Hot List 2012: Brontez Purnell

Photograph by Pamela Littky

Perhaps you've seen him naked in Travis Mathews's sexy cinema verite series In Their Room, or onstage with his current band, The Younger Lovers, or his former project, Gravy Train!!!!, the unabashedly gay electro-pop unit.

Either way, Brontez Purnell has become a staple of the queer performance underground. His next step: starting a dance company. "I was going to school at Cal State East Bay for contemporary dance," says Purnell, who cites Eartha Kitt as his ultimate dance idol, "and was inspired to do an experimental dance movie. I wanted to make all the music myself and work with people who didn't usually dance. For the next couple years, I'd rather be on tour with bands and have my company play at shows."

In the meantime, Purnell is planning to tour the West Coast with The Younger Lovers to support a forthcoming album, Rock Flawless, filming another movie with Mathews, and working on a book, tentatively titled Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Was Bigger?

How does one guy have time to concentrate on so many different undertakings?

"I got fired from my job in January," Purnell explains, "so now I mostly just work on art projects."

Watch Brontez "In Their Room" Video below