An Inteview with Scott Treleaven and Will Munro
Toronto Lesbian and Gay Archivist # 20 Spring 2004
http://www.clga.ca/
What is “punk?” If you consult a dictionary, you might find any number of definitions, ranging from “petty gangster, hoodlum or ruffian,” to “homosexual partner,” to “prostitute.” In musical terms, it’s perhaps best described by counterculture legend Genesis P. Orridge as “Chuck Berry with naughty words.” Filmmaker-writer Scott Treleaven and artist-DJ and nightclub promoter Will Munro are long time devotees of punk, particularly of the queer variety.
“I was a subculture junkie as a kid,” recalls Munro, “but punk rock was my most stable interest.”
“We were both mongrels,” agrees Treleaven.
Treleaven and Munro are recent donors to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Treleaven is donating two of his films (and other related materials), while Munro is donating promotional cards and posters from one of his themed club nights.
The two first met as students at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996, when Munro appeared in Treleaven’s thesis project, Queercore-A Punk-U-Mentary.
“I wanted to make a film about being a queer-punk at a time when it seemed there were only about two of us,” says Treleaven of his film. “There was no coherent scene in Toronto then, but I had become aware of how film events attract particular audiences. When I was sourcing materials, interview subjects and home movies, queer-punks came out of the woodwork. I wanted my own traveling road show to bring out more of them, to find like people-and I wanted to get laid!”
Queercore features music from acts like Pansy Division on the soundtrack. When asked how he was able to use these recordings, Treleaven laughs, “Suing me wouldn’t be punk rock!”
Treleaven still hasn’t made any money from the film, but he admits it was a nice passport to travel and meet new people. It also led to some unusual experiences, like being an erotic photography model for Shag magazine, a portfolio of people from the Toronto art scene baring all.
“A friend asked me if I wanted to get my cock in a magazine,” explains Treleaven. “My answer? Yes!”
Treleaven followed Queercore with The Salivation Army (2001), an exploration of people’s perceptions of ‘zines. The film focuses on his own queer-punk ‘zine, This is the Salivation Army (1996-1999) and is more ‘straight-up’ and conventionally told than Queercore. It examines the diversity of outsider-cultures and explains how This is the Salivation Army eventually expanded its focus to include magic and the occult. The film has been shown at festivals worldwide to great acclaim. The Village Voice called Treleaven “Dennis Cooper with a heart” and listed The Salivation Army as one of the most notable short films of 2002.
After Queercore, Munro and Treleaven collaborated again when Treleaven shot Munro’s short film Rebels Rule, a study of Munro’s artwork for an anarchist festival.
“Film and video always get preference and are easily distributed,” says Munro. “I wanted to distribute art in the same way.”
The film is a campy play on sexual identity and features young people turning underwear into flags, balaclavas, and even wicks for Molotov cocktails. More recently, Treleaven shot another Munro effort, which featured an underwear model being stripped and re-clothed - 40 stories up at an abandoned malting factory.
As for Munro, he is well known in Toronto not only for his art, but also as organiser of the popular club night Vazaleen, which he devised as a sort of haven for marginalized gay culture in Toronto's new Queer West District. http://gaywest.905host.net/
“There seemed to be so many fractured communities with common goals but no place to come together,” Munro explains. “Most queer nights seemed restricted to cruising bars filled with high-energy recorded music. I was fed up with the lack of intellectual engagement and live performances, and one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2000 was to stop complaining about it and act. I knew performers would come here, but there was no venue for them. There was a serious void, and [people] were so starved! I wanted to make it a fun event, mixing men and women and other subcultures that don’t usually mix. I wanted audience participation, for people to meet and make new friends and feel they could wear anything and do anything and be appreciated for it.”
The first Vazaleen in January 2000 was a modest affair, attracting 150 people to the downstairs level of the El Mocambo nightclub. Since then, the event has grown beyond all expectations, with a regular crowd of about 700 gathering each month at its new home in Lee’s Palace.
“[Munro] had a vision with this thing,” says former El Mocambo manager Dan Burke, “and it’s totally in sync with my vision for a cutting-edge nightclub: different races, ages, fashions, styles, sexual tendencies. The audience should be as theatrical as the performers.”
For Munro, Vazaleen was “fantasy fulfillment,” yet he says he recognises certain limitations inherent in any such event. “The nature of these types of subculture events is to collapse in on themselves as they’re absorbed by the mainstream,” he explains.
“The mainstream is so hungry for anything authentic,” chimes in Treleaven. “Five years ago there wasn’t the same thrust. It’s only now that the [queer-punk] scene is wide enough to support and validate the likes of Vazaleen and Shag.”
Munro and Treleaven aren’t the types to plan too far ahead, but both are branching out in new projects consistent with their queer-punk, anti-establishment stance.
“It seemed a logical progression,” says Munro. “New Wave has strong queer origins-the whole androgyny thing-and Peroxide is held in what was a major ‘80s venue, when much of this music originated.” A more intimate event in a smaller venue, Peroxide attendance averages about 100 people.
Treleaven is still part of the ‘zine scene and currently teaming with Genesis P. Orridge for a set of new publications as well as working on a new feature film.
