songs by queercore band Pansy Division. It was released exclusively on iTunes in 2010. The album follows the band's two other rarities albums 1995's Pile Up and 1997's More Lovin' from Our Oven.
Quite Contrary is the seventh studio album, ninth album overall, by American queercore band Pansy Division, it was released on September 9, 2016 by Alternative Tentacles.
Spitshine Records was a Venice, California-based independent record label specializing in independent punk rock and queercore music. The label was co-founded in 2001 by Ryan Revenge and Bilito Peligro of the queercore band Best Revenge. They founded the label to release music by Best Revenge but turned their attention to documenting music made by queercore bands in Los Angeles in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Fagatron was a short-lived but influential punk rock band in the Queercore movement which gained a small cult following for its emphasis on radical politics and queer identity. It was formed in 1996 by Abe Miner and Jeromy Ogg of Lincoln, Nebraska.