BUDS DIGEST 003 / FEATURE
SETH BOGART / HUNX AND HIS PUNX
In conversation with SHANNON SHAW
Photographed by NICK DELISI
Seth Bogart photographed by Nick Delisi. Los Angeles, 2025.
Legendary queer punk artist SETH BOGART joins his bud and HUNX AND HIS PUNX bandmate SHANNON SHAW for a journey through the past.
The two musicians sit down with BUDS DIGEST on the heels of releasing 2025’s best punk rock album, “Walk Out On This World” — an exuberant record that took five years to make and reflects their many years of navigating life together.
Join as they dive down memory lane, recounting the origin of their friendship and dueting on a wide range of topics such as being stoned at John Waters’ birthday party, psychotic ex-lovers, being stoned on the Little Mermaid ride at Disney World, Ram Dass quotes, being on acid while meeting Kesha, who should be cast in the their biopic (attention: Hammaconda’s booking agent), and what advice they would give to their younger selves.
Read on below for our BUDS DIGEST cover feature with SETH BOGART.
Seth Bogart and Shannon Shaw. Photographed by Amy Harrity.
SETH BOGART: Hi Shannon.
SHANNON SHAW: Hi Seth.
BOGART: We're just laying in your bed. We've been here for hours doing PR and press on our big press day. Just kidding. We've done literally two interviews.
SHAW: They were exhausting.
BOGART: They were exhausting. We ordered food to the wrong address and we're going to have band practice soon, but we're here for Buds Digest. So how did we meet?
SHAW: Um, okay. Before I met you.
BOGART: Oh, I have a “before I met you.”
SHAW: Really? Well, that's not a question, but maybe they'll want to know. Okay. Before I met you… this was like big MySpace times…
BOGART: This was huge MySpace times.. This is what, 2008?
SHAW: Yeah. When was the first Hunx [and His Punx] show?
BOGART: Probably like, I don't even know, maybe 2008 or 2009. I was still in Gravy Train. It was like the tail end. We had just done a tour, but we had recorded Hunx.
SHAW: Oh, okay. So before I met you, I was obsessed with this little scene I found on MySpace that was Oakland musicians that were like, punky garage bubblegum oldies and [I was] listening nonstop. And through putting them in my top eight in my MySpace…
BOGART: Oh my God.
SHAW: I came across Hunx and His Punx, and I want to say it was a black and white picture of you in just a cape and a little hat. Maybe in the woods.
BOGART: I remember this.
SHAW: Before I even listened, I was just like, who is this elf? Who is this hot punk fruity elf? Who is that? And then I listened and got very deeply obsessed. When I first met you
BOGART: It was at The Eagle, right? I have a memory of meeting you at The Eagle.
SHAW: I think you're right that it was at The Eagle. I went and saw Hunx and His Punx at The Eagle. And it was when Ian [Baldridge] was playing bass.
BOGART: And you're like, who's that? I'm taking his spot. Just kidding. No, we forced you to be in the band.
“We had cardboard instruments and blow up dolls. And honestly, if you’re going to be in a band, I suggest that’s the way to go. Then you don’t have to carry anything.”
SHAW: I just thought everyone was so hot and so cool. It was like, Oh my god, I'll never be this cool…
BOGART: Yeah, right,
SHAW: But that's how I felt. The costumes were amazing. And I know that Shannon and The Clams loved to dress up in costumes, but we weren't as coordinated. I just loved to see that because I've always thought of parties as like ways to celebrate a theme. And I loved seeing that in you guys. You guys were like creating the atmosphere. You were making the party and I felt like you don’t get that with most bands. And the music was good. And I've always thought this way about our band, like it is like 60% comedy…
BOGART: Thank you for seeing me.
SHAW: Yes. 40% music.
BOGART: Ok my pre-meeting-you story was that I was dating this psychotic person who saw you play at a house party.
SHAW: House of Red with The Crocodiles.
