"Gay for play"

(Universal Motown)
The whole "gay for play" thing as evident by this year's Folsom Street Fair line up is great on one hand, but still mystifying, nonetheless. 'The gays supported us from the beginning' is the most common explanation I hear (translation: they have all that disposable income to spend on music and concert tickets). But it seems that this time each act has a unique reason for taking part.

The English Beat is all about unity (well, then why not play Pride?), Berlin's Teri Nunn is a total fag hag (I know, I've met her) -- and, let's face it, retro acts can't be choosers. Australian outfit The Presets are from Sydney (which, if you don't know, is a gay capital, so they're used to mo's). But how did Shiny Toy Guns end up on the bill?

It's simple. They were asked.

"They approached us and said they wanted us to play next year's fair," the band's founding synth-master and bassist Jeremy Dawson told Gay.com last week. "We were like, 'Are you kidding me?' We don't get asked to do stuff like that. We felt privileged because it's such a San Francisco thing, such a huge counterculture movement-type show, which means maybe we are doing something cool."

But there's another reason that the band, whose new album drops Nov. 4 and riffing single "Ricochet" is currently shooting up rock radio charts, is playing the internationally-renowned leather and fetish fair on Sep. 28. And it's something that Dawson and singer-guitarist Chad Petree have always been very open about. They have a uniform fetish, which they've explored as professional storm spotters (a.k.a. tornado hunters) for the past 16 years.

"It's very superhero style," Dawson said, about his and Chad's adventures around the Midwest and South in a custom-made, tricked out conversion van filled with enough radar equipment to shut down a city as they warn townspeople of impending doom and even save old ladies from perilous situations. "We make it more exciting, wearing uniforms when we do this. We look like FBI 'Rambo' commandoes. We wear huge outfits with pail helmets."

The duo's unusual hobby developed, along with their musical aspirations, when they were just teenagers, growing up in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

"When you're isolated from every coast, it brings a lot of creativity," Dawson said. "There's nothing to do there but meth and fat girls. So as soon as you cover Oklahoma and realize how much fun it is, you run for another city. No, it's not so bad, but we weren't settled there. We loved it, but we wanted to do more with music. We had all these ideas and had to get the hell out of here."

After encountering electroclash (the fusion of electronic and new wave music that peaked in 2001/2002) at Lary Tee's parties at Club Luxx in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and on trips to Germany and Belgium, they settled in Los Angeles, forming Shiny Toy Guns with vocalist Carah Faye Charnow and drummer Mikey Martin in 2004.

"Music was in a bad place and we wanted to bring a new dynamic to the world of pop and rock," Dawson said. "So we fused and embedded them with fashion and the indie electro of Europe and New York. Even today we maintain this as our foundation."

If their Grammy-nominated smash debut "We Are Pilots" (2006), featuring electro dance hit "Le Disko," modern rock song "You Are the One," and power pop track "Rainy Monday," demonstrated too many influences, their new album "Season of Poison" is more unified -- at least, thematically.

"It's like every song is totally different," Dawson said. "We like too much music, and don't agree with the theory that 'cause we're this, then our music must sound like this. But 'Season of Poison' sums up the whole record. It ties in with the weather thing. It takes life and the weather and smashes it into the music. Things happen in life that you can't control like birth, death, love, hate, and passion. You can be standing on your porch and see a massive 300-foot-high black cloud in all its beauty. It's gorgeous with sun rays across it or lightning... and two minutes later you're lying on the grass with a two-by-four in between your eyes. It's so pretty, but if you get too close, then it hurts and even kills. It sums it all up. Where we are is we got sort of deep and dark. The record is twisted and knobby. It's defined and sharp, not a fluffy sort of Euro dance album. It's extremely electronic, but sort of stabby and very dramatic. It's gaudy and dramatic with punches and breakdowns."

But for an electro-rock band like Shiny Toy Guns that operates in dualities, with dark must come light, right?

"If you step back from it, seasons always bring change, no matter how dark and intrepid," Dawson added. "One song, 'Season of Love' sounds like Brian Wilson bouncing off the walls, totally cheeseball. We studied how Peter, Paul and Mary got their vocal sounds and replicated them."

The quartet is excited to spread the love this season with their 'Intimate Fall' tour -- on which they'll play smaller venues, getting up close and personal with audiences, including their longtime gay fans.

"Before we even had record deals, all the gay bars and dance clubs were playing our records, because we're an intensely remixable and instantly club-friendly band," Dawson said. "In L.A. we'd go to Hot Dog, and hang out with the Dirty Sanchez guys, and sort of became their band. The first people to latch on to Shiny Toy Guns were the gay scene. The second that we came on the radar, the first show that wanted our song was 'The L Word.' Plus, our dynamic on stage is connective. It's who we are. With Cara, and now Sisley, we are as female as much as we are male. We're light as much as dark. We're an androgynous, trans-rock band. You have your Scissor Sisters and stuff that falls into music that gay people listen to. Well, we're more rounded -- a big mutt with two different colored eyes, so cute that it's ugly."

Being gay-friendly and playing for throngs of hot, sweaty men in leather thongs at Folsom Street Fair are too entirely different things. But Dawson said he is excited about the opportunity.

"Sounds like a blast to me," he said. "We don't get to do that everyday. I think it's an honor. I've never been, but I've heard this and that. They invited us to play music for them and I think it's exciting that it's gonna be big bad bears. We're looking at it as a giant festival, and looking forward to it."

If you're not in San Francisco for Folsom Street Fair, don't despair. You can still catch Shiny Toy Guns on their "Intimate Fall Tour" closer to home on one of the following dates:

Sep 22 Denver, CO The Marquis Theater (all ages) 8:00p.m.

Sep 24 Seattle, WA Nectar (all ages) 7:00p.m.

Sep 25 Portland, OR Berbati's Pan (all ages) 7:00p.m.

Sep 27 Salt Lake City, UT X96 at USANA Amphitheater (all ages) 8:00p.m.

Sep 28 San Francisco, CA Folsom Street Fair (all ages) 12:00p.m.

Sep 30 Reno, NV Club Underground (all ages) 7:00p.m.

Oct 1 Orangevale, CA The Boardwalk (all ages) 7:30p.m.

Oct 2 Fresno, CA The Exit (all ages) 7:00p.m.

Oct 3 San Diego, CA SOMA (all ages) 7:00p.m.

Oct 4 Los Angeles, CA LA Weekly Detour Festival (all ages) 1:00p.m.

Oct 7 Dallas, TX The Loft (all ages) 8:30p.m.

Oct 8 Houston, TX Warehouse Live (all ages) 9:00p.m.

Oct 9 Austin, TX The Parish 9:00p.m.

Oct 17 Palmerton, PA Blue Mtn Ski Area (all ages) 8:00p.m.

Oct 24 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater (all ages) 6:00p.m.

Oct 25 Milwaukee, WI The Rave Bar (all ages) 8:00p.m.

Oct 26 Detroit, MI Magic Stick (all ages) 9:00p.m.

Oct 27 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop (all ages) 8:00p.m.

You can also check out their MySpace page at: www.myspace.com/shinytoyguns or their website: www.shinytoyguns.com.