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Bruno Wizard, leader and sole remaining original member of legendarily obscure punks The Homosexuals, is probably the greatest rock frontman you’ve never heard of. I caught the group on Thursday afternoon at the Rusty Spoke, which Wizard announced was the first actual gay bar he’d ever had the honor to play in. He and his stellar new band ripped through what can be called “the hits” only very generously. Their most accesible tunes like “Walk Before Imitate,” “Hearts in Exile,” and “Astral Glamour” demonstrate Wizard’s uncanny gift for pop-punk hooks, absurdist wordplay, and explosion of traditional pop song structure. But the original Homosexuals released them under a slew of false names and amid piles of more experimental material (much of which is also brilliant, if not as immediately infectious) in a deliberate attempt to escape the sort of success found by their London contemporaries. Thank god they did – Wizard’s years of squatting in the darkness long after John Lydon imploded due to self-parody have preserved, perhaps even magnified, his outsize personality and a well of energy that should have put every fame-seeking 20-something in Austin to shame. Who else implores the audience to call him an old cunt (he’s nearly 60), only to retort to his own insult that a cunt is a beautiful thing? Who else hugs half the audience mid-song? The Homos recorded Love Guns? last year, a 5-song vinyl 10″ whose standout track “Slow Guns” equals the older favorites – one can’t help but ask, since when are bands allowed to be this good? “Slow Guns” is available for free download here.
