Above, Queers founders Joe King, Jack Hayes, and Scott Gildersleeve.
Scott Gildersleeve, a founding member of legendary local punk band The Queers, has died at age 56.
Known to fans of The Queers as Tulu, Gildersleeve founded the band in the early 1980s along with Joe King (aka Joe Queer) and Jack Hayes (aka Wimpy Rutherford). He played bass and, later, drums for the band and wrote several of their early songs.
After leaving The Queers in 1984, Gildersleeve started Boston-based rock band The Monsignors (also featuring Hayes), which was active throughout New England for about five years.
Over the next couple of decades, Gildersleeve played sporadic shows with The Queers and other bands. In 2011, he released a solo album called “New Hymns” under the name John Truth.
At the time of his death, he was preparing to release another recording with Hayes called “Tulu and Wimpy Fly Like a Cucumber.” On his Facebook page, Hayes promised to follow through with the album, “as Scott would have wanted me to.”
By the time The Queers gained an international following, Gildersleeve was no longer a member of the band. But he was central to the group’s formation and the development of its pop-punk style, as well as the irreverent sense of humor in their lyrics. The Queers were in the middle of a national tour when he died.
Gildersleeve lived in Kittery. Friends are planning a memorial service at a date and location to be announced.
Wimpy and Tulu in the studio.
Publisher’s note:
RIP Tulu by Matt Kanner
I did not know Scott Gildersleeve well, but I interviewed him for a story in The Wire newspaper four years ago. At the time, Gildersleeve was writing music under the name John Truth and had just completed a solo album called “New Hymns,” a pared-down, introspective recording of six original songs. He’d also recently put out a double-disc compilation of songs by The Monsignors. We met at the Starbucks in Portsmouth’s Market Square, where he was a regular customer, and had a long conversation about his history with The Queers, his current projects, and his future plans as a musician.
I was struck by Gildersleeve’s soft-spoken nature. Tulu, the local punk legend, was humble, thoughtful, open, and honest. The next morning, he unexpectedly showed up at The Wire office and gave me a copy of a CD by The Modern Lovers, which we had been discussing during the interview. After the article was published, he reached out to thank me and complimented my writing.
As an ode to Tulu, here are some of his quotes from that story, published in The Wire in January 2011.
On naming The Queers:
“I thought it was good because it had a double connotation. In the ’50s, if a girl didn’t like a guy, she’d say, ‘That guy’s so queer.’ It wasn’t exclusively about sexuality. It could be taken that other way. I always took it to mean being an outsider, you know, not fitting in. I certainly wasn’t anti-gay, but we were also aware that we wanted to draw attention to ourselves, and it worked.”
On swapping instruments with drummer Jack Hayes (aka Wimpy Rutherford):
“I sort of had this Malcolm McLaren idea of turning Jack into Johnny Rotten, and that’s what I did. I told him to use an over-the-top fake British accent and just told him to do his best (on bass), and I did my best on drums.”
On The Queers’ initial breakup in 1984:
“There was a lack of discipline and a lack of seriousness that I kind of picked up on. As it turns out, I guess I was wrong, because Joe (King) is still doing it.”
On adopting the pseudonym John Truth:
“John Truth was the most grandiose, pretentious name that I could think of. Now, though, I kind of like the name John Truth. It’s short and sounds biblical.”
On branching off and starting The Monsignors:
“I love punk rock, but I also love George Jones and Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells and Jimmy Reed and Lightnin’ Hopkins, and I just couldn’t do that in The Queers.”
On his solo album, “New Hymns”:
“It’s ultra confessional. I mean, it’s brutally honest. I just wanted to put out an honest bunch of songs and not dress them up fancy in any way.”
On his plans for a future album:
“I really want to get into the studio and do the rock ’n’ roll songs again.”
Gildersleeve (left) and Hayes in The Monsignors.