Ian F Svenonius is an American musician and singer of various

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

-based

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands including

Nation of Ulysses The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kron ...

, the Make-Up, Weird War, XYZ, Escape-ism, and

Chain and the Gang A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has released more than 22 full-length albums and over 20 singles, EPs, and

splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...

. A published author and online talk show host, Svenonius' projects share a tongue-in-cheek, radical left political ideology. His first band, Nation of Ulysses, which released its first record in 1990, was highly influential in the punk scene but dissolved in 1992. After a short-lived side-project called

Cupid Car Club Cupid Car Club, also known as Cupid Car Club M.P., was a short-lived American post-hardcore band consisting of Ian Svenonius on vocals, James Canty on drums, Steve Gamboa on guitar (all of which were previously members of Nation of Ulysses and la ...

, Svenonius formed the Make-Up in 1995, who combined garage rock, soul, and

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...

to make a new genre they dubbed "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". The Make-Up disbanded early in 2001, and a year later, Svenonius formed the band Weird War, who were also known briefly as the Scene Creamers. Later Svenonius led the band Chain and the Gang. Currently, Svenious is the leader of Esape-ism. Svenonius' solo work includes the 2001 album '' Play Power'' under the fictional pseudonym of David Candy, the book ''The Psychic Soviet'', and as host of ''Soft Focus'' on VBS.tv.

Musical projects

Nation of Ulysses

Svenonius' first musical group was

. The band formed in spring 1988, initially composed of four members, Svenonius on

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, Steve Kroner on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, Steve Gamboa on

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, and

James Canty James Canty is a Brooklyn, New York-based multi-instrumentalist musician from Washington, D.C. Canty is currently known for playing guitar in the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and guitar and keyboard with The Make-Up. Before forming The Ma ...

on drums, and known simply as "Ulysses". In late 1989, Tim Green joined the band as a second guitarist and the band was renamed to "Nation of Ulysses". The Nation of Ulysses described themselves not as a rock and roll group in the traditional sense, but "as a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

" and as "a shout of secession". Explaining their intent, Svenonius said "it's basically a new nation underground for the dispossessed youth colony. It's all about smashing the old edifice, the monolith of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

". In 1990, before the band released any official albums, Svenonius was featured as teen-oriented ''

Sassy Magazine ''Sassy'' magazine is a defunct, general interest teen magazine aimed at young women. It covered a wide variety of topics, and was intended as a feminist counterpoint to '' Seventeen'' and '' YM'' magazines. ''Sassy'' existed between 1988 and 1996 ...

s first "Sassiest Boy in America." He was interviewed in the magazine's October issue, detailing the band's sound and political motivations. Svenonius stated that the Nation of Ulysses' intent was "to create a space of liberation where anything’s possible". He criticized "traditional rock-and-roll" groups as a "corrupt medium." The contest was reportedly a "nationwide search for the most perfect boyfriend material a girl could ask for", and Svenonius was among 150 entries. Nation of Ulysses was known for their extremely physical performances, during which Svenonius recalls many injuries, including breaking his arm, his leg, and his skull on numerous occasions. Audience members were also hurt during some performances. The group 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 Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sa ...

and the

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

explosion. We were faced with what's now known as

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

, a sort of vacuous form. We had to determine our next move and this The_Make-Up.html" ;"title="Make-Up_(American_band).html" ;"title="he forming of Make-Up (American band)">The Make-Up">Make-Up_(American_band).html" ;"title="he forming of Make-Up (American band)">The Make-Upis it".

The Make-Up

The Make-Up formed in 1995, consisting of Svenonius, Canty, and Gamboa from Nation of Ulysses, and with the addition of Michelle Mae on bass guitar. The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff, who played guitar with the group until their dissolution in 2001. In the band's five years of activity, they released four studio albums, two live albums, a

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' ...

compilation of singles and B-sides, and a number of

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

s and

. The Make-Up combined garage rock,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

, and self-styled "

" to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". The Make-Up were highly influenced by

bubblegum music Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States ...

, particularly the French variety called

Yé-yé ''Yé-yé'' () (''yeyé'' in Spanish) was a style of pop music that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term "''yé-yé''" was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as ...

music. As the Make-Up's frontman and mouthpiece, Ian Svenonius often contextualized the band's music in terms of larger socio-political themes, typically describing the band and its gospel attitude in Marxist and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

terms, in opposition of what he saw as the

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

, bourgeois,

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

paradigm of

. The band's aversion to American culture was expressed through their self-styled musical genre "Gospel Yeh-Yeh," a belief system through which they advocated to their audience to "get theirs" and to "off the pigs in all their forms". The Make-Up intended to create ad-lib performances to re-energize what they saw as the stale, bland and formal ritual of rock and roll. Appropriating gospel music's use of the congregate as a "fifth member," the Make-Up incorporated audience participation through call and response vocals, lyrical "discussion" techniques, and destruction of the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

by physical transgression. 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 A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revolut ...

forms". Between projects, Svenonius released a

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

under the pseudonym David Candy.

