Q&A: Pinksqueeze Channels Unapologetic Queer Joy
PROTECTING HEARTS AND COMMUNITY THROUGH MUSIC — queer indie-rock band Pinksqueeze stands out not just for their sharp lyricism and power-pop soundscapes, but for their unwavering dedication to celebrating LGBTQ+ joy, community and identity. Through their music, Pinksqueeze – composed of Ava, April, Anna and Logan – offers listeners an invitation to a space where queer joy is not just acknowledged, but exalted – a powerful and necessary antidote to the often one-dimensional representation of LGBTQ+ experiences in mainstream media.
Pinksqueeze’s discography is a testament to the power of unapologetic self-expression. The band writes songs that feel like intimate conversations at a sleepover with friends you’ve yet to meet. This metaphor beautifully encapsulates the warmth, inclusivity and unguarded honesty that define their music.
“Talking about our queer experiences is a big inspiration and our purpose,” the band shares.
Pinksqueeze’s latest single, “Crybaby,” marks a significant evolution in their artistic journey. This track dives deep into the complexities of mental health, offering a raw and vulnerable glimpse into the band’s own struggles and triumphs.
“Crybaby” pushes the band outside their comfort zone, both lyrically and sonically. The song’s introspective lyrics create an intimate confessional that speaks to the universal experience of navigating mental health challenges.
Pinksqueeze’s new era of music is immersed in medieval imagery and encapsulates themes of protecting one’s heart and safeguarding the community. The band’s lyrics delve into the personal journeys of self-discovery and vulnerability, highlighting the importance of emotional resilience. The imagery of armor, chainmail and daggers serves as a metaphor for the emotional defenses we build and the battles we fight to protect our hearts. In this new era, Pinksqueeze stands as a testament to the enduring power of music to heal, protect and unite.
Photography Credit: Kennedy Cottrell
LUNA: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar yet, what inspires your artistic style and sound?
AVA: I think we're inspired by a lot and the core of what we do at Pinksqueeze is really centered around our queer experiences. That was a founding value when we started the band, and I think we've done a good job keeping that value throughout our music. Talking about our queer experiences is a big inspiration and our purpose. That inspires us a lot.
ANNA: Musically, we all come from really different backgrounds and listening-wise, we end up with an amalgamation of influences, just sonically, which gets us to a different place than any of us would be able to get to on our own and I think that is really special.
LUNA: Your whole motto as a band is “being at a sleepover with friends you haven’t met yet.” What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
AVA: I think in the studio, we really are just friends having fun. I think that really comes through with the energy in our recorded music and the same thing in our live shows. We're really intentional about the space and community that we create when we perform. We always come in with an intention for ourselves with our mantra ‘be gay, have fun.’ We set the tone at the beginning of all of our live sets, saying you're welcome here and here's our guidelines, and we want you to dance and have fun, but we also want you to be safe and that we don't tolerate creeps.
APRIL: A lot of the feedback that we got is just that it was a fun queer experience. It wasn’t just us sharing our queer experience, but the joy of it and having fun. I feel like as we've gone on, even our songs are talking about more difficult experiences, we try to still spin them to be fun, have choreography and interactive parts to them, so that really inspires us and moves us further in that direction.
LUNA: You’re part of Chicago’s DIY and punk scenes, what do you love most about this scene? How would you describe the energy and the people that go to your shows or listen to your music?
AVA: Just a couple years ago when we were first stepping into the scene as a band, we found that the community of support for each other's music was really there. We all show up for each other. We have been talking a lot about how other local bands’ music inspires our own as well. I think that’s really special about Chicago’s music community and the lack of competitiveness. I think that a lot of other major cities have and their music scene has a lot of competitiveness and not totally having that support going to each other's shows. It's just competing. That's not really the vibe here in Chicago and the DIY scene.
ANNA: Because Chicago is not like a big industry city, and because it's more affordable than New York or LA, people are able to be in venues without the intention of making it big time immediately. There's less of a need to step on each other to get to a viable place. You're able to just create.
LUNA: You released your iconic debut record Be Gay Have Fun last year. How has the response been from fans and the overall community support?
LOGAN: The support for it has been pretty cool. We won for the Chicago Reader’s “Best Local Album” in 2023 which was really cool and the listeners really liked the stuff that we wrote and we're putting our hearts out there. It’s been really special to play live shows and see the crowd singing along and there are tears at every show we play.