BOGART: Then he came home and was just like, “Oh my God, Shannon. Oh my God. Oh my God. The most amazing thing ever. She did this ballad and started crying in the middle of the song. And it was the most incredible voice I've ever heard, I'm so obsessed with her.” And this person was kind of a little bitch and didn't like anything, especially in Oakland. So I was like, who is this Shannon? I must meet her. And then I remember meeting you at The Eagle and I was just like, this person's cool. I was really into you and you were so sweet. Um, and then I don't even know what happened after that.
SHAW: I guess then I met you at Down at Lulu's at a party.
BOGART: Yeah. Down at Lulu's was this hair salon, punk store, vintage clothes place that I owned for like five years.
SHAW: It was definitely where everyone liked to go and meet up and you guys had legendary parties.
BOGART: We had parties and art shows. So I think we just started to see each other around and then I finally got to see Shannon and The Clams and I was obviously obsessed and then I think we were going on a tour…
SHAW: No, you asked me to sing. I sang with you guys at The Gilman. There's pictures. I'm like holding a blow up doll and I have like this pink silky slutty 50s dress on. And it was just you and Dan, and your…
BOGART: My psychotic ex, one of many.
SHAW: And you just sang to the tracks, which was so cool.
BOGART: Yeah. I forgot we did three shows like that where I had a boombox or something and played the instrumental. And then we had cardboard instruments and blow up dolls. And honestly, if you're going to be in a band, I suggest that's the way to go. Then you don't have to carry anything. Or like when you see a DJ and they're like making millions of dollars and all they have is a stupid laptop. I want to set them on fire.
But anyways, I think that I became obsessed with Shannon and then we were going on a tour with Jay Reatard.
SHAW: Before this, this is when Ian was still in the band. He had to step in and play guitar because the guitar player couldn't come. And you were like, could you play bass so that Ian can play guitar?
BOGART: Oh, where was that?
SHAW: L.A. That's when we stayed at Scary Dove's Mansion.
BOGART: Oh yeah, our friend lived at the American Apparel Mansion.
SHAW: Johnny Apparel.
BOGART: Johnny Apparel. Johnny Makeup. By the way, that new Netflix movie [The Cult of American Apparel] is very funny.
SHAW: Wasn't he hilarious?
BOGART: He's very good in it. Um, but also I'm like, they let Dov [Charney] off easy. He's such a creep.
SHAW: I think they let him off easy, too.
BOGART: Um, wait, so was that the show we played with The Donnas?
SHAW: I don't remember playing with The Donnas.
BOGART: I can't remember. Basically I was really... drunk a lot those days. And I have a bad memory.
SHAW: I remember that girl who was competing on Project Runway was there.
BOGART: Oh, Ari Fish.
SHAW: Yeah. And she told us about going on a date with the Buffalo 66 guy, Vincent Gallo, and how much he sucked.
BOGART: Oh my God. He does suck.
SHAW: Damn. We're talking so much shit on this. We're also still on question one.
BOGART: LOL. This is going to be a seven hour interview. Um, apparently a friend of ours wanted to have a virgin birth, because a friend of ours was a virgin, and you could apparently order Vincent Gallo's sperm… And so my friend who was a virgin wanted to have Vincent Gallo's baby as a virgin, which is so gross.
SHAW: Oh my god. Did anyone ever actually do that?
BOGART: Have Vincent Gallo's baby?
SHAW: As a virgin?
BOGART: I don't know. Oh god. I hope not. I hope not. That sounds really painful.
SHAW: Emotionally, mentally?
BOGART: In every way. Which brings us to question two. How did we begin to make music together?
SHAW: Well, then we did that tour to L.A. with the show that we can't remember. But we remember many things around it... And then we got offered to open up on this tour with Jay Reatard and Box Elders and some other bands…
BOGART: Oh, and then I was like, please come on tour with us, Shannon.
SHAW: Even though you still had sweetheart Ian in the band.
BOGART: And we kicked him out?
SHAW: I guess so. He was always happy for me though. And he's still your good friend.
BOGART: He’s still my good friend. I don't think he was that bummed. He was probably relieved.
SHAW: Oh good. He's one of the nicest people in the world.
