GayC/DC Rocks On With “Dirty Dudes” And “Big Balls”

With the name being a play on words already, flamboyant stage show and puns aplenty — song titles like “Dirty Dudes Done Dirt Cheap,” “Big Balls” and more than a couple that clearly fall into the NSFW category — GayC/DC, “The World’s First and Only All-Gay Tribute” to hard-rock royalty AC/DC, is decidedly a fun time and a bit of a parody act, but there’s a serious side, or at least a higher purpose, as well.

“I think we learned early on when we started playing that we sort of were [making] a message just by existing and just by getting up on stage and our name being GayC/DC,” says band co-founder and drummer Brian Welch, who along with frontman Chris Freeman, known as the bass player from influential ‘90s queer punk band Pansy Division, started GayC/DC in 2013.

“There was a message and a call to arms just in that, five gay guys getting up on stage and playing hard rock. In the past 10 years, we’ve seen a lot of backwards motion in the LGBTQ community, a lot of rights trying to be taken away, a lot of homophobia really rearing its head. People started telling us, ‘You’re really brave to do this.’ We never saw it like that when we started, but now we do. We see the importance of what we do.”

Still, it’s plenty of fun, with a rollicking, outrageous show designed to get the party going and using humor to refresh classic AC/DC songs, of which much of the lyrics are already sexually charged and macho to the point of being ripe for parody.

“I’ll tell you, when we started this, we did not see this coming,” says Welch, adding that the band has played most of the states and is repeating cities and venues. “We thought we’d play the Eagle here in L.A., maybe some friends’ backyard parties or whatever, and then the Viper Room called, and then the Whisky called and we just started getting shows at regular music venues. And we started to see that our audience is predominantly straight. We get the gay rockers, the gay bikers but we get all the straights that totally love what we do, and that’s what allows us to tour around the country.”

Upcoming dates in June include El Corazon in Seattle, Mississippi Studios in Portland, Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz, and more dates in the fall, with plans taking shape to play Australia, which Freeman says means “we’re taking Pride all the way through the year and taking it with us.”

The musical project as a touring entity, which follows in the tradition of another themed band – The Gay-Gay’s, based on ‘80s pop band The Go-Go’s – is mostly for fun, allowing for travel and making just enough money to sustain itself, and hopefully help fund a new music video each year. Its show and videos have gotten public nods of approval from artists including Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and the band has played with notable fellow outrageous live-show novelty acts including Mac Sabbath.

Freeman applied some learnings from his time with Pansy Division, a pioneering punk band known for being openly gay and outwardly exploring gay themes and experiences through its music. They toured with Green Day as the punk band was blowing up in the early ‘90s.

“We started in San Francisco with Pansy Division right at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and we all lost friends. Five of my boyfriends died,” says Freeman. “There was a lot of dark art at that time, a lot of people talking about and surrounded by death. We thought, ‘No, let’s go back to being positive. Let’s be fun, let’s be entertaining and try to make something fun out of this horrible situation.’ It really helped on the Green Day tour, bringing that humor in, so we learned that lesson and pulled that into what we were doing.”

Humor can also be an act of defiance, with absurd or vulgar song titles designed to make fun with – not of – the original band and its material. Not everyone is comfortable with the content or concept, but Freeman says there’s no point in doing GayC/DC if not going full hog.

“We’re not going to stop pushing that envelope and making sure that people know. We’ve had some people say can you dumb it down? There’s no reason to do it unless we’re giving it all, and I think that’s really important now. I think just by being up there and, and being as outrageous as we are, that’s the political statement.”

Welch adds, “Our hope is that if some 13- or 14-year-old kid, girl, boy, they, them, finds us on YouTube and their parents like AC/DC and they see what we are doing, they pick up an instrument and want to do something, everything we’ve done in the past 13 years is worth it.”

While Pride Month can mean different things to different people, both Freeman and Welch say there are still few places for openly gay musicians to feel welcome, and GayC/DC hopes to help remedy that in any way it can.

“We saw there were no seats at the table for gay musicians, so we were going to create our own table,” Freeman says. “That’s really what we’re doing.”

“It’s a fabulous table and everyone wants to be at it,” Welch adds. “Oh, it’s decked out!”

GAYC/DC TOUR DATES

Jun 18    Santa Cruz, CA                   Moe’s Alley Jun 20    San Francisco, CA               DNA Lounge upstairs Jun 26    Seattle, WA                        El Corazon Jun 27    Portland, OR                       Mississippi Studios Sep 11    Indio, CA                            The Dune Room Sep 12    Phoenix, AZ                        Rebel Lounge Sep 24    Louisville, KY                      Seidenfaden’s Sep 25    Dayton, OH                         Cosmo Joe’s Atomic Lounge Sep 26    Indianapolis, IN                  Melody Inn Sep 27    Detroit, MI                          Magic Bag Oct 1      Boston/Medford, MA          Deep Cuts Oct 2      Brooklyn, NY                      TV Eye Oct 3      Baltimore, MD                    Holy Frijoles Oct 9      Denver, CO                         Moe’s BBQ and Bowl Oct 10    CO Springs, CO                   Vultures Oct 16    Los Angeles, CA                  Corbin Bowl Oct 17    Costa Mesa, CA                   The Wayfarer

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/06/18/from-dirty-dudes-gay-boy-boogie-and-big-balls-gayc-dc-keeps-outrageous-show-on-the-road-makes-a-statement-just-by-existing/)._