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Ian Svenonius

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Ian Svenonius has been the singer and mouthpiece of various music groups, including Nation of Ulysses, Make-Up, and currently Weird War. These groups have all been based in Washington, D.C. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has published more than 15 full-length albums and countless singles. Svenonius is also a published writer and rock and roll theorist/historian.

Svenonius' first band was The Nation of Ulysses, formed in 1988. The band broke up in 1992 after failing to record their third studio album. After a brief side-project called Cupid Car Club, Svenonius formed Make-Up in 1995, who combined garage rock, soul, and self-styled liberation theology to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh."[1] The Make-Up dissolved in 2000, and a year later, Svenonius formed the band Weird War (also known briefly known as Scene Creamers) in which he is still active.

Svenonius' solo work has been somewhat limited, consisting of the 2001 album Play Power under the fictionalized pseudonym David Candy,[2] the book The Psychic Soviet,[3] and as host of Soft Focus on VBS.TV.[4]


Nation of Ulysses

Nation of Ulysses, Svenonius second from left.
Main article: Nation of Ulysses

Ian Svenonius' first musical formation was Nation of Ulysses. This was not a rock 'n' roll group in the normal sense, but "the group as political party."[citation needed]

Nation of Ulysses consisted of Svenonius on vocals, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James Canty on drums. Tim Green joined the band late in 1989 as a guitarist.

The Nation of Ulysses philosophy has been described as "a relentlessly provocative (and entertaining) jumble of teenage rock 'n' roll rebellion, leftist radicalism, anarchist punk polemics, and abstract intellectual rambling,"[5] which gives the sense of "an off-kilter, almost tongue-in-cheek approach to a 'perpetual 18-year old's' view of America, and life in general."[citation needed] They conceived themselves as being a political party disguised as a rock 'n' roll band.

The Nation of Ulysses distributed political pamphlets, called "Ulysses Speaks," which they distributed at live shows, some of which are reproduced on their album covers. Their pamphlets espoused what they referred to as "The Ulysses Aesthetic," which was a mix of 60's and 70's radical politics, French Situationist writings, and celebration of juvenile delinquency.

The band was known for their extremely physical performances, with incidents of broken bones and other injuries suffered by the members. They usually wore suits and greased hair on stage, although they sometimes wore matching shirts and pants of a more casual nature.

Svenonius described the Nation of Ulysses as "a shout of secession. We don't want to be involved with the United States and the structure that exists. We've introduced a whole new form of currency that takes its form in garbage ... we indulge peoples' repressed whims and make them banal in doing so. We basically want to create a new sense of who we are community-wise: a nation of youths."[6]

Nation of Ulysses disbanded in the Fall of 1992 having failed to complete their third album (the finished tracks were later released as The Embassy Tapes in 2000). In a later interview, Svenonius explained the reason for the split: "Nation of Ulysses broke up because the epoch changed with the advent of digital music and the Nirvana explosion. We were faced with what's now known as indie rock, a sort of vacuous form. We had to determine our next move and this (the forming of The Make-Up) is it."[7]

In 1990, while part of Nation of Ulysses, Svenonius was featured as teen-oriented Sassy Magazine's first "Sassiest Boy in America."[8][9] He was interviewed at length in the magazine's October issue, much to the disbelief of many in the punk community.

Make Up

File:Make-Up.jpg
The Make-Up, Svenonius front and center.
Main article: Make-Up (band)

Make-Up formed in 1995, consisting of Svenonius, Canty, and Gamboa from Nation of Ulysses, and Michelle Mae from the Northwest group The Frumpies on bass guitar.[10] The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff (of the group Golden and Extra Golden),[11] who played guitar with the group until their dissolution in early 2000.[12]

Make-Up combined garage rock, soul, and self-styled liberation theology to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh."[1] They released five studio albums, one live album, a posthumous compilation of singles and B-sides, and a number of 12-inch singles.[13] While The Make-Up released both "live" and "studio" records, their recordings were all created with an eye toward spontaneity. Most studio songs were cut as they occurred to the group at the moment. Therefore, their studio records themselves were in a sense, quite "live."[7][12]

The Make-Up were highly influenced also by bubblegum music, particularly the French variety called Yé-yé music.[1] The factory style of production that this sort of music had utilized interested the group, who were dedicated to expanding the workforce as opposed to the rock 'n' roll trend (begun by The Beatles) toward self sufficiency and "downsizing" labor.[14] Through the synthesis of these two highly disparate and contradictory forms - Gospel and Yé-yé - The Make-Up devised a hybrid style they labeled "Gospel Yeh-yeh."[1]

Due to the band's consideration of their audience and the special techniques they applied to performing, their live shows exhibited a convergence of soul, surf, skronk, and stomp.[12] The Make-Up's gospel attitude was related to their utilization of the "congregate" or audience as a group member.

The Make-Up dissolved in 2000, reportedly "due to the large number of counter-gang copy groups which had appropriated their look and sound and applied it to a vacuous and counter-revolutionary forms."[12]

Weird War

Main article: Weird War (band)

After The Make-Up disbanded, Ian Svenonius formed the group Weird War, and was joined by Make-Up members Michelle Mae and Alex Minoff. Weird War was initially formed as an umbrella organization in 2001 to encompass disparate anti-authoritarian groups and to "challenge the idiocy of the new epoch." While the current lineup appears on the group's first release I'll Never Forget What's His Name, the group's first full length, self-titled release featured Neil Hagerty (of Royal Trux) and Jessica Espeleta (formerly of Love as Laughter) on guitars, and Steve McCarty (later of Dead Meadow) on drums.

