God Save the Queens is Merging Denver’s Queer and Punk Scenes

Lights are low, The Damned is blaring through the speakers, and folks, dressed mainly in black or denim, grab drinks from the bar, talk, and flirt. This may not sound like the setup for your typical LGBTQ night out, but if Jeremy Noveli and Scott E.Myers, aka Scott Toxsin, have their way, it’s going to be one of the many options for queer fun in the Mile High City.

God Save the Queens was born when the two creators met at Trade and got into a conversation about how, although Denver has an amazing queer scene and underground music scene, the two don’t intersect as often as they do in other cities.

They decided to try a DJ night catering more to goth and punk music than to the mainstream fare played in a lot of the city’s queer bars. After trying out another venue at first, Noveli and Toxsin landed on a location, Hi-Dive, a venue that already represents the perfect mix of underground punk and metal culture and queer, safe-space sensibilities. Although the two have only only held the night a couple of times so far, the response has already been more than enthusiastic.

“There were a couple of people who came up to us and were like, ‘There is a real need for this, a hunger for it,’” explained Toxsin. “If I wasn’t doing it I would hunger for it, which is why it is happening. There were moments when I would play a song and someone at the bar would turn around and be like ‘Yaaaas!’ and there were a couple occasions where someone came up and said ‘What is this?’ and I totally welcome that.”

Truly, welcoming is what God Save the Queens is all about. The two are not strangers to never quite feeling welcome, stuck at the intersection of their two identities. Many queer fans of underground music are familiar with this, as are people of color, women, and other minorities who find themselves in underground spaces. While many of these subgenres and subcultures seek to be inclusive and affirming, they are still dominated in most cases by straight, white men.

Similarly, many queer spaces cater mainly to the fit, white, and male sectors of the LGBTQ community, the illusive myth of the beautiful twink and the sexy muscle daddy. Women, bi+, and gender-non-conforming folks often get totally left out of the equation. For this reason, it is especially important to Toxsin and Noveli to create a space that is open to all and affirms more than just a basic queer identity, while also inviting in anyone who feels a connection to the music, not just die-hard fans.

“I think it’s especially important in the context of punk and the queer scene being so masculinist to play Riot Grrrl,” Toxsin said, referring to the female-led punk movement that mostly boomed in the 90s. “I want to make it a space not just for certain types of gay men, like other queer places cater to, especially because in the last ten years women’s queer bars are shutting down all over the country. I think it’s really important to both of us to make it a space that is welcoming of gender diversity.”

In addition to welcoming all genders and identities, God Save the Queens opens itself up to be a space where drag is welcome, since Noveli almost always DJs in drag.

“I’ve always dressed in a feminine way, but I didn’t know that the label ‘drag queen’ fit because I wasn’t involved in that community yet,” explained Noveli, who goes by Noveli instead of Jeremy when in drag. “But once I was involved in the community and saw other people that were doing things a little darker, more alternative, I took on the label for myself. But for me, it is kind of fluid, so I don’t see my drag character as a separate persona. It’s kind of me with different clothes, an extension of who I am.”

Drawing inspiration from 80s death rock and punk looks, especially Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Noveli developed into a badass, glam diva who looks the part whenever she performs and isn’t afraid to get political with her drag.

“The first lip sync I ever did was ‘Night Shift’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees. I brought my underground influences to drag. I also did The Plasmatics,” she explained, referring to the punk band fronted by Wendy O. Williams, infamous for smashing things and flaunting her sexuality on stage. “I did a number where I did the Wendy O. and sledgehammered an iMac to protest the tech boom in California. Luckily, it was one that was no longer functional, but it served a visual purpose.”

Together, Noveli with her drag persona and goth rock catalogue, and Toxsin by playing more straightforward punk, the two are conjuring up a night that invites in all the freaks and weirdos, checks judgement at the door, and cultivates an atmosphere that is all about the music and the community.

“I think it’s a very relaxed space,” said Noveli, speaking of their previous nights. “We had such a wide range of people there, and we encourage people to come dressed up or dressed down. That’s something both of us are interested in creating in Denver. We both lived in cities that had more events that catered to this intersection and we kind of want to cultivate it here in Denver. If our last event is any indication, then it’s ready to happen.”

God Save the Queens takes over Hi-Dive on the last Monday of every month. If you are looking for a place to be yourself and also hear some unusual tunes, look no further.

Oops, our bad! This copy originally said the two met at Tracks; they actually met at Trade.