When it comes to being a young Queer band, the title comes with a unique set of challenges and experiences that Hugo and the Hive had to face, whether that be making their way through school, dealing with homophobia and bullying or navigating the ever-evolving creative space as Queer identifying members of the Gympie community.
Hugo and the Hive are four-piece high school band consisting of Louis on vocals and rhythm guitar, Korbin on lead guitar and sax, Liz on bass and Natalee on drums.
Each member of the band identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community with Natalee identifying as a “mean, green bisexual“, Korbin and Liz as Queer and Louis as a Bisexual who uses all pronouns.
When it came to their experience in school before and during the formation of their band, each of the members spoke of exclusion and bullying due to their identity.
“It changed through the years, when I was in primary school I used to get the whole eugh, don’t have a crush on me, I’m not into girls, like go away, type thing,“ said Natalee.
“In high school, I didn’t hang out with Gay people until I met my band, so I didn’t really get treated any differently.“
Whereas for Korbin, he said that the bullying stopped for him in grade 10 when he started appearing less visibly Queer.
Further saying that sometimes it impacted their relationships with teachers with band members believing that Korbin wasn’t allowed into a school music program purely because he was Queer.
“I was definitely also a very visibly queer person, I had a short haircut since I was 9 so I’ve always looked the part and I was always kind of separated from the rest of my classmates,“ Louis added.
Whereas in Liz’s experience, she said that up until grade 9 she was unable to find a friend group before meeting Louis and then the rest of the band, often finding herself as a floater who no one wanted to hang out with.
But when it comes to their music, the band believes that the disparity is often more visible when interacting with other musicians as opposed to the venues and audiences.
“I feel like with Queer bands they spend a lot more time, like we do, building connections with peers and with venues and finding safe spaces and those types of things,“ said Natalee.
“I feel like down the track, there are some of our songs that are Queer, I feel it will be a small audience that can relate to songs that way.“
Liz agreed with Natalee saying that, “Sometimes by other bands we’re treated a little differently.“
Further adding that there have been other bands and musicians who would make inappropriate jokes and comments that would make the band uncomfortable.
Among these challenges, public displays of affection and dating are causes of fear for members of the band.
“We don’t do PDA, just out of fear,“ said Liz.
Further adding that she’s scared that there have been times outside of school where people have targeted her leading to her not want to draw attention to her relationships and sexuality.
Looking to the future, the young band believe that the Queer community is a small but strong and connected community within the regional space.
Corbin said that he would like to see more spaces for Queer people to which Natalee added that they would like to see Gympie’s places take ownership that everyone is welcome even if it isn’t considered a Queer space.
“There’s not enough spaces and I feel like the only really supportive people to the queer community are within those spaces,“ said Louis.
“I think when it comes to pride month we could definitely do more events, I feel like there’s only one event for Pride month every year and I think it would be really cool if there were multiple things going on.“
However, Liz said that she was unsure if the energy would be well spent in Gympie as the area was not very inclusive and believes that the addition of more events, spaces and community directives would especially benefit the younger community.
“They need to move away from Metro areas and actually look at places in the middle of nowhere, where is the Queer safety and love here?“ said Natalee.
“Whether that be through a member, a local member, that represents, a spokesperson for Gay people, that’s what I would like to see.“
The band were in agreeance that not enough was being done for the regional Queer community and much of the focus was on larger hubs with higher populations, where they would like to see Queer people able to express themselves freely in public without the fear of how the community around them would treat them.
Hugo and the Hive also have three upcoming gigs performing their original music and covers.
Catch them at The Cave Inn in Brisbane on Saturday 7 December for the Brisbane Teenage Fan Club or at Rat Planet Studios on Sunday 8 December for a Sunday Session as the headliner.
Coming into the new year, they will also be playing at the Cave Inn in Brisbane again on Friday 24 January supporting Love Thrills.