These collaborators soon left to pursue other programs, and the band became known as The Scene Creamers, with Ian Svenonius on vocals, Michelle Mae on bass, Alex Minoff (of Golden) on guitar, and Blake Brunner on drums. In this incarnation, the band released I Suck on that Emotion, through Drag City Records.

After being threatened with a legal suit for the name Scene Creamers by a French graffiti artist collective of the same name, the band reverted to the name Weird War.[15] Since then, as it's membership has become static, with the addition of Argentinian Sebastian Thomson (of the group Trans Am) on drums, its intent has become more cosmic.

Weird War claims that they are "the sole answer to the hype-based careerism, empty formalism and vacuity which has infected what was once a genuinely creative underground rock 'n' roll scene."[15]

The Psychic Soviet

File:ThePsychicSoviet.jpg
The Psychic Soviet

In July of 2006, Svenonius released a book of 19 essays entitled The Psychic Soviet (ISBN 0-9656183-9-0), published by Drag City Press. Pocket-sized and bound in bright-pink plastic with beveled edges, its form reflects "The Little Red Book," a Bible, or the sort of foreign-language dictionaries favored by travelers.[3]

The "Instructions" which preface the book state that The Psychic Soviet "should clear up much of the confusion regarding events of the last millennium - artistic, geo-political, philosophical, et al" and encourages the reader to "refer to the book in case of ethical quandaries, arguments, and social feuds."[16] The writing addresses the strange ascent of the DJ as a "star," the "cosmic depression" that followed the defeat of the Soviet Socialist Republic in the Cold War, and the odd status of rock 'n' roll as a religion.[17] To date, The Psychic Soviet is the most complete collection of written material by Svenonius.

Other projects

DJ set at the Mercury Lounge, March 15th, 2007.

Throughout his career, Svenonius has often disc jockeyed in many underground clubs, including Red and Cold Rice in Washington, D.C., and the Mercury Lounge in Goleta, California.[12][18]

In 1993 Svenonius and Nation of Ulysses/Make-Up members James Canty and Steve Gamboa were involved in a short-lived aggregate called Cupid Car Club. This group released only one EP on Kill Rock Stars Records entitled Join our Club.[19]

In 2001 Svenonius collaborated with the English conceptualist/producer Mike Alway of If Records to create the record Play Power under the pseudonym "David Candy." It was released through Jet Set Records, Siesta Records, and If Records. Play Power was part of a series of "Magazine-Style Records" which included other imaginary acts such as Death by Chocolate, Maria Napoleon, and Lollipop Train.[2]

Svenonius wrote an afterword for Glen E. Friedman's 2005 photography book Recognize (ISBN 0-9641916-6-0).[20]

Svenonius is currently the host of VBS.TV online show Soft Focus, where he has interviewed guests such as Ian MacKaye and Genesis P-Orridge in front of an invitation-only audience at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.[4][21]

In 1994, Svenonius had a supporting role in the independent film Half Cocked. Svenonius is also interviewed in the 2001 documentary Plaster Caster about the plaster casts of Cynthia Plaster Caster.[22]

Discography

Main article: Ian Svenonius discography

Nation of Ulysses

Studio albums

Studio EPs

  • The Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic (the synthesis of speed and transformation) (Dischord) (1992)

The Make-Up

Studio albums

Live albums

DVD / Video

Weird War

Studio albums

DVD / Video

David Candy

Cupid Car Club

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Make-Up and "Gospel Yeh-Yeh"". Southern Records. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  2. ^ a b Ashlock, Jesse. "David Candy". Epitonic Records. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  3. ^ a b Malitz, David (May 2007). "Ian Svenonius - Editorial Review". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-06-03.
  4. ^ a b "NEW YORK - Soft Focus With Ian Svenonius". Vice. 2006-09-16. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
  5. ^ Huey, Steve. "The Nation of Ulysses Biography". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  6. ^ Cheslow, S. "Nation of Ulysses interview - 1989". Interrobang?! #1 (1989). Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  7. ^ a b "Steady Diet fanzine - April 98". Steady Diet, April 1998. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sassy DC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "New York Night Train One-Year Anniversary". New York Night Train. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  10. ^ "Make-Up biography". Southern Records. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  11. ^ "Thrill Jockey - Artists". Thrill Jockey. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  12. ^ a b c d e "Make Up - A Biography" (PDF). Drag City. Retrieved 2007-03-21. Cite error: The named reference "DC PDF" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Make-Up discography". Southern Records. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  14. ^ "Damn You Fanzine". Southern Records, Damn You Fanzine. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  15. ^ a b "Not Going to Mars". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2007-03-21. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  16. ^ Svenonius, Ian. "David Candy - Jetset records". Jetset Records. Archived from the original on 2003-10-27. Retrieved 2006-12-30. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2003-08-08 suggested (help)
  17. ^ Twerdy, Saelan. "Illuminated by the Light". DiSCORDER Magazine. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
  18. ^ Danger Mike, Jesse Rockoff (DJ Mark Foley), Ian Svenonius (2006-10-30). "10-3-06 Ian Svenonius / The Make-Up". Radio CPR. 97.5 FM. {{cite episode}}: Missing or empty |series= (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ "Cupid Car Club". Kill Rock Stars. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  20. ^ "glen E. friedman's - idealist propaganda - The Latest". Burning Flags Press. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  21. ^ Gee, Ess (2006-09-26). "Vice TV". Retrieved 2007-01-14.
  22. ^ "Ian Svenonius". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-06-04.

Band/Project homepages

Interviews

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