Longstocking

by Stewart MasonThe defiantly out queer-punk band Longstocking unfortunately only lasted for one album, 1997's excellent Once Upon a Time Called Now, but during their brief two-year run, the Los Angeles-based quartet added a clever kind of '60s-style pop polish to a scene that occasionally ran a bit too far toward willful amateurism. Former Oiler and Fleabag singer/guitarist Tamala Poljak, whose musical tastes run the gamut from the Shangri-Las to Gang of Four to Stereolab, formed Longstocking as a guitar-drums duo in 1995. After a few months, the lineup solidified into Poljak, guitarist Michelle Stevenson, bassist David Gomez, and drummer Sherri Solinger. After a pair of 7" EPs and a handful of compilation appearances, Longstocking released Once Upon a Time Called Now on Donna Dresch's Chainsaw label in late 1997. Unfortunately, by the time the record came out, Longstocking had split up; Poljak had followed a relationship to Olympia, WA, while the other bandmembers had stayed in Los Angeles. Poljak joined Team Dresch temporarily, but returned to Los Angeles in 1999 to form a new band called the Automaticans.