Trust me
Why I Like Dead Guys
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CONTACT:
ROSIE BOYD // PUBLICIST
AVA KELLY // PUBLICIST
To appreciate Why I Like Dead Guys, it helps to understand the impetus that compelled TRUST ME – the new project from storyteller Lynn Breedlove, Travis Andrews, and Andy Meyerson – into existence.
On May 24, 2020, police officers murdered George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, in the streets of Minneapolis. Three days later, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States topped 100,000. That evening, in a California town two-and-a-half hours northeast of San Francisco, Lynn’s stepbrother brutally murdered his father and his stepmother, with a blunt object and a sharp one.
Physics teaches us that for every action or force in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction… and Lynn Breedlove knows how to push back. As the lead singer for queer punk band Tribe 8, Breedlove amplified queer and trans voices marginalized by mainstream society, and even within our own communities, for nearly 35 years. Now, confronted with a personal tragedy marked by incomprehensible violence, Breedlove swung in the other direction, encouraging responses rooted in love, compassion, and forgiveness.
“We’re going to try to make sense of the nonsensical,” Lynn told reporters. But that didn’t come easy. When Lynn shared an early iteration of “Why I Like Dead Guys” with Andy Meyerson and Travis Andrews, fellow members of the hard-hitting queer music collective COMMANDO, it felt too familiar, one more screed against the patriarchy. “I’ve been through this before, and I’ve moved beyond it,” thought Lynn. Andy and Travis encouraged him to dig deeper and write about his father instead.
Staked out in the kitchen of a Portland, Oregon Airbnb, the trio’s unfolding ideas evolved into songs. As Lynn read pieces aloud, Travis might start strumming guitar while Andy drummed on the tabletop. Choruses formed and tempos shifted. “It was very sweet and warm,” recalls Lynn. “Everbody needs an editor, and working in collaboration is a great way to open up to being edited. I trust these guys a lot. They’re kind and patient. Andy and Travis are two of the most fabulous musicians I’ve ever worked with.”
In place of the loud, fast, and confrontational character of COMMANDO and Tribe 8, TRUST ME applies a lighter touch, inviting listeners to locate aspects of their own experiences within intensely personal songs peppered with levity. “The stories that have impacted me the most in my life, and throughout society, too, are very particular, but the juxtaposition of that specificity with overarching universal elements, that’s what draws people in.”
Grief and loss are familiar constants to folks who struggle just to navigate safely through life every day. “Queer and trans people have been working on building community and being okay in their own bodies forever. That original grief of being separated from the rest of society is super-triggered right now, because these assholes in power are trying to eradicate trans people, black and brown people, migrants – anyone who’s not them. I’m sad because I had to let go of my idealistic vision of what humanity could be. So what do we do with all that loss? We have to feel it, and then we can move through it and find new solutions.”
As Lynn processed the memories and feelings around his relationships with his father and his stepbrother, other individuals who’d helped make Lynn Breedlove into the man he is today entered the chat. “All the people that I talk about in these songs, I feel their spirits around me, like I'm calling in energy. That’s teaching me something else, about life, what's real and what's not. ‘Oh, we’re just a meatbag for a minute? That's it?’ Not for me. There's way more to being alive.”
Some stories summoned forth childhood playmates (“Mike Brinson”), relatives (“Scratch N Sniff”), even pets (“Intact Male”). Other connections were more tenuous, yet influential nevertheless. Lynn can’t remember the name of the hero of “Cornfed Boy Finds Bag,” but his brief turn through the San Francisco underground in the late ‘80s left an impression.
“I only knew him for a few months, and he made a huge impact on me. He was beautiful and charming and innocent, and then suddenly he got sick and went away. He’s just an example of how we touch each other’s lives and how fragile those lives are in this community.”
On “Tale Of Two Boys,” Lynn celebrates the reciprocity of these relationships, however fleeting or intermittent they may be. “Yeah, I've changed because of you, but I hope something about you changed because of me, too.”
The Lynn Breedlove who emerges from Why I Like Dead Guys reflects a lifetime of changes. “I always say that you don't make the art, the art makes you. I’ve learned that I can be serious and vulnerable, but I will also continue to be funny and make jokes, no matter how gnarly the situation that I’m describing is.”
“If I slow down and trust my audience, I’ll be carried through the process,” Breedlove concludes. “It’s a relief to know that I can express real feelings in front of people and not drop dead, because being that honest allows everybody else’s heart to open as well, and that’s crucial right now.”
PRESS RELEASES
2/26/2026: Trust Me Shares "Cornfed Boy Finds Bag" + Performing at Big Ears Festival | Debut LP Out 3/27