Be Kind

About the album

UK/Europe customers grab this from the Amour Foo Bandcamp.

What happens when you put two frustrated gay record label nerds together from opposite ends of the world? You get The Male Gays - cross-continental DIY queer pop from Guy Blackman, label boss of Melbourne, Australia's long-running Chapter Music, and Bart McDonagh, stalwart of London's legendary Domino Records and owner of his own imprint Amour Foo.

On their debut release, a limited three song 7" single co-released by Chapter and Amour Foo, Bart and Guy sing in wobbly voices about rejecting queer cynicism, the need to rid the world of white boys wielding guitars (which includes themselves, naturally) and the difference between being outpunk and being an actual punk.

The project was concocted during the pandemic by these house-bound buddies, who began exchanging music files between London and Melbourne to alleviate the boredom. Bart mostly wrote the lyrics and Guy mostly handled the music. More used to working behind the scenes these days, it took The Male Gays a little while to gather the courage to share their work with the world, but the end result is endearing, silly and oddly moving. 

Bart has previously played in London strum-and-drum queeroes Barry, while Guy has recorded with Montero, Minimum Chips and Sleepy Township as well as several arch and/or heartfelt solo releases .

The Male Gays single includes valuable musical contributions from Australian guitarist Alex Macfarlane (Twerps, the Stevens), Porto/London stringsmith Ana Rita de Melo Alves and Melbourne flute virtuoso Hank Clifton Williamson (Sarah Mary Chadwick).

Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) mixed and mastered the recordings. The cover art is by Milwaukee artist Bob Stocki, originally made for 1970s gay publication GPU News.