Bimini Returns With 'TANK TOP BUM BOYS'
The London-based queer artist reclaims a decades-old slur
Now an independent artist releasing music on their own label BRAIN RIOT RECORDS
Bimini today releases 'TANK TOP BUM BOYS', the first single from their upcoming debut album. It is also their first release on BRAIN RIOT RECORDS, the independent label Bimini founded after parting ways with the major label system earlier this year.
The track is sonically what Bimini refers to as Electro C*nt Punk, drawing on the energy of UK drum and bass, riot punk and queer rave culture. The title of the track is drawn from a slur historically directed at working-class queer men in Britain, a term used, as Bimini describes it, to tell people to stay small and stay hidden. Boris Johnson called gay men ‘tank topped wearing bum boys’ in his column in the Daily Telegraph in 1998, and in typical Bimini-style, they decided to use the slur as a term of endearment.
Bimini says: ”Tank Top Bum Boy is a slur. People used it to tell us we were ridiculous, that we didn't belong, that we should be embarrassed by what we were. I named my first single after it and put it on my own label. The Supreme Court just ruled that trans people aren't protected under the Equality Act. Reform UK is banning Pride flags from public buildings. There are people out there who'd rather I made something they could ignore. I'm not interested in that."
Its use as a song title is deliberate and specific. The single arrives weeks after the UK Supreme Court ruled that trans people are not legally protected as their gender under the Equality Act, and days after Reform UK, now in control of ten councils across England, began removing Pride flags from public buildings. Bimini has been explicit that the timing is not coincidental.
'TANK TOP BUM BOYS' is the first in a series of singles that will lead to a debut album on BRAIN RIOT RECORDS, the independent label founded by Bimini this year to release music outside the major label infrastructure. It follows four years of Bimini signed to a major, during which they say the pressure to produce commercially safe, brand-friendly music became untenable.
Bimini is a London-based queer artist, DJ, activist and cultural icon. A huge favourite with both fans and critics alike, Bimini has garnered acres of media coverage and over a million followers on socials. First finding global fame as the break-out star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK they have dominated ever since with their innate sense of style and fashion. This year Bimini has supported both Peaches and Kate Nash, and this Summer will support Scissor Sisters at a run of shows.
