Bottoms is an androgynous New York based trio that does not give two fucks about the status quo and wants to keep it that way; their colorful stage antics, beautifully donned blonde wigs, stiletto pumps in the club attitude, and thrash bravado are just the tip of their Jeffrey Star Meets Bushwick thematic core. Gay suicide, self-hate, AIDS, penis boredom, and the New York City lifestyle are the main topics of discussion but it does not stop there. Bottoms’ music is a collection of Die Antwoord-ish grunge electro and Sonny Moore dark and memorable lyricism and it has a way to invigorate every listener into an almost anarchistic euphoria.
Bottoms
FADER recently wrote a piece about their closing track on their latest EP HERE: “Musically, the song was inspired by Terry Riley and the Paradise Garage sound. We’re really interested in the dichotomy of upbeat music with a more depressing lyrical theme. It’s like sad music for the club– people dancing to a suicide note. Of course with most of bottoms music, there is always a sense of humor. In this way, the music becomes a fair representation of the three of us as people: simultaneously sad and funny, and complex.”
Bottoms has been reviewed by Stereogum, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Observer, Brightest Young Things, and the Observer to name a few. Their show at FADER was unfathomably awesome. Their songs “My Body” and “AIDS” were my favorite and the more I listened to them the more incredible I found the tracks. Each has its own feel and emotion, each being singular and poetic. The songs variations were magnetic, keeping the audience guessing what was next, what to expect, how it made them feel. The band was born out of Bushwick art space Secret Project Robot and has taken the drag scene by storm. Their performance was legendary; sexy and full of uninhibited passion. The front man, decorated in tattoos, wore a long blonde wig and sweaty chest hair, lacy pink chiffon skirt, and light blue zombie contacts. Simply put, I was in love. They are not afraid of their transexuality and confront you with it at every turn
“I hate my body, don’t want to live in this body. I hate. My body. Don’t want to live. In this body” – the crude first lines sung is an almost despondent and matter-of-fact fashion from the loose lips of New York trio newest single “My Body.” The beginning of the song already alludes to the notion that Bottoms is a musical entity with a foot in electric music’s past, a strong grip in the present and a dancing stray leg in the future. Bottoms used the intro of “My Body” as a talking point and motif builder, a method used in music heavily in the 1970’s through the 1990’s, and when done well, like Bottoms has, it has a strong emotional pull to it that only enhances the music. The feeling of the band being present for me was in the lyrics themselves and the kind of “CSS”/ “Gravy Train” quirky, nasty, charismatic, and dirty musical cunnilingus that is presented in their orgiastic electric beats and naked, almost vulnerable, vocal arrangements. The song is something you can listen to while working out, putting on make-up, going shopping, writing an essay, having sex, or as it was more likely intended, at a dope venue with your friends. Bottoms also has a political message as well, “I don’t want to go to the Mall, I just want to go to the Morgue” the chorus of their song “HIV.” Band member Dibeler tells Vice “People have spent a long time keeping quiet about HIV, Conversely, I think it’s really important to scream about it.”
As co-founder of the annual Bushwig festival, Leahy led the “drag explosion” in the Bushwick nightlife scene. Leahy is also the founder of New York City Porn Film Festival which will take place on Friday 2/27, Saturday 2/28 and Sunday 3/1 at Secret Project Robot. “The NYCPFF is a natural progression in Leahy’s artistic career…He used his art for activism, organizing pride marches and combatting homophobia. He also dabbled in the adult art world.”- Mashable
If you would like to hear their music it is available on Soundcloud.
Article by: Marissa Mireles
