RIBCO's Closing Weekend: The Queers -- December 17
Sunday, December 17, 8 p.m.
Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
Having entered their fifth decade of professional performance, the acclaimed punk rockers of The Queers headline a December 17 concert in conjunction with the closing weekend of beloved Rock Island venue RIBCO (the Rock Island Brewing Company), the group currently boasting a repertoire that includes 13 studio albums, nine live albums, four compilation albums, and 22 EPs.
After forming in 1981, the Queers released two EPs in the early '80s: 1982's Love Me 1984's and Kicked Out of the Webelos, both on band leader Joe Queer's Doheny Records imprint. Their first album, Grow Up, was released in 1990 through British independent record label Shakin' Street Records, after which the band signed to Lookout! Records, who reissued Grow Up and released subsequent studio albums in 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, 1994's Beat Off, 1995's Move Back Home, and 1996's Don't Back Down, as well as the compilation albums A Day Late & a Dollar Short (1996) and Later Days and Better Lays (1999). The Queers also released a cover version of the Ramones' Rocket to Russia album in 1994 through Selfless Records, as well as two live albums and a number of EPs through other labels during these years.
The band then moved to Hopeless Records, releasing the studio albums Punk Rock Confidential in 1998 and Beyond the Valley... in 2000, plus 2001's live album Live in West Hollywood. The Queers then returned to Lookout! for 2001's Today EP and the 2002 album Pleasant Screams, but soon parted ways with the label again. A split album with Italian band the Manges, titled Acid Beaters, was released in 2003 through Stardumb Records, followed by 2004's stopgap album Summer Hits No. 1 on Suburban Home Records, consisting of new recordings of songs from the Queers' back catalog.
In 2006, the Queers followed several other former Lookout! artists in rescinding their master tapes and licensing rights from the label. They signed to Asian Man Records, who released their eleventh studio album, Munki Brain (2007), and also reissued all of their Lookout! albums (excepting Later Days and Better Lays), having all of them remastered by the band's longtime collaborator Mass Giorgini. Licensing rights to several of these reissues subsequently passed to Dayton, Ohio-based Rad Girlfriend Records. A 12th studio album, Back to the Basement, followed on Asian Man in 2010, and the Queers also released eight split EPs with various other bands between 2004 and 2018. Most recently, the Queers re-recorded both of their Hopeless albums, issuing Beyond the Valley Revisited: Live at Loud & Clear Studios in 2016 through Asian Man and Punk Rock Confidential Revisited in 2018 through Asian Man, Rad Girlfriend, and the band's own new imprint All Star Records.
The Queers play the Rock Island Brewing Company's closing weekend on December 17 with an additional set by Running Man, admission to the 8 p.m. all-ages concert event is $18 at the door, and more information is available by calling (309)793-1999 and visiting RIBCO.com.
