Buttfeed

May the leather gods smile down on Ben and Guy at Chapter Records in Melbourne, Australia for re-issuing a very trashy collection of BDSM rockers by Smokey. By the time they committed 'Piss Slave', the slap happy disco track about watersports, to tape, Smokey had already had it with being the most influential gay rockers you had never heard. Stream, listen, and...

Baker Beach
Black's Beach
Capocotta
Cherry Grove
Clifton 3rd
Coco Beach
Es Cavallet
Fire Island Pines
Ginger Rogers State Beach
Gunnison Beach
Haulover Beach
Herring Cove
Hi Beach
Hilton Beach
Hollywood Beach

54-year-old Scot Jimmy Somerville arrives at his manager’s office on bicycle, whizzing past the photographer and I, who have stopped to gawk at a parked Maserati among the council estates. He’s compact and fit, perfectly suited for the hazards of cycling in London. With his former bandmates in Bronski Beat, Jimmy wrote two of the most iconic gay anthems, ‘Smalltown Boy’ (pink triangle emblazoned across its seven inches) and ‘Why?’ in 1984, when queers had few allies under Reagan and Thatcher. With his alarm call of a voice, which extends over three full octaves and has been known to shatter glass on occasion, he had continued success with The Communards, plus a steady stream of solo records. This year, he released ‘Homage’, a collection of instant disco classics, and now his sound is taking a surprising detour.

Fabulous illustrator Robert W. Richards is in Berlin to present a book from his exhibition by the same name, ‘Stroke: From Under the Mattress to the Museum Wall’, in which he collected some overlooked, but definitely worth-looking-at pornographic illustrators who drew during his heyday in mags like Freshmen, Torso, and Honcho. One of twenty-five artists from the catalog, Michael Kirwan, never liked his men pretty: “old, fat, ethnic, plain, disabled and unusual queers exist and are equally deserving of being depicted”.

This time, I’m curling up with 24-year-old New Jersey rapper and big spoon Rashard Bradshaw AKA Cakes da Killa, now sitting pretty in his room at the Hampshire Hotel Eden in Amsterdam. He gives me the lowdown on his nastiest lyric ever, his cocoa butter obsession, and what it’s like being an emotional juicer. We also listen to some tracks from his last EP, #IMF, which is totally gorgeous and lush, by the way, and has Cakes showing off his more vulnerable side.

'Tom of Finland: The Pleasure of Play', opening this week at Artists Space in New York, is perhaps the most complete look at the iconic artist's work ever, including more than six decades worth of drawings. The exhibit's a boon for those looking for insight into the illustrator's process...

27-year-old singer — and possible lovechild of Klaus Nomi and Laurie Anderson — Colin Self delves into full-on fantasy mode with this track from his luscious debut USB album, Elation. 'Aflame' sees Colin projecting beams of woozy Mamas & Papas-esque vocal harmonies, which are then subjected to a rigid chopping and muting. Stream, listen and...

Versatile Roddy Bottum is currently in the middle of a fifty-nine date tour, tinkling the ivories with MTV Generation rockers Faith No More. Of course West Coast indie pop kids know him on guitar/vox in bubblegum group, Imperial Teen. Recently, he previewed his first opera (about Bigfoot) in New York where he's been hanging out for the last couple years, threatening to take his music to a more theatrical place. But Roddy grew up in Los Angeles, near the Wilshire Country Club, in a stimulating environs where no one ever went to a dinner party without at least three topics for conversation.

In the Sonoran Desert, just outside of Tucson, Arizona (where temperatures are expected to reach 86˚F this weekend), there’s a magnificent formation of boulders where you can strip down and partake of a DIY hot stone massage. That’s exactly what Alec did on that massive granite outcropping near the creek’s edge — his favorite spot for sunbathing and swimming during the (almost) lazy days of summer.

Ah, to be a young homosexual, coming of age under the watchful eye of one’s doting mother. London-based writer and broadcaster Richard Scott — who characterizes his relationship with his mother as good by the way — submitted two poems, which we suspect will touch and excite BUTT readers this Mother’s Day. Although his poems are not always autobiographical, Scott explains, “They play around with the idea of being confessional…”

It’s May and cock rocker Roddy Bottum unzips for artist-photographer Milan Zrnic in Bronson Canyon, one of the many cruisy corners of Griffith Park, Los Angeles. The area, which is home to the original Batcave, has also been a go-to shooting location for Hollywood B movies for years.

If AA Bronson was a card in the tarot, he would be The Magician. That card is all about discovering and making use of one’s might. For his first solo show at Maureen Paley, AA Bronson: Hexenmeister, he has brought his unique combination of esotericism and homosexual subculture to the London gallery.

29-year-old Martin was first spotted by photographer Julia squatting an insane amount of weight at their local CrossFit Box in L.A. Apparently, that’s one way to a great butt. When he’s not squatting, Martin, who came from Hermosillo, México with his family of seven to settle in SoCal, works as a hairstylist and go-go dancer.

Over at his Between Bridges gallery in Berlin, Wolfgang Tillmans is unveiling the first European solo show of artist Greer Lankton. The self-described 'chronic masturbator' and 'junkie' is probably best known for her sculptural works, a menagerie of dolls which seem to provide both consolation and commentary on her own bumpy personal journey as a transexual.

Oh-my-gosh, so many new faces at CLUB BUTT in Bushwick last Saturday, and some old friends too. Throughout the night trooper Zak Krevitt and his BF Thomas were snap-snap-snapping away behind a discreet curtain in the cruise yard, making party pics in the so-called Limp Dick Photo Booth. Thanks to Zak and Thomas, Rachel and Erik at Secret Project Robot, Bottoms, Harry & JPEG, and everyone who came out and unzipped!

That sucking dude on BUTT's splash page this month was coded and designed by Robert Yang for Succulent, an interactive music video game, the second of the Brooklyn-based designer's trio of gay sex-themed games. At his website, you can download and play the actual game, which features a soundtrack by Arca.

Mexico City locals don’t push the clocks forward until the first Sunday of April in 2015, but Óscar is already so ready for it. Nothing pleases the amateur scuba diver (and jockstrap enthusiast) more than a dive in the sea. For a sec, he thought he had almost lost his beloved flippers, only to discover them under his bed: “I was so happy. I kissed them and they tasted of sand and of the sea...”

25-year-old Alejandro Ghersi's fingerprints are all over the music he produces. When he's not teasing sonic electricity out of his own recordings as Arca, he's writing and producing for others, most recently Björk. Working on Björk's latest and playing a string of shows with her in New York has been a dream come true for Alejandro, but one he was well-prepared for. BUTT was absolutely entranced by his twink-meets-dominatrix stage persona, the perfect foil for his gargantuan and lumbering live PA, a sound which is as challenging — and downright freaky — as it is groovy. Alejandro and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans got together in London to talk nuts and bolts.

That’s Rod in his bedroom — the walls of which are decorated with rose patterned wallpaper. This particular Berliner rarely goes out, except on those occasions when he’s had a bit too much to drink. You’re more likely to find him in the park with his boxer dog, or dabbling in homoerotic photography.