BOGART: So sweet. So yeah, we began making music because I forced Shannon. And then I was like, okay, well this person is in our band and has the best voice ever and can write really good songs. So like, do you want to write some songs? And then you immediately wrote Lovers Lane.
SHAW: And Bad Boy.
BOGART: And Bad Boy.
SHAW: I remember being so nervous and so embarrassed to show them to you.
BOGART: Why?
SHAW: Cause like naturally, I think I'm a pretty embarrassed person. That was very early on in my career and I was not used to…
BOGART: Sending people a weird demo. I loved it.
SHAW: No, you loved it and I felt good.
BOGART: I loved it. So that's how we started making music.
BUDS: This is your first album in twelve years. How does it feel to get back into the group?
SHAW: Well, in these twelve years, we've played a lot of shows.
BOGART: We have. We kind of stopped playing for like five years and then we reunited to play John Waters' birthday party in Detroit. And then I smoked this crazy joint that made everything sound way too fast. It was sort of a nightmare reunion, but also funny?
SHAW: You were so stoned. It was so hilarious.
BOGART: Don't smoke random joints that people give you.
BOGART: Remember the time I gave you a weed gummy at Disneyworld and it hit too hard ??
SHAW: Yes, how could I forget? I thought I was gonna have a mellow, relaxing, funny giggle time but instead I was in a petrified nightmare zone where I felt like I couldn’t move and I’m pretty sure we had to go sit down. We had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get food and then sit for a long time and couldn’t stop smiling but was not necessarily happy. It also hit right after we went on that rocket ship simulation ride — oh wow I don’t know why I thought that was going to be a fun ride, I was begging to get let off the ride. Everyone was laughing when I was screaming and begging to get off.
BOGART: Oh my god, that ride fucking sucked! Also I was foolish I guess to think you could handle a 5MG gummy — which I later realized can be a lot for people who don’t do it much. That was nothing compared to the time my friend and I went to Disneyland and she asked me what my weed tolerance was in the parking lot and I said “it’s high” and she gave me a tincture and then we went on the Little Mermaid ride first, cuz you can vape weed in there and not get caught, and when we emerged from the ride I thought I was so stoned I thought I was going to melt into the floor and turned to her and asked how many milligrams of weed did she give me and she said “probably like 30.”
SHAW: No.
BOGART: Remember that dumb fashion show when The Strokes played and we did acid and then I hit your weed pen and started sweating to death right in front of The Strokes and then you introduced me to Kesha and I was like, “Hi Kesha, I’m on acid” and she said, “I wish I was on acid”? What was in that pen? Or was it the acid?
SHANNON: Honestly that is one of my favorite memories ever, going to that fashion show. And absolutely the combination of the acid and the weed pen were out of this world, wonderful. I remember the feeling being like you’re being hugged by sparkles in outerspace and then The Strokes played. Then Jose and I were holding hands just cuz we were tripping and as we walked out of the show room, every step I took, my foot would peel up 4 inches of the ground and so my shoes were getting much taller every step I took. That was a great time.
BOGART: Yes I loved that! Too bad the fashion show itself was sooooooo bad. I remember seeing Kim Gordon and Iggy Pop in the front row both wearing the same jacket and sunglasses and they looked like siblings. What’s your favorite — weed, shrooms or acid?
SHAW: Acid, 100% Acid. 100%. If I could never have weed or mushrooms again and only have acid I’d be stoked.
BOGART: I’m still such a weed girly!
BUDS DIGEST: What was the process like in writing, creating Walk Out On This World? How does it compare to your past collaborations?
BOGART: Well, our last album, Street Punk, we wrote in one week. This album took just five years.
SHAW: Only about five years.
BOGART: You know, there was COVID, there was death, there were fires, there were floods. There was a lot of stuff that was hard.
SHAW: A lot of stuff getting in the way and what felt like sabotage. But now it's like something my astrologist told me and then I later read a Ram Dass quote and I was like, that's where she got it from.
BOGART: What is it?
