Seth Bogart

Bay Area native Seth Bogart, widely recognized throughout much of his career under the name Hunx, launched his musical path playing backup in the early-2000s queer-themed electropunk outfit Gravy Train!!!! After that group split, he gathered fellow musicians and friends to establish Hunx & His Punx in 2008. Serving as the openly gay and flamboyantly theatrical frontman, Bogart projected a larger-than-life presence that matched the group’s infectious girl-group-derived style, which the band labeled “young oldies.” He collaborated on several early Hunx & His Punx numbers with Arizona garage rocker Nobunny, who then took the ensemble on its debut tour. While supporting Nobunny and Jay Reatard, the act honed its extravagant live presentation that often featured Bogart crowd-surfing, rallying spectators, or attempting to kiss the front row, varying by performance.

Early 2010 brought the compilation Gay Singles. The musicians kept performing, first opening for Girls and Harlem, then launching their own headline dates in 2011. They secured a contract with Sub Pop’s Hardly Art imprint and issued their debut proper album, Too Young to Be in Love, the same year. Between road trips, Bogart served as co-owner and stylist at Oakland, California’s Down at Lulu’s hair salon. He also took a contentious part in the sexually graphic clip for Girls’ track “Lust for Life.” By 2012 the Los Angeles-based artist issued the solo album Hairdresser Blues without the Punx, cutting the record in New York alongside original Richard Hell & the Voidoids member Ivan Julian. The Punx soon rejoined for the hardcore-influenced follow-up Street Punk.

Seeking fresh creative channels, Bogart shifted toward visual arts with a 2014 gallery exhibition that blended sculpture, painting, and music videos, after which he founded the fashion label Wacky Wacko. Returning to music as a solo performer under his given name, he saw Burger Records release the self-titled album in early 2016. The set included contributions from Kathleen Hanna and Tavi Gevinson and showcased an electro-bubblegum approach that diverged from prior work yet remained unmistakably Bogart. For the subsequent solo project, 2020’s Men on the Verge of Nothing, he inaugurated his own Wacky Wacko Recordings imprint; the record featured guest vocals by Kathleen Hanna and Kate Nash on a rendition of the X-Ray Spex classic “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!”