Return of the Pansys: Plugging its first new album in five years, Pansy Division sets out to perform more of the live shows that made it famous.

Even in the midst of the current tidal wave of queers in mainstream consciousness, Jon Ginoli feels that Pansy Division largely stands alone. Sadly, he's right. Despite the ground broken in 1991, when singer-guitarist Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman joined forces to prove that queer musicians are capable of more than disco beats and confessional folk, the rock world is still bereft of big-name out, loud, and proud guitar slingers.

"In music at least, it seems to be free for an artist to come out after he or she has already become famous--or has passed his or her peak," Ginoli says, speaking by phone from San Francisco. "You don't hear a lot about major labels, for example, signing a young gay rock band and spending big marketing dollars on them. There's still work to be done--and we have no problem doing it."

Thus the release of Total Entertainment! (Alternative Tentacles), the first collection of new material from Pansy Division in five years. Also featuring guitarist Patrick Goodwin and drummer Luis (who gives no last name), the disc is the band's most varied effort to date. It has all of the biting, thought--provoking humor and ornery punk spice that has become Pansy Division's signature while also sprinkling the set with slower, more complex arrangements.

"We intentionally took our time with this record," Ginoli says. "We didn't want to rush through the process, not that we ever really have. But this time we allowed ourselves the luxury of making music without crazy deadlines. A lot of Pansy Division's history has been about working hard and racing to our next level or destination in our journey as a brand."

Indeed. From 1993 through 1998, Pansy Division issued an album a year on famed indie punk label Lookout! Records. The group's music caught the attention of former Lookout! band Green Day, who took Pansy Division on tour in 1994 at the height of Green Day's popularity.

"It was an incredible experience," recalls Ginoli. "We worked a lot, learned a lot. We'll always be grateful to the guys in Green Day for taking that chance with us."

It paid off in a big way. Although Pansy Division never made the leap to a major label, the Green Day tour sparked mainstream critical praise and enough consumer interest to keep the queer combo on the touring fast track as a club and midsize venue headliner for five years.

"We reached a point a few years ago where we had to choose between being on the road most of the year and having personal lives," Ginoli notes. The latter has "been a great thing for the band. When you're an active part of the world and the people in it, it informs and deepens your music. It puts you in touch with what people care about. It's easy to get isolated from life when you're in a band."

That said, Ginoli says the members of Pansy Division are champing at the bit to hit the road again: "You never lose that hunger or the need to be out there. The day we lose that is the day we say goodbye to Pansy Division. At this point, I don't see that ever happening."

Flick is the cohost of OutQ in the Morning on OutQ/Sirius satellite radio.