SHAW: Well, it's basically about chaos that comes your way, Ram Dass says to make it part of the dance instead of pushing against it, fighting against it. I feel like that's kind of what creation is—to find a way to use the momentum and move with you instead of against it. So I feel like that's songwriting, that's creating art in any sort. It felt natural. Definitely felt annoying and stressful and sad and all of those things, as well, but ultimately, I think it's natural for both of us to make music or art when we're feeling like absolute shit.
BOGART: It's true.
SHAW: Can you imagine not being a person with a creative outlet?
BOGART: No.
SHAW: What do they do?
BOGART: Watch TV?
SHAW: I like that too.
BOGART: I like it. Sometimes I wish… No, I don't. Um…
SHAW: Me and my roommates watched Practical Magic last night.
BOGART: Oh, with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock.
SHAW: I've never seen it. We were supposed to do a new moon ritual, but granny was tired.
BOGART: Oh, yeah. This moon has been really intense. Oh I like this next question. When you imagine audiences listening to the new music, what do you imagine they are doing? Using hairspray, dancing…
SHAW: Boning.
BOGART: Boning. Eating food.
SHAW: Dancing, getting ripped, getting buff.
BOGART: Getting buff, getting stoned, taking acid, barfing.
SHAW: Jumping on a trampoline.
BOGART: Jumping on a trampoline, jumping into water.
SHAW: Learning a dance routine.
BOGART: Learning a dance routine.
SHAW: Perfecting a gymnastics routine for the Olympics 2028 in Los Angeles, California.
BOGART: Yes. I'm scared for that.
SHAW: Why?
BOGART: I don't know. That's a whole other conversation.
BUDS: What were you most excited about for the tour?
BOGART: I was excited about buying wigs and putting them on our heads and putting them all over our instruments, putting them all over the drums. We got pink guitars, pink bass, pink drums.
SHAW: I feel like the visuals are such a huge component of this band. And I think listening to the record is a really different experience than seeing it live. I'm really grateful that our music is very good, well written, and great songs. The tracklist flows really well. I love that. But getting to actually see us perform live, it's a whole different experience. You get to come into our world and see how funny it is. You get to experience the 60% comedy. I want them to have seen the best, funnest show they've seen in a long time.
BOGART: Yeah, I hoped that they could escape their problems and the tragic world and have a brief escape.
SHAW: Yeah, something to savor and think about when they go back to reality and remember that you can escape.
BUDS: Who would be cast to play you in the story of your friendship?
SHAW: Okay you know who I think would be so fun and funny, and I don't know how, is Jon Hamm.
BOGART: Jon Hamm, oh my god. I wish. I mean, that would be like the future me.
SHAW: I know, so hot.
BOGART: Wait, you know about Hammaconda right?
SHAW: That's what my friend Shelby was just telling me about in the hot tub earlier.
BOGART: It's fun to look up. He has like a huge massive massive… He’s hot. He’s like dad I want to fuck vibes. But I don't think that's a good one for me. I’m more like Pee Wee Herman than Jon Hamm.
SHAW: I think Rami Malek could do a good job.
BOGART: That one… Oh yeah. Okay. I'll accept. One time at a sex club, someone told me I look like the guy from Maroon 5 and I was a little bit horrified.
SHAW: Oh, well you used to be really into his music.
BOGART: Shut up! No I didn’t. Okay. Who's going to play you?
SHAW: I don't know, maybe if we do an older scene, it could be Jennifer Coolidge.
BOGART: That's what I was gonna say, but I didn't want you to get mad. I mean, she's so...
SHAW: I love her. She's perfect.
BOGART: Can you imagine? She'd be such a funny casting. Jon Hamm and Jennifer Coolidge. Final answer.
SHAW: That's us when we're grown up.
BOGART: Yes. Okay, so that's future us.
“I think it’s natural for both of us to make music or art when we’re feeling like absolute shit.”
BUDS: Is there anything that you’d want to say to younger versions of yourself?
BOGART: Fuck all these assholes at school because you're going to be way cooler than them.
SHAW: Yeah.
BOGART: I feel like this is a question that makes everyone cry on RuPaul's Drag Race.
