[Photo Credit: Sandy Honig]
Hunx and His Punx are a California band featuring Seth Bogart, Shannon Shaw and Erin Emslie. Since they got back together in 2019 it seemed like teenage dreams were coming true. First they played John Waters’ birthday party, then they toured with Bikini Kill, got to open for The B-52s at their favorite festival and started recording their first album since 2013. They never would have guessed that it would end up taking 5 years to complete. Or that they would soon be going through some very brutal times - a tragic death, a global pandemic and being impacted of one by one of California’s worst wildfires in history. On August 16, 2022, the same day their “White Lipstick” single was released on Sub Pop Records, Shannon’s fiancé and close friend of the band Joe Haener was tragically killed in a car accident. Totally devastated, they stopped working on their album for over a year while Shannon grieved and made an album with Shannon and the Clams. Eventually they picked up again when Shannon moved down to LA to be closer to Seth and Erin. They were always close friends but were now bonded together for life. This led to writing some of the band’s first songs about grief, “Rainy Day in LA” and “Walk Out On This World”. A couple years later while putting the final touches on the album and preparing to start shooting music videos, tragedy struck again. On January 7, 2025, the Eaton Fires erupted and destroyed the majority of Altadena, CA. About half of the new Hunx record was written in Seth’s basement which is now contaminated with ash and toxic smoke damage and most of the neighborhood destroyed. Grief and loss once again made finishing anything feel impossible, so they pushed back the release date by a few months. Which brings us to NOW. Now is finally the time, On August 22, 2025, Hunx and His Punx will officially release their first album in 12 years, Walk Out On This World. It’s their first with Get Better Records, a label the band is excited to be working with due to their focus on queer and trans artists. Between 2010 and 2013, Hunx and His Punx released 3 albums - Gay Singles, Too Young To Be in Love and Street Punk, on Hardly Art and True Panther Sounds. They were celebrated and often associated with the queer core, punk and “garage rock” music worlds. From 2014-2019 they took a 5 year hiatus. Seth got really busy with visual art and recorded some solo albums. Shannon was equally as busy with her band Shannon & The Clams and releasing her first solo record. Now they have finally returned with their fourth album, Walk Out On This World. The end of the world is near and it’s filled with wild boys, rainy days, bad thoughts, death and grief, white lipstick, and doing acid alone in Hollywood. “If it’s the end of the world, I want to have some fun”. These definitely feel like end times. And no one knows better than this band, that for every tear you shed, you must laugh twice as hard and you will eventually be OK.
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