QueerFear was a social moment. It was a movement. A social awakening. A comedy. A parody. Never before in the history of pop music had there been an out gay boyband. Five members. They could dance. They could sing. Well, they could perform and they definitely had big personalities.
“I personally believe we were ahead of our time”, Eddie comments, “with an actual camera and proper videos who knows where we could be now, so many people use YouTube now to excel, whereas when we were doing it, it was for comedians and the like, and hadn’t hit its true prime. Now it’s even a part of who gets the number 1 on the charts, which just boggles my mind. When we did it, YouTube was just this place for people who had a camera and wanted an outlet for their talents.”
This was long before the likes of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘, and ‘Lip Sync Battle‘, became super popular. The idea came about one night after watching too many Miranda Sings videos on YouTube, and hitting upon the idea of a deluded Musical Theatre star who actually had no talent. This expanded further, and became, “what if they were these awful personalities but were actually talented? The ultimate divas”, Dan recalls fondly.
It started with long shoots in black rooms, and storyboarding back and forth. Even though the group were easily put together, it would often be Dan and Eddie who helmed the projects (showing that it wasn’t just ego that has them everywhere).
“We would spend hours laughing and talking about what situation to put these guys in. We’d film a bunch of random stuff then I would edit and put it together, send to Eddie for his final approval and then we’d go live. I decided super last minute we needed a jingle, and no-one was around to record one, so I loaded up the autotune and recorded it but I hated it. Eddie loved it but I made him record the jingles going forward”, Dan laughs.
It was a cult hit, a small one, but it made enough of an impact for people on Buzzjack to call it “ridiculous” and “a waste of time”. The missed the point though: that’s what it was all about. It wasn’t serious. It was a satire. It received acclaim from popstar Claire Maguire, not that she’d remember. It was a look into the LGBT behaviour, the diva, the camp, the character…
“I had to make myself seem weird cause the character was super dark and weird, for one of the films, I put a creamy pasta sauce on my lips and filmed with it on. It was utterly bonkers”, Dan remembers. Character was one of the most important factors in the show as it gave more scope to narrative, like, the episode where Eddie has a monologue about a Grammy win, even though the group never released any music and never showed any signs that they would. “that wasn’t an idea we ever even discussed. A QueerFear single. I don’t even know how that would sound”.
But they did do a performance. The one. It was camp and slightly explicit as one of the members stripped down to his underwear “I didn’t even know he was going to do that. Honestly you cant tell from the video but I was really surprised by that but it was great because Antony was like the one who featured the less in the videos so for him to do that was super fun and cool”, Dan laughs.
Sadly QueerFear terminated after that and went into permanent hiatus, with the videos moved to a private status and over the years a forgotten memory.
“I was so embarrassed about it all if I’m honest. I’d watch them back and cringe so hard. I’d be like, “who the fuck do we think we are? Zoella?” I guess I missed the point about them all”, Dan sighs.
But what happened? Why the resurgence?
“I think you have to look at something like that differently. It’s like when you have an amazing photo taken on a bad day. Everytime you look at the photo you’re like “aww I look good but damn that was a shit day”. In context, the fun and sheer novelty of QueerFear exceeds any personal attributes about the whole thing and I think there’s a new audience in 2018 that would get it. I’m sure Buzzjack will still hate it”, said Dan.
And what are the future plans for QueerFear? Eddie remains hopeful:
“as for 2019 and the future, I’d love to see the boys again! Cackle about what we think we were, what’s going on now, and finally just to see each other again in our new lived and roles in life.”
Watch this space…that QueerFear reign might just restart. In the meantime, you can watch QueerFear on YouTube:
OMG babe this is amazing! Love it! So proud ❤️