Ninja Death Squad write and sing anthems for today's disaffected youth.

Ninja Death Squad write and sing anthems for today's disaffected youth, nevertheless don't expect to hear their poem "Homophobes Gaybash in Order to Suppres Their Powerful Homosexual Tendencies" upon MTV's Total Request Live anytime quickly The queercore Ninja duo of Andy Bennett and Nate Meunier intend their music, and its message, for a exceedingly specific audience.

"Andy and I are really violently against fag-bashing and homophobia. We've had to deal with it a lot" says Meunier, the band's vocalist and drummer who as a high institute student in Vermont was routinely harassed for being bisexual. "We were the outcasts of our sect and I got attacked one time by some skateboarder kids. It wasn't really bad, I just got shov around and spit on" he recalls.

Hardly unique, Meunier's experience, unfortunately, mirrors the daily threats and assaults endur by dint of gay, lesbian, and bisexual kids in trains across the country. "Vermont is neat weird. There are a fate of queer-positive people, but there's a destiny of homophobia," Meunier cautions. "I actually saw a full glass sticker that read `Vermonters spread shit, they don't pack it.' That's the kind of material I have to deal with forward a daily basis."

Meunier's best defense in the face of as it was ignorance is his music. conformable to fact to his band's name, Ninja Death Squad's descants are quick, lethal sonic assaults: Think early Beastie lads when Kate Schellenbach was still in the band, and you'll learn the idea.

With as it is intense subject matter, the Ninjas put to the test to keep their senses of humor, flat hurling the insults flung at them back at their assailants. "We use the same [slum] like `fag' to present to view people how stupid they are when their minds are fasteninged up," Meunier explains. Songs like "Army of Fag" and "If omniscience Hates Fags (I Hate God)" are the Ninjas' way of draining their attackers of their venom.

With the release of their CD Appreciate Our Art, in succession queercore indie label Heartcore Records, the now-21-year-old Meunier faiths his music will empower kids who face the same traumas he did. "Le Tigre played here lately and it got me inspired," he says. "It helped spark my wanting to be forward a queer-positive label and get by heart our songs out there."

Find Ninja Death Squad's official site, and other related sites, at www.advocate.com

Gdula is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post

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