‘It’s Just Clothes’: How a Texas Band Went Viral for Wearing Dresses on Stage to Protest Anti-Drag Law

MARYVILLE, Tennessee. The Dallas-based band garnered national attention for their response to the country’s first official law restricting drag shows.

Last Thursday, the Governor of Tennessee signed a bill that says “male or female imposters” now fall under the definition of “adult cabaret” along with topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers and strippers.

The law also bans adult cabaret performances on public property or any place where minors may be present, and it threatens performers with misdemeanor charges for breaking rules or even criminal charges for repeat infractions.

While this law was still being debated as a bill, Texas country punk band the Vandoliers, who ended up in Tennessee on tour in support of their self-titled album released in 2022, the performers and the local LGBTQ+ community donned dresses during their concert at The Shed in Maryville, Tennessee.

It just so happened that the governor signed the bill a few hours before the start of the Vandolier concert.

Vandoliers multi-instrumentalist Corey Graves told WFAA that it was originally his idea to wear a dress during the show as a show of solidarity. But once the rest of the band learned of Graves’ planned personal protest, they quickly decided to join his effort.

“Whenever I said to our bass player, ‘I’ll do it,’ he would say, ‘That’s a good idea,'” Graves said. “And then I said to our guitarist, and he’s like, ‘I do that too.’ And then our violinist says: “I do it too!”

Soon all six Vandoliers were on board.

Vandoliers lead singer Joshua Fleming said supporting the outcasts is not something out of the ordinary for the band. However, none of the Vandoliers expected that their show of solidarity would attract additional attention outside the concert hall, let alone be seen in public. rolling stone.

“I’m really involved in [the] The LGBTQIA+ community,” Fleming said. – We have many friends. [in that community]; I have played with many bands from this community. And it seemed to me very important and what we wanted to support.”

Before their Thursday show, the band spent some time off the road to shop for dresses at three vintage stores in Asheville, North Carolina. They went to their tour manager and shopkeepers to find the dresses best suited to their physique and needed all the help they could get. As Fleming put it, six guys from a country punk band trying to figure out their measurements in the middle of a clothing store were something special — “like a bull in a china shop,” he said.

” [last] The store owner was very, very kind,” Fleming continued. – All the visitors there were giggling because we were all trying on dresses. Everyone was laughing, giggling and having a great time.”

The laughter continued until Thursday night’s presentation, when six of the band’s men took the stage in dresses at a Harley-Davidson-sponsored venue in rural Tennessee to the chorus of Shania Twain’s “Man! Feel like a woman.” !” was playing upstairs on the public address system.

The Vandoliers said that everyone, from the security guards to other backstage groups and the crowd in front of them, had a great time. However, Fleming also noted that it wasn’t just entertainment, but that the band changed their set list on the show to emphasize their stance against gender norms – a change that their fans immediately noticed.

“We were trying to emphasize that these are just clothes,” Fleming said. “This is not a sexual act. It shouldn’t even be a law – because there is no victim.”

Of the approximately 80 people in the audience, Fleming said he learned after the performance that about four people left during the show.

But the venue didn’t seem to mind; rather, the club owner subsequently shook the band’s hand and invited them back to future gigs.

Support in this direction continued after the concert, as the band received personal thank you messages from close friends and public demonstrations of support on social media.

In the face of such overwhelming support, Graves said the group received about five negative emails for their activities in Tennessee.

“It’s affecting people in ways we didn’t think,” Graves said. “We thought we were doing something for 80 people in a room and it exploded when we got thousands of messages saying ‘You touched my life in some way.’

Their efforts are also leading to changes beyond the symbolic.

Following that Thursday concert, the band used their Vandoliers social media accounts to auction off the dresses they wore on stage to donate the proceeds to LGBTQ+ community organizations in the Tennessee area Knox Pride Center and the Tennessee Equality Project.

This auction closed early Monday morning with $2,277.69 in donated proceeds.

Final bids for each garment ranged from $275 to $512.

“I think we did the right thing by wearing the dress,” Fleming said. “It’s just a small thing that has affected so many people and it just proves that you can do small things every day and it will have a positive impact on the world.”

Editor’s Note: The following video was uploaded in June 2022.