The Harness: Bringing queercore punk to Serbia
Since its inception, punk music has provided a voice for the outcasts of society. Although much of the discourse surrounding the early days of the scene is dominated by groups composed of straight white men, some of punk’s most interesting and powerful artists hail from marginalised groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community. In the mid-1980s, a DIY off-shoot of punk arose, dubbed queercore, and the spirit of that scene prevails to this day.
Queercore is much more than a music subgenre; it is a cultural movement of rebellion against the subjugation and discontent faced by the LGBTQ+ community. A spiritual precursor to scenes like riot grrrl, queercore often explored themes of gender identity, sexuality and celebrating homosexuality and queer love. Although the fight for LGBTQ+ rights has made significant steps forward from the societal ignorance of the 1980s, there remains a desperate need for queer voices within the music industry.
The LGBTQ+ community faces challenges around the world, with homosexuality deemed illegal in 65 countries, predominantly in West Asia and Africa. Even in countries where homosexuality is not explicitly criminalised, the community still faces incredible adversity. In the ex-Yugoslavian nation of Serbia, for instance, same-sex couples are unable to get married or have children, and those relationships receive no recognition from the government. For that reason, the existence of queercore bands like The Harness is essential.
Since the summer of 2020, The Harness have been releasing fearlessly aggressive and raw queercore punk. Branding itself as the ‘first Ex-Yu Queercore group’, the one-person band launches fierce attacks on both the lack of LGBTQ+ rights in Serbia as well as the rise of far-right nationalism and fascist movements within Eastern Europe. Hailing from the nation’s capital of Belgrade, The Harness has a background in noise rock and experimental music, which allows the band to create some of the most abrasive and furiously angry music queercore has ever witnessed.
“To me, queercore isn’t just simply music,” The Harness revealed exclusively to Far Out. “It’s a collection of ideas used to challenge the status quo against the norm, particularly in the heteronormative white world and the gay white culture”. This is a sentiment shared by much of the queercore movement, with the subgenre calling for a kind of social and cultural revolution rather than simply purporting substanceless pseudo-angry punk tracks, like many early punk groups like Sex Pistols or The Damned.
Continuing in their manifesto, The Harness told us that their message often fails to land within their hometown of Belgrade, “Unfortunately, this falls upon deaf ears and makes our progress increasingly difficult if anyone refuses to engage and stand up against the norm,” they continued, “In particular in Serbia, where the far-right is already the norm, and there is no more room left for other voices to be heard.”
With derisive song titles such as ‘Bootlicker’, ‘Heteronazi Odlazi’ (Hetero-Nazi leave), and a cover of Dead Kennedys’ seminal ‘Nazi Punks Fuck Off’, the fearless message of The Harness leaves little to interpretation. Unsurprisingly, The Harness have ruffled some feathers among the male-dominated punk scene of Serbia. Expanding upon the adversity they have faced, The Harness continued, “I’ve had people from the punk ‘community’ dismiss me for everything, that my music’s shit, that I’m not ‘a real gay’, that I’m just doing it for attention. Those people are neither queer, nor are they trans or POC, therefore, they do not and will never understand our experiences.”
To date, The Harness have not released any material since 2021’s stunning single ‘UlizicaIn’ (Ulysses), but the band show no signs of giving up on their fight to provide a voice to the LGBTQ+ in Serbia. In a final, lasting message – adopted not just for The Harness but by the entire queercore movement – The Harness affirmed, “I will continue with The Harness to fight until our voices are heard out in the open.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Punk Newsletter
All the latest Punk content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.