Portland based Indie Rock queer married couple Glitterfox, who just released their single “Drive” (Kill Rock Stars)
Glitterfox, lead by queer married couple Solange Igoa and Andrew Walker, were named one of Portland’s “Best New Bands” by the Willamette Week in 2022 and came away from Oregon Country Fair as one of the festival’s most buzzed about new groups.
Andrea Walker dives into“Drive”:
“I first realized I was gay when I was seven. I didn’t know what gay was at that age, in 1989, in Charlotte, NC. But I knew that the movie scene with Goldie Hawn that I’d just watched with my family made me feel something I’d never felt before. And honestly, it terrified me. There wasn’t any gay representation on TV or anywhere in my little world. So I was left with this feeling down to my core that there was something terribly wrong with me and no one could ever find out.
Growing up in Charlotte, NC in the 90s I struggled to accept my queer identity all through middle school and high school. I remember living this double life because you just didn’t know how folks would react if they found out. Would my friends still be my friends? Would my parents still love me? There was a constant fear of people finding out, but also this deep yearning to explore and begin to build a queer life and identity.
I wrote “Drive” looking back on a younger version of myself. That person with such huge feelings and confusion who was silently struggling with so much. But just yearning all the time to get out of the south because i knew there was something better out there for me. Somewhere better. But physically leaving an oppressive environment doesn’t just fix the damage from growing up in years and years of isolation, internalized transphobia and homophobia. You can leave a fucked up situation but you take the damage with you.
In 2010 at the age of 28 I finally moved to the west coast and never looked back. I met my spouse in Long Beach, CA and we currently live in Portland, OR which is a pretty great place for queer people. I think younger me, the person I
wrote “Drive” about, would be pretty stoked to see what life looks like down the road.”