SHAW: Oh God. Yeah.
BOGART: Like you cry on purpose to get people to like you.
SHAW: I think I would say like, don't avoid doing things cause you're afraid of what might happen. Don't make decisions that are controlled by fear and doubt. Because a lot of the time what you're afraid of is what you actually want to be doing. Like, I love swimming. You know how I love swimming.
BOGART: You love swimming.
SHAW: I'm always trying to get in a pool or a body of water. And there were years where I was so afraid of getting made fun of, because I was made fun of, where I was just so terrified to wear a swimming suit and go in the pool.
BOGART: Oh, really? I feel like I imagine you just in a pool your entire life.
SHAW: Wouldn't that be nice? But no, I spent many years hating myself and being ashamed and hoping to be someone else and look a different way. And I'd wear like a giant t-shirt or I'd straight up wear black corduroys and a black long sleeve shirt and, I shit you not, a Patagonia vest over my clothes.
BOGART: In the pool? Oh my god.
SHAW: In the pool. We went to Mexico with my family and I was basically wearing a three-piece suit. And it's like, life is too short. There's always going to be a couple of assholes out there. And like, if I knew how much all those bullies were hurting probably, and they mostly all peaked in high school. Oh my gosh. Like, I wish I knew…
BOGART: You wouldn't let it bother you. This question also reminds me of Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion because they go back to Tucson, where I'm from. So, shout out to that. I heard they're making a new one.
SHAW: Oh, they better.
BUDS: Who are some of your favorite queer musicians?
BOGART: Little Richard. Because his hair.
SHAW: Esquerita.
BOGART: Esquerita. Also because of his hair and because they're both geniuses. There's so many.
SHAW: Jackie Shane is probably my favorite.
BOGART: Oh. Am I allowed to say myself? Just kidding.
SHAW: Of course.
BOGART: OK, who are your celebrity crushes? I definitely know this one's so generic, but mine's Pedro Pascal.
SHAW: Mine too, he seems also like a good friend and sweet.
BOGART: I know. I had a chance to hang with Pedro Pascal when I went to the Saturday Night Live after party. And I fucking blew it.
SHAW: Wait, but weren't you like “Pedro Pascal or Bad Bunny? What's it gonna be?”
BOGART: Yeah, I wish. Bad Bunny was with, like, Kylie Jenner or something.
SHAW: Why didn't you hang out with Pedro Pascal?
BOGART: Because I feel like it's kind of creepy to go up to celebrities, so I was kind of, like, waiting or something.
SHAW: But you're a celebrity.
BOGART: I guess. But, like, not on that level. So I was just, like, waiting, and then finally went up to my friend who's friends with them, and I was like, where's Pedro? And he's like, he just left. And then he texted him, like, there's this hot boy here to talk to you. So Sad. I know, I'm not star fucker, but I would fuck him.
SHAW: I'd be his friend.
BOGART: Come on! I'd do whatever he wanted to do. I would take just friendship. He's just so cool and so hot. He's cool.
BUDS: Now that the tour is over, how did it feel getting to share the new album in a live setting?
BOGART: Sharing the new album felt incredible. To see people singing all the words and to have hundreds of people singing "Wild Boys" and "Top of the Punks" every night was so cool.
SHAW: It felt amazing! It was very rewarding seeing people sing along to the new songs.
BUDS: Are there any standout memories you will keep from this tour?
BOGART: When we got wasted and did karaoke on top of a Corvette in Seattle after our show.
SHAW: I think karaoke in a corvette in Seattle was my favorite! Or Seth making all of the Empty Bottle of Chicago do an imitation of our godson ‘HOIIIIIIIIIEEEE.
BUDS: What comes next for Hunx and His Punx?
SHAW: I'm putting it out there that we want to go to Japan.
BOGART: Australia and Mexico and maybe Europe.
SHAW: I would love to go to Europe.
BOGART: And Shannon and I are also both writing solo records, which is exciting, especially Shannon's because it's not mine. Um, so we'll be doing that and I don't really know what else is going on. I'm just trying to stay here.
