Ben Hopkins Quotes
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Rather than writing about my experiences with other people, 'Ugly Cherries' is the first song I've ever written about myself. It's a confrontation: an attempt to unpack my own queerness with humor and self care.
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It's our responsibility to cater to the needs of people who come and enjoy our work who have the same values we do. We're not trying to change the world. We're just sort of trying to deal with our specific lens of performance.
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When I started playing music, I was more of a character. Now I'm just me with a cool outfit on. I'm more comfortable being myself.
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It's not about the individual notes. It's about the energy.
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We're not writing songs to solve a cultural problem. The goal for us is to express what we're going through, and it's great if people find commonality in that.
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I want to say that our shows are safer-spaces shows. Don't push anyone or affect anyone's space.
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When you're a queer person put in the spotlight, you're supposed to have all the answers.
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If you listen to PWR BTTM, or to Gloss, If you look at me on stage, it can make you feel less alone. It makes you feel like you're a queer person and you have this singular power, but it's not like we're a brand. We're just real.
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I think that when you're queer, you grow up with these kinds of men who might have made you feel small because of who you are. They could be part of your family, or somebody on the street, or a teacher.
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The most radical thing about our lives is getting to be in a visibly filled-out queer crowd every night.
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Is punk dressing up in leather jackets? No. It's having a counter-cultural perspective.
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As a white queer person of a certain degree of economic privilege, I think that my ability to pass as straight is a privilege that other folk I know don't have. It's important to keep in mind who really is in the most trouble and to direct our attention to assisting those people.
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Queer is invincible because people have tried everything - haven't they? What haven't they tried to do to queer people? And horrible things happened. But you never stop, because it's the truth of who you are.
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For me, choosing to perform in drag, because of all the things I enjoy about it, is a political act.
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I think the earnestness of what we're saying and what other bands like us are totally saying - or other queer bands - is 'We exist.'
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For queer people, the personal is very political, just to talk about it in a public space. It's very political just to come out and take up that space and be like, 'This is my narrative. It's not an outsider narrative, and it's not a fetish narrative; it's just my story, and it's worth being told and listened to.'
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All shows need more twinks.
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I'm in a car so much on tour that I often just ask my friends to DJ and ask them what they like. That's the best way I discover music.
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There is power in organization. There is power in a community. People have always wanted to destroy communities.
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Like my gender, sometimes things don't come out right the first time.
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When fringe groups gather, there is power in that.
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PWR BTTM isn't the only queer rock band. We've been lucky to receive a platform. If you go on Bandcamp and search for 'queer rock,' you can find 150,000 bands that you could love more than PWR BTTM.
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What we do is provide a suggestion. We say, 'We're queer. We're going to do this; we're going to open up the space to queer thought.' People don't have to show up, but they do.
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PWR BTTM fans dress up better than we do.