LUNA: You are releasing your first single “Crybaby” since your record. What is the inspiration behind the single and what did the creative process look like?
APRIL: This is a song that I was writing when I was depressed and crying a lot. It's pretty literal. It was a way for me to work through difficult feelings towards myself, but distilling it into what it's about. I would say it's about the process of just losing yourself on the way to losing someone else, and then when that someone else is gone from your life and what you’re left with on the other side of that after you’ve already abandoned yourself. That's what I was working with for the inspiration there. There's a moment where we all yell, which feels really good and really appropriate to the emotion that came behind that song. The process was pretty tough. I had come up with a version of it and ended up rewriting the chorus for it at least 10 times. That's really different from how I've written in the past. Usually I edit very little, but I couldn’t stop editing on this one. I felt so much self doubt about it and I was driving myself crazy with it, so when we landed where we were, that was a huge relief. What I really appreciated was that every song that we do where one of us writes more independently and then brings it to the band for arrangement is that it takes on a completely different life with everyone's arrangement and everyone has touched it. They brought it to life with so much energy, and made the song feel really fun and broad. It was a painful process, but I’m grateful that we got it done.
AVA: I hope people like it. I feel like it's a good reflection of every song we write together. They all push me musically. In every song we write, I'm exploring new things on the guitar and I am growing as a musician. I feel like maybe that was what happened with this song too. It was challenging because we were growing. I'm really proud of how it turned out. I think you can even hear the growth from the last album.
ANNA: I think it's our most instrumental, complex song, so that's exciting.
LUNA: Have you experimented more or taken any risks – either lyrically, sonically or emotionally – with “Crybaby” since your previous releases?
APRIL: Saying anything that stems from difficult emotions like depression or sadness is very vulnerable. I feel like we've gotten to this place where joy is our brand, so I was like, ‘I can't write a song about feeling sad.’ I really appreciate everyone being like, ‘no, that's not the point. We do have all these feelings and you can write about them.’
LUNA: What can listeners expect from you in this new era of music?
AVA: In addition to “Crybaby,” we've been starting to write other songs that hopefully we can record before the end of the year. We are continuing to explore a lot more co-writing together, which I think really pushes us all out of our comfort zones. I think the upcoming music has really cool creative output and the sadness about what we're working on, as well as a social justice focus.
LOGAN: From my songwriting, you'll hear a lot more of us calling out systems and oppression.
ANNA: We're in our medieval era, take that what you will. Similar to “Crybaby,” we are tackling topics and imagery on protecting ourselves, our hearts and community. We have a lot of imagery around chainmail and swords. We are cherishing our hearts in this medieval era.
LUNA: You guys have been touring all this year and are about to tour with The Dreaded Laramie. What is your favorite part of touring together?
ANNA: We are always giggling, and everytime there just ends up being something that you would not anticipate and it's just silly. There's always going to be a million goofy little things that happen when you’re on the road with your best friends.
AVA: When we spend so long with each other, we're just giggling, giggling, giggling, crying and laughing.
APRIL: We get to meet so many cool people between the bands in each city, but also the people that come out to the shows. I love to see, especially smaller towns or cities that might seem more obscure, they turn up the most and have very cool, interesting people. Especially in the smaller towns, they might not get a whole lot of queer rock bands coming through, so having that opportunity to connect can feel really special.
LUNA: Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals that help ensure you play your best show?
APRIL: We do a little bit of magic. We have an oracle deck, and we always pull a card before the show asking what we need or what we should focus on and then we get to discuss that a little bit. That helps us put our mindset there.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
ANNA: We made our first vinyl. We just pressed Be Gay Have Fun on vinyl with Smashed Plastic. They will be available on tour, and we haven't done that before, and that feels like a big deal.
AVA: We're feeling really excited in this area of our career. I think it's really busy, but I think we're really starting to feel that push and getting over a hump here with some of our goals, which is really exciting. I'm feeling really grateful for what we've been able to do so far. We're looking forward to being able to focus on writing more music soon and embracing this new era more after “Crybaby.”
APRIL: We also have a show coming up at Thalia Hall which is a dream venue. We are playing the “Free For All” event on August 24.
