Photo courtesy of PINKSQUEEZE
When I pick up the phone to talk to bubblegum punk band PINKSQUEEZE, they’re in a van somewhere between St. Louis and Chicago. They have to pause their audiobook before we can introduce ourselves. They are listening to Megan Rapinoe’s memoir, which they explain is the “gayest thing you can find in the library.”
The four members of the band — Anna, 25; Ava, 26; April, 29; and Logan, 30 — were headed to their home base, Chicago, for one last show on their dream-like tour before waking up and returning to their day jobs the next morning.
When the friends planned the tour, they set the dates and venues around places where they knew they had a couch to crash. In places like Cleveland, they had a place to stay, but they weren’t sure that anyone would be in the audience in this unfamiliar town on a Monday night. But the crowd showed up, and, in the words of Anna, “the queers came to the front.”
“We have not played a bad show this tour,” April said. “We have been so lucky and surprised again and again with the response that is more than we could have imagined in places where we didn’t think we knew everyone or we didn’t know anyone.”
The band described the kindness and graciousness that they’ve been met with on tour as a twinkling spot of luck — but they had felt hopeful, positive energy before it even began. When the group set their intentions for the tour with tarot cards, they drew The Lovers card, which signals cohesive harmonies to come.
The four haven’t had to search too far to find harmony since Ava and April formed the band in 2019 as just two girls with guitars. The pair had met through a random online interaction, leading them to get dinner together in an attempt to make new friends. After hours of baring their souls and forming a connection over diner food, one took out their trusty tupperware container to store their leftovers from the meal — only to realize that the other was doing the exact same thing.
The uncanny compatibility continued as the duo’s shared love of music led to a fully realized band, eventually adding Anna on bass and Logan on drums in 2021. The four became fast friends, leading to synchronous songwriting and an intimately casual onstage presence that’s unmatched. Audience members have described the band’s shows as “being at a sleepover with friends you just haven’t met yet.” The tight bonds within the band bring a comfortable ease and feminine power to the stage that creates a space where the crowd can scream-sing the lyrics to their dance-worthy, howlingly honest music.
When asked to describe themselves, PINKSQUEEZE uses the term mom-rock — which they describe as the obviously cooler and feminine version of dad-rock. Rather than singing of lost love and the golden days of misogyny, the band sings about “sweet things,” like mental health and loving their partners. By giving moms shoutouts onstage, the band hopes to cultivate a fresh culture that drives the scene away from cisgender men. This results in sometimes even scoring phone numbers of new friends after shows. “We have some really funny intersections of people we’re centering in the room that don’t usually get centered, so we love to shout out the moms,” April explained. “They deserve rock and roll too.”
PINKSQUEEZE released their second EP “Quarter Life Crisis” in February, which Death by Algorithm described as sounding “like you get to be a fly on the wall while four friends enjoy a jam-sesh.” The album contains hits like queer anthem “U-Haul,” as well as the aching album closer “Nightmare,” which Ava wrote as she was coming to terms with a very sudden onslaught of depression. Though the lyrics of “Nightmare” speak to hopeless thoughts and painful processing, it’s impossible to keep yourself from nodding your head along to the catchy chorus as Ava sings of “wait[ing] for happy to kick in.”
The band’s latest single, “Midday Midnight,” marks a new era in the band’s songwriting with softer instrumentals and lyrics reflective of the band’s experience through the pandemic. During the increasingly frustrating isolation of lockdown, April caught a glimpse of themself in the mirror and didn’t recognize what she saw anymore. “Forget what I look like, my tattoos a surprise,” the chorus starts, letting listeners in on the debilitating twinge that is dissociation. The personal lyrics and guitar-driven melody have already turned the record into one of the band’s most requested songs.
PINKSQUEEZE is all of the hype and more. They’re a mom-centered, queer disco ball of a band. It’s a slumber party, it’s a jam-sesh between four friends and it’s showing up to meet someone for the first time and being surprised when they pull out tupperware for their leftovers — proving that your idiosyncrasies aren’t all that weird, and that you’re seen and loved at the PINKSQUEEZE party.
“Midday Midnight” and “Quarter Life Crisis” are available now on all streaming platforms, including Spotify and Bandcamp. You can follow the band’s Instagram at @pinksqueeze_music.