20 March 16-22, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Sharp Dressed Men Vandoliers wear dresses as a middle finger to Tennessee’s Legislature. BY DANNY GALLAGHER T he Vandoliers aren’t afraid to make a little noise on the stage, but the gesture the Dallas-born band made at a show in Tennes- see spoke louder and bolder than their set list could. The raucous country rock group per- formed at The Shed Smokehouse & Juke Joint in Maryville, Tennessee, last Thursday and wore dresses the entire time as a peace- ful protest against a law the state had just passed that targeted drag shows. “We were just seeing all the stuff about the bill on Twitter coming up and knowing it was gonna happen in the near future, I said I’m gonna do this the next time we’re in Tennes- see, and it just so happened we were gonna be there in two days,” says the band’s singer Josh Fleming during a road trip to a show in Bos- ton. “It wasn’t like a big, planned-out thing. It was a small act of solidarity.” The target of the band’s protest is a bill drafted by Tennessee State Sen. Jack Johnson and signed by Gov. Bill Mee that expands the scope of restrictions on sex-oriented busi- nesses to include “adult cabaret perfor- mances” within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks or churches and prevents transgender children from receiving any form of gender- affirming care. Violators of the law can be punished with fines or jail time and even face felonies for repeat violations. Tennessee is the first state to pass legisla- tion restricting drag show performances. Nine more states, including Texas, are con- sidering similar laws, according to NPR. “The show was really fun,” says multi-in- strumentalist Cory Graves. “Everything about it was really light-hearted, and it came from a positive place. We walked out to Sha- nia Twain’s ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman’ and we changed the set to songs we felt were poignant to what we were doing.” The band’s symbolic show of support for the LGBTQA+ community also contributed to the energy of the show, even if Fleming says the experience could get a bit “drafty.” “We’re always pretty energetic, but it def- initely breaks up the monotony of the set,” Fleming says. “I get nervous at some shows, not usually if it’s a Harley shop in the middle of Tennessee, those are low stakes. There was nervousness at first but it turned into joy. It was really great being able to stand for something and say something meaningful on the microphone other than this song’s about my dog — and have a stance and a message for the night.” If there were any offended people at the Vandoliers show, they were drowned out by the buzz of the audience. “The crowd was super into it, lots of laughter and smiles,” Fleming says. “After the fact, we found out four-ish people or so left, but no one cared.” Fans shared photos and videos of the show, and news of the Vandoliers’ drag show statement went viral. The group also auc- tioned off the dresses they wore to The Shed show and raised over $2,200 for Knoxville Pride and the Tennessee Equality Project. “It was a sign of solidarity to our LG- BTQA+ fans and who are in our lives as peo- ple, but also a solid place for our band to come together who all believe in the same thing and all wanted to say the same thing at the same time,” Graves says. “At no point, we had no idea how the internet was gonna take it. It was just this kind of random act and ob- viously the next day, it was everywhere and I’m really proud of it honestly. I think it’s a wonderful thing.” ▼ RAP MAN’S BEST FRIEND QUENTIN MOORE’S ANTHEM “B.F.U.” EARNS A COLLAB WITH SNOOP DOGG. BY JAMIE VAHALA A year ago as Quentin Moore left a gig where he played his brand of soul- ful R&B at a wedding, waxing po- etic on love and happiness, a thought came to the Dallas-based songwriter: “I thought it would be hilarious if I had a song that talked about ‘If I had one more chance to see you to fix things and work things out with you’ but just said, ‘Bitch, fuck you.’” Thus Moore’s anthem “B.F.U.” was born, recently earning the laurel of having the one and only Snoop Dogg featuring on it as a guest in a remix. “Snoop is THE icon. To this day “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” is one of the only rap songs that I know the lyrics to … at least the first verse…Snoop’s verse,” Moore says, laughing. “It’s so funny that 20, 30 years later, I’m able to collaborate with [him]. All of this came about working on social media staying consistent. ... I was doing a lot of these [B.F.U.] videos, and then he started following me, and BAM we got a collab.” The social media work Moore is referring to is a series of Tiktoks and Instareels that range in topic from “When H.R. denies your vacation request” to “We’re tired of that song,” and all of them end with the sound bite from “B.F.U.” playing. This viral marketing seemed to have worked out for Moore, lead- ing to the Doggfather himself to his door. “In the spring, I’d say April or May, Snoop started following me, so I was like ‘Damn, that’s what’s up man…’ In the summer I had a couple videos go viral… I had one go viral with a clip of Snoop. … It was a Bill Withers clip on his birthday, so what I did was a mashup of breakup songs from back in the day to breakup songs today. … ‘Ain’t No Sun- shine’ was the song from back in the day and [‘B.F.U.’] was the song of the day and it went super viral on Instagram,” Moore says. “I also posted the video and asked people ‘Who do you think of when you hear this song?’” he continues. “A lot of people tagged Snoop Dogg, which is probably how he found me.” Moore messaged the rapper in the sum- mer, letting Snoop know he would like to work with him. “To my surprise he said, ‘As soon as I get back in town I’m on it,’” Moore says. “...One day he hits me up out of nowhere and says, ‘Send me an open verse of your tune ASAP,’ so I sent it as fast as I could.” A week later he received a message from Snoop. “Hey nephew, you got mail,” it read. The email was a verse for the remix. The holy grail of verses in hand, Moore sewed it into his song, and we as the public are better for it. Future plans for the song are a fully ani- mated version version with Snoop and Moore killing it and telling all of life’s trou- bles, “Bitch, Fuck You.” Rachel Dodd Guitar player Dustin Fleming of Vandoliers donned a dress to protest Tennessee’s anti- drag show and anti-trans legislation. | B-SIDES | ▼ Music Tuesday, April 18th, 2023 ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS SCAN HERE