Toronto Lesbian and Gay Archivist # 20 Spring 2004
http://www.clga.ca/
What is “punk?” If you consult a dictionary, you might find any number of definitions, ranging from “petty gangster, hoodlum or ruffian,” to “homosexual partner,” to “prostitute.” In musical terms, it’s perhaps best described by counterculture legend Genesis P. Orridge as “Chuck Berry with naughty words.” Filmmaker-writer Scott Treleaven and artist-DJ and nightclub promoter Will Munro are long time devotees of punk, particularly of the queer variety.
“I was a subculture junkie as a kid,” recalls Munro, “but punk rock was my most stable interest.”
“We were both mongrels,” agrees Treleaven.
Treleaven and Munro are recent donors to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Treleaven is donating two of his films (and other related materials), while Munro is donating promotional cards and posters from one of his themed club nights.
The two first met as students at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996, when Munro appeared in Treleaven’s thesis project, Queercore-A Punk-U-Mentary.
“I wanted to make a film about being a queer-punk at a time when it seemed there were only about two of us,” says Treleaven of his film. “There was no coherent scene in Toronto then, but I had become aware of how film events attract particular audiences. When I was sourcing materials, interview subjects and home movies, queer-punks came out of the woodwork. I wanted my own traveling road show to bring out more of them, to find like people-and I wanted to get laid!”
Queercore features music from acts like Pansy Division on the soundtrack. When asked how he was able to use these recordings, Treleaven laughs, “Suing me wouldn’t be punk rock!”
Treleaven still hasn’t made any money from the film, but he admits it was a nice passport to travel and meet new people. It also led to some unusual experiences, like being an erotic photography model for Shag magazine, a portfolio of people from the Toronto art scene baring all.
“A friend asked me if I wanted to get my cock in a magazine,” explains Treleaven. “My answer? Yes!”
Treleaven followed Queercore with The Salivation Army (2001), an exploration of people’s perceptions of ‘zines. The film focuses on his own queer-punk ‘zine, This is the Salivation Army (1996-1999) and is more ‘straight-up’ and conventionally told than Queercore. It examines the diversity of outsider-cultures and explains how This is the Salivation Army eventually expanded its focus to include magic and the occult. The film has been shown at festivals worldwide to great acclaim. The Village Voice called Treleaven “Dennis Cooper with a heart” and listed The Salivation Army as one of the most notable short films of 2002.
After Queercore, Munro and Treleaven collaborated again when Treleaven shot Munro’s short film Rebels Rule, a study of Munro’s artwork for an anarchist festival.
“Film and video always get preference and are easily distributed,” says Munro. “I wanted to distribute art in the same way.”
The film is a campy play on sexual identity and features young people turning underwear into flags, balaclavas, and even wicks for Molotov cocktails. More recently, Treleaven shot another Munro effort, which featured an underwear model being stripped and re-clothed - 40 stories up at an abandoned malting factory.
As for Munro, he is well known in Toronto not only for his art, but also as organiser of the popular club night Vazaleen, which he devised as a sort of haven for marginalized gay culture in Toronto's new Queer West District. http://gaywest.905host.net/
“There seemed to be so many fractured communities with common goals but no place to come together,” Munro explains. “Most queer nights seemed restricted to cruising bars filled with high-energy recorded music. I was fed up with the lack of intellectual engagement and live performances, and one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2000 was to stop complaining about it and act. I knew performers would come here, but there was no venue for them. There was a serious void, and [people] were so starved! I wanted to make it a fun event, mixing men and women and other subcultures that don’t usually mix. I wanted audience participation, for people to meet and make new friends and feel they could wear anything and do anything and be appreciated for it.”
The first Vazaleen in January 2000 was a modest affair, attracting 150 people to the downstairs level of the El Mocambo nightclub. Since then, the event has grown beyond all expectations, with a regular crowd of about 700 gathering each month at its new home in Lee’s Palace.
“[Munro] had a vision with this thing,” says former El Mocambo manager Dan Burke, “and it’s totally in sync with my vision for a cutting-edge nightclub: different races, ages, fashions, styles, sexual tendencies. The audience should be as theatrical as the performers.”
For Munro, Vazaleen was “fantasy fulfillment,” yet he says he recognises certain limitations inherent in any such event. “The nature of these types of subculture events is to collapse in on themselves as they’re absorbed by the mainstream,” he explains.
“The mainstream is so hungry for anything authentic,” chimes in Treleaven. “Five years ago there wasn’t the same thrust. It’s only now that the [queer-punk] scene is wide enough to support and validate the likes of Vazaleen and Shag.”
Munro and Treleaven aren’t the types to plan too far ahead, but both are branching out in new projects consistent with their queer-punk, anti-establishment stance.
“It seemed a logical progression,” says Munro. “New Wave has strong queer origins-the whole androgyny thing-and Peroxide is held in what was a major ‘80s venue, when much of this music originated.” A more intimate event in a smaller venue, Peroxide attendance averages about 100 people.
Treleaven is still part of the ‘zine scene and currently teaming with Genesis P. Orridge for a set of new publications as well as working on a new feature film.
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