Ben Hopkins

“What we do is provide a suggestion. We say, 'We're queer. We're going to do this; we're going to open up the space to queer thought.' People don't have to show up, but they do.”

“Ben Hopkins is a very nervous, neurotic kind of person who is afraid of not being liked by people all the time. But, Monster-Me doesn't know who those people even are.”

“All shows need more twinks.”

“You can't deny who you are, so you might as well be yourself in the most authentic way.”

“The most radical thing about our lives is getting to be in a visibly filled-out queer crowd every night.”

“PWR BTTM fans dress up better than we do.”

“PWR BTTM isn't the only queer rock band. We've been lucky to receive a platform. If you go on Bandcamp and search for 'queer rock,' you can find 150,000 bands that you could love more than PWR BTTM.”

“It's our responsibility to cater to the needs of people who come and enjoy our work who have the same values we do. We're not trying to change the world. We're just sort of trying to deal with our specific lens of performance.”

“Rather than writing about my experiences with other people, 'Ugly Cherries' is the first song I've ever written about myself. It's a confrontation: an attempt to unpack my own queerness with humor and self care.”

“I want to say that our shows are safer-spaces shows. Don't push anyone or affect anyone's space.”

“We're not writing songs to solve a cultural problem. The goal for us is to express what we're going through, and it's great if people find commonality in that.”

“For me, choosing to perform in drag, because of all the things I enjoy about it, is a political act.”

“Queer is invincible because people have tried everything - haven't they? What haven't they tried to do to queer people? And horrible things happened. But you never stop, because it's the truth of who you are.”

“I think that when you're queer, you grow up with these kinds of men who might have made you feel small because of who you are. They could be part of your family, or somebody on the street, or a teacher.”

“It's not about the individual notes. It's about the energy.”