When The Party's Over: A Brief History of The Band Who Wrote About (and now is) History.

 

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”

                                                              ― Frank Herbert

All good things must come to an end. It has been a distinct pleasure to create something as well received and glittery fun as Mattachine Social.  I had been carrying around the name since 1997 when it was once the title of a solo record and somehow years later it would resurface in the wake of my dissolving my short lived French band A is for Accident with the lovely Julie Baird.  I returned to my career in film , recording sporadically over the following year only to find myself with a handful of actual songs, not films scores in late 2010.  I met Justin Warner through the Hump! Festival where we both had films submitted (the origin story we have both told a hundred in interviews at this point). I invited Justin to sing on a track “Alexander” I had written and then another “Scorpio Rising” Justin added a verse. And suddenly we were writing songs… “Last Night “ followed then “Risers” . I enlisted guitarist Ben Jansen whom I knew socially and the original seed of Mattachine Social played their first show at Crush. Miss Tammy Whynot was our MC who quickly became our Nico. We were often jokingly Tammy and the Whynots.  Mattachine Social began as a way for me to focus my education in feminist and queer theory into pop music; LGBT history into song.  If you ever decided to find out more about Kenneth Anger, Alexander the Great, Charles Darwin, or any of the lovers mentioned in the song “Lovers” then mission accomplished.

I called in many a favor and had my friend and colleague, the brilliant Jesse Holt produce the band and my mentor/friend/constant inspiration Holly Andres shot our two amazing ep covers.  We were surrounded by a community of support I’d built through years of work as an artist and as an artistic project Mattachine Social was a great success. Justin’s fashionable creations for our stage wear caught the attention of the press. We had a giant photo spread in Just Out before we had our debut ep, Nice is the New Punk Rock out.  Miss Tammy Whynot became a local celeb and Ben Jansen became our sex symbol.  Ben left Mattachine Social in November of 2012. Adam Doughty filled in a few gigs as did Jesse Holt.  We carried on adding Mousie and Tanya Tuckit as go-go dancers and released our second ep Close in 2013. 

Creating the music for Mattachine Social was a great exercise for me personally, writing for the dance floor is not my usual forte and I learned to embrace disco, hip-hop and R&B along with my experimental styling.  While I’m sad that not all our songs made it onto records I have great memories of playing them live where they were meant to be.  With Mattachine Social I got to play with Cazwell, Imperial Teen, Moving Units, Some Ember, God-ess and She and Andy Bell (of freaking ERASURE) …my heart is full !

Mattachine Social was an art project, a band, a cabaret, a way to bring people together.  We wanted to make fun music and make flashy videos and play some shows! That deed is done. There is no great behind the scenes drama. No in-fighting. No feuds. I have nothing but love for my former bandmates and collaborators. Everyone who has helped mattachine Social over the years I owe you a thousand thank yous.  The amazing cabaret performances that became our unofficial opening trope (Kitty Diggins, Matthew Kern, Pagan Holladay, Sylvia Schecter, Melissa Ward: we love you dearly) . To every band and performer we have played with over the years, thank you! Seeing our friends on stage and off doing what they love made this worth it. Thank you to the amazing photographers who helped shape our public image, its been a pleasure learning from you and working  together over the years. Big giant thank yous to Holly Andres, Horace Long and Xillia Faye.  To Quay who starred in "Star Box",  you truly are a Star.  To Denice , Quay's mother, you are an inspiration as a parent and I'm so happy to have gotten to know you. Thank you Matthew Ryan Williams for creating the  lyric video for what would be our final single "Nowhere". It has been a pleasure.

So why end now?

I simply decided it was time to move on.  Life changes, careers  take focus. Unlike my bandmates I'm happily married and want to spend more time with my husband of 11 years. This past year I went solo , as Boarding School, and released a double album of instrumental tracks, recorded around the world, Mute Songs Vol.01 &02. I’m extremely proud of that work.  I have a feature film to be released this winter and I’ve returned happily to directing and producing for the stage full time. After last year’s well received production of The Submission I am directing a truly amazing cast in “In The Forest, She Grew Fangs” by Stephen Spotswood at defunkt theatre and co-producing this season. I could not be happier.  I’m working again in visual art and still making music as Boarding School and collaborating with other projects.  It’s a liberating, this sense of freedom, not beholden to style or tempo, to be free of Mattachine Social.  Those records and videos will stand as a testament to what we created together in love and disco.  In writing this I looked back at the many venues we played over the years from our start at Crush bar, to a gallery in Astoria, to numerous Pride main stages, an amazingly weird benefit show at a Burgerville…  so many great tech people were there along the way so sound guys and gals THANK YOU.  Red Cap Garage, The Someday Lounge and The Fez Ballroom, as I write this you are no longer with us but you are remembered fondly.

I wish everyone who loved Mattachine Social the best, I hope you follow us on our may varied solo endeavors and say hi if you see us around. It was an honor to write songs for you.

 Our Heroes Bleed Glitter  

But the show must go on... 

Xoxoxo

Andrew Klaus-Vineyard