Web: josiecotton.com
Players: Josie Cotton, vocals; Frankie Luis, drums; Marcus Watkins, guitar; Cherish Alexander, bass, vocals; John Miller, guitar, vocals, Paul Roessler, keyboard, vocals
Thursday night at the Whisky, and an hour before punk/new-wave icon Josie Cotton took to the the stage, the crowd was decidedly thin. Maybe it was because of the mixed (to put it kindly) quality of the opening acts, or maybe it was simply because it was Thursday. Thankfully, the room had beefed up a bit by the time Cotton bounded out, which is the least that she deserves.
Cotton remains a beloved, if underrated, figure. She’s inarguably best known for the “Johnny Are You Queer” ‘80s anthem, but it would be a disservice to refer to her as a one hit wonder (that term is stupid anyway). Cotton’s output has been remarkably consistent. She genuinely doesn’t have a bad album, and some of them are superb. 2007’s Invasion of the B-Girls, for example, saw her covering music from B movies, and it was a rip-roaring joy.
Everything is Oh Yeah was recorded in ’86 but not released until 2019, and it’s essentially criminal that we had to wait so long. “I warmed up to the idea of ‘80s music,” Cotton told this writer during an interview for the LA Weekly. “I wasn’t appalled or trying to get out of the studio. When we found it, the publishing company was working, finding places for your songs to go and they were in contact with Stranger Things. They were looking for unreleased records from the ‘80s, which was an odd request. Particularly mid ‘80s. I knew that I had done this record, but I wasn’t sure if it still existed because it had gone through fires and landslides, earthquakes, moving in garages and all kinds of natural disasters and just, y’know, time.”
So here we are in 2026. Cotton, apparently ageless, moves around the stage like a blend of Tina Turner and Deborah Harry, with a pinch of Billy Idol. She’s all swagger. One can imagine her batting her eyelids at you, before punching you on the nose. More importantly though, she and her band sound great.
“He Could Be the One” and “School Is In” are big power-pop anthems, made for singing along to while dancing like a nutter. Cotton tunes tend to have the sort of choruses that you can hang your hat on.
Paul Roessler, best known as a member of mythical L.A. punks the Screamers, runs the Kitten Robot label with Cotton, and he was playing keys for her at the Whisky. The whole band was on-point and, by the time they reached the conclusion, predictably “Johnny Are You Queer,” every hip in the house was moving. Superb stuff!
