Commando's Guide to Gay San Francisco

Going Commando

The nü metal band of Commando uses blistering guitars, driving percussion, and searing lyrics to unite crowds in the struggle against racism, queerphobia, transphobia, and fascism. Commando’s latest single, the album opener “Hotel Essex” is an homage to Black gay poet Essex Hemphill and addresses the intersections of the HIV crisis, sexuality, identity, homophobia, anti-Blackness, and racism.

Recently the band created a fictional “modern queer superheroes” travel brochure, Commando’s Guide to San Francisco. Their “cheeky contextualization,”includes joking advice to “take a dip in the colorful post-military industrial waters at Hunter’s Point — an amazing light percolating mineral bath.”

Photo Commando band members at San Francisco’s peak, Bernal Heights. They suggest: “bring that fleece pullover you grabbed from Walgreens across from BART!”

Arriola Sands in Clarion Alley

Arriola Sands in San Francisco Clarion Alley with “beautiful murals by people you imagine you’d be friends with if they could afford to live here!”

Honey Mahogany at the Stud

Honey Mahogany mourns “the passing of the venerable STUD nightclub. The best of S.F.’s queer nightlife, lives on in our collectivized hearts” The Stud, once San Francisco's longest running gay bar, closed during the pandemic, after activists fought for years to keep it alive.

Krylon Superstar next to the Eagle

Krylon Superstar in Eagle Plaza, the public space next door to the Eagle bar, celebrating leather, LGBTQ+ people, and community inclusion. “If you’re like Commando, you’re thirsty all the time! Come get quenched and drenched at The Eagle!”