Pink Suits didn’t set out to be a punk band—they just had something to scream about. Born from frustration and fuelled by activism, their music is a love letter to resistance, community, and unapologetic self-expression.
Can you tell us about the story behind Pink Suits and what drives your music and activism?
We started pink suits shortly after moving to Margate in 2017. We don’t come from the music world, we have no music training, we come from dance and theatre. But 2016 had been such a wild time politically that we wanted to make work that allowed us to process and express our frustrations. We felt that dance was often too abstract and we really just wanted to yell about how we felt about the social and political climate at the time. So we just started a band. Lennie already knew a little bit of guitar so they learned how to play that more, and Ray has much better rhythm, so they learned drums. We literally were on YouTube looking up how to play music and then writing angry political songs about everything from identity & sexuality to mental health, anti capitalism, protest and resistance. We never set out to be a punk band initially it just came out that way.
How does love—romantic, platonic, or communal—play a role in your work?
Our work is a lot about survival and self care in an imbalanced and unfair world. We aim to highlight injustices and work towards finding tools to combat the frustrations and loneliness that many people feel in today’s world. A huge part of this is finding love and care. We talk a lot about community and the collective love of people gathering together to make more considerate and nurturing versions of society. Through having this communal love and support we can work towards self love, which can be a very hard thing to nurture but we try to encourage self care and kindness. We have also known and loved each other for quite a long time, which we don’t talk about a whole lot in our music but I think you can see it if you watch us play together. We explore this love a lot more within our visual art work.
Your music embodies themes of rebellion and resistance. How do you see love as a revolutionary act?
The world is cruel and hard and gruelling. It can often feel really hopeless and stressful to exist within a system that wants you to struggle. We often go into gigs and DIY music spaces with so much rage and energy to scream about how shit everything is, and usually we just end up talking on stage about how much those spaces and those people make it all so much better and that we feel actual hope and joy surrounded by people who feel the same and are just making space for each other. We think that community care and love is the only way we can carry on existing. It of course is revolutionary! We sort of wish it wasn’t as it feels pretty basic, to look after and care for each other, show the people around you the same love and respect that they deserve. But capitalism doesn’t celebrate or encourage that sort of attitude at all so I guess it does feel radical in some ways.
Do either of you have tattoos? If so, can you share the stories behind them?
We have lots of tattoos between us. We were together when we got our first tattoos and we have gotten many together, including a few matching tattoos. They (almost) all have a significance to a certain moment in time for us. A lot of our tattoos reference pieces of art or performance we have made, or pieces of art we like, music that we like or music that we have written. Ray has political child and Dystopian Hellscape tattoos (our albums) and Lennie has Rock & Rage knuckles after our song of the same name. One of our favourite matching tattoos is the “Origin of Love” symbol from the film Hedwig & The Angry Inch, which is one of the most formative references for us in our work and life.
What does love mean to you beyond the romantic lens, especially as it relates to community and solidarity?
Love is, I think especially in a queer community, a much broader term than just romantic love. I think because queer people often grow up feeling othered or maybe don’t have their full self in the world until later in life the community and friend love that you build is quite unique. There is a more generous giving of love within that community and the care for the people around you is really strong. We love love, and I think the more love in all aspects of life the better!
Have you encountered fans who’ve gotten tattoos inspired by your music?
Noooo! As far as we know no one has done that yet. We think that would be pretty cool!
What’s next for Pink Suits in terms of spreading your message of love and defiance?
We are going to be running a venue! We are working with local venue and nightclub ‘Margate Arts Club’ for the rest of this year, which we will take over and run fully from 2026. So that is going to take up a lot of our time and will be a massive focus for us in developing community relationships and support and creating space for art and music, resistance, expression and freedom! We are also currently writing new music in a range of styles and are not sure what shape our next release will look like. We are not rushing into the next music project and are taking time to figure out what we want to do next.
See more of Pink Suits @pinksuitsband