With its subterranean location, pillars plastered with gig posters from days of yore, and chalkboard walls and ceilings covered in messages both radical and tongue-in-cheek, the Whole Music Club seems tailored for queer punk acts.

The Whole welcomed two such acts on Saturday — New York City-based queer punk band Sorry Mom and the up-and-coming Twin Cities DIY queen Anita Velveeta.

“Hey friends!” Velveeta said to the crowd of students, many of them punks. Several whoops of excitement bounced around the room.

As she set up her backing track playing off her computer (her usual band couldn’t make the gig), Velveeta directed regulars to her shows to come closer to the stage.

“I need you to show people how to dance, or else they’re gonna break my kneecaps,” she said to laughter.

And people danced.

Velveeta’s performance bridged the gap between stage and audience. There were multiple songs where she dove into the mosh pit while singing and even got the crowd to carry her at one point.

Though Velveeta can conjure a circle pit in a crowd, it reads more like a friend’s infectious spontaneity than orders that must be followed. Combined with her relatable songwriting, mutable sound and humorous persona, Velveeta is definitively of the people, for the people.

Velveeta, who opened for Sorry Mom, began her set with “disassociating in the back room of a starbucks,” which she dedicated to “everyone who has to wear a green apron for a living.”

The song begins with quiet, whimpering vocals which crescendo into hardcore scream-singing, at the end of which Velveeta screamed into the microphone while holding it between her teeth.

Velveeta began the song “Stealing From Target Is A Twin Cities Pastime” by yelling “612, fuck 12!” with several police officers and security guards posted around the room, something she said was a big difference compared to the venues she usually plays.

“I definitely got a glare from the cop,” Velveeta said in an interview.

An ex-Gopher twice over, Velveeta also took time to reminisce about her days studying Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, specifically musicology with Professor Michael Gallope.

“I’m extremely grateful for what I did learn while I was here,” Velveeta said. “It’s cool to get to do what I always wanted to do at this school.”

Velveeta ended her set with “TERFS WILL NOT GET INTO HEAVEN,” during which she directed a regular to take the mic at a certain part of the song, then for the pit to try and wrestle it away from them.

“I am not an issue!” Velveeta and the audience member screamed in unison into the mic, the crowd jostling in frenetic movement.

Ultimately, Velveeta got to keep her kneecaps, because the moshing lasted throughout Sorry Mom’s set.

Vocalist and guitarist Juno Moreno rocketed the show forward with ragged, angsty vocals and lightning-quick riffs, with drummer Taryn Gangi and touring bassist Hector Udall matching the energy.

There were times when Gangi was drumming so hard she practically jumped out of her seat.

Sorry Mom’s songwriting is similarly tongue-in-cheek to Velveeta’s, with titles like “Molly Sells Molly by the Seashore,” “But I’m a Quarterback” and “I Fcked Yr Mom.”

The latter song features spoken-word taunting from the narrator about how they seduced someone’s mom, at which point Moreno tried to improvise.

“I saw your mom in the Twin Cities. I thought, ‘That’s another pair of twins I’d like to see,’” Moreno said.

Moreno said “I Fcked Yr Mom” is a simple song, but the improv can be hit or miss.

Sorry Mom’s set was also dotted with covers, from an angstier, screamier version of King Princess’s “Hit the Back,” an admittedly weird version of “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, and a more straightforward, though still punk-flavored version of “Pristine” by Snail Mail.

Though Velveeta technically opened for them, she and Sorry Mom are definitive artistic equals.

All three members of Sorry Mom said they were “stoked” to play with Velveeta — so stoked, in fact, that they went off their tour path to drive to Minneapolis from Columbus, Ohio in one night, “(defying) the human need for sleep.”

Velveeta and Sorry Mom will join forces in Minneapolis again on Dec. 7, when they play at the Varsity Theater during Pissfest.

Leading down the hall towards the Whole is a series of colorful frames displaying programs of previous bands who have performed at the club. Among their ranks are grunge gods Soundgarden and Twin Cities alternate rock veterans The Replacements.

The members of Sorry Mom were floored upon hearing that.

“It’s like we’re a little part of history,” Gangi said.

Indeed, the next program hung on the wall should be Sorry Mom and Anita Velveeta from 2024.