Weird War

After the Make-Up disbanded, Svenonius formed the group Weird War in 2001, joined by Make-Up members Michelle Mae and Alex Minoff. 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, eponymous release featured

Neil Hagerty Neil Michael Hagerty (born 1965) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work in Royal Trux which he formed with his partner Jennifer Herrema, who he lived with in Washington, Virginia. Hagerty released sev ...

and Jessica Espeleta on guitars, and Steve McCarty on drums. These collaborators soon left to pursue other projects, and the band briefly changed its name to The Scene Creamers, with Svenonius on vocals, Michelle Mae on bass, Alex Minoff on guitar, and Blake Brunner on drums. In this incarnation, the band released ''I Suck on that Emotion'', through Drag City. After being threatened with a legal suit for the name Scene Creamers by a French

graffiti artist Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

collective of the same name, the band reverted to the name Weird War. Since then, as its membership has become static, with the addition of Argentine Sebastian Thomson 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".

Chain and the Gang

Svenonius' musical project, Chain and The Gang, released the albums '' Down With Liberty... Up With Chains!'', " Music's Not For Everyone", " In Cool Blood" on K Records, and " Minimum Rock 'n' Roll" on Radical Elite Records. Some of the musicians featured on these records are

Calvin Johnson Calvin Johnson Jr., (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he twice ...

, Brett Lyman (Bad Thoughts/M'Ladys's Records), Fiona Campbell (Vivian Girls/Coasting), Sarah Pedal,

Katie Alice Greer Katie Alice Greer (born 1989) is an American artist, songwriter, performer and producer. She was the lead singer of Priests and released her first solo album in 2022. Greer was born in New Baltimore, Michigan. She moved to Washington D.C. in 20 ...

( Priests), Faustine Hudson (The Curious Mystery), Brian Weber ( Dub Narcotic Sound System), Veronica Ortuño ( Finally Punk/Carrots), Nicolaas Zwart (Desolation Wilderness), Karl Blau, Chris Sutton (Hornet Leg,

The Gossip Gossip (or The Gossip) was an American indie rock band formed in Searcy, Arkansas, originally active from 1999 until 2016. For most of their career, the band consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Brace Paine, and drummer Hanna ...

), Sixx (The Vibrarians), Arrington de Dionyso, Aaron Hartman, Benjamin Hartman (Old Time Relijun), Anna Nasty ( Olivia Neutron-John), and Francy Graham.

Other projects

Throughout his career, Svenonius has

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

ed at clubs such as Cold Rice in Washington, D.C. In 1993 Svenonius and Nation of Ulysses/Make-Up members James Canty and Steve Gamboa were involved in the short-lived project

, which released only one EP on

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally know ...

Records entitled '' Join our Club''. In 2001 Svenonius collaborated with the English conceptualist/producer Mike Alway of If.. Records to create the record '' Play Power'' under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

David Candy. The album 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. Svenonius wrote an afterword for

Glen E. Friedman Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962) is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor ...

's 2005 photography book ''Recognize'' (), as well as the introduction to Friedman's 2007 book ''Keep Your Eyes Open'' (). As host of the VBS.TV online show ''Soft Focus'', Svenonius interviews guests such as

Ian MacKaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...

, Genesis P-Orridge, Adam Horovitz, Cat Power and

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

in front of a live audience at the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. ''Soft Focus'' has recently moved to

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, where Svenonius interviews British artists such as

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

of The Fall and Billy Childish. In 1994, Svenonius had a supporting role in the independent film '' Half-Cocked''. In 2001, Svenonius appeared in the documentary '' Plaster Caster'' about the plaster casts of

Cynthia Plaster Caster Cynthia Plaster Caster (born Cynthia Dorothy Albritton; May 24, 1947 – April 21, 2022) was an American visual artist and self-described "recovering groupie" who gained fame for creating plaster casts of celebrities' erect penises. Albritton ...

Sassiest Boy in America

In 1990

Sassy magazine ''Sassy'' magazine is a defunct, general interest teen magazine aimed at young women. It covered a wide variety of topics, and was intended as a feminist counterpoint to '' Seventeen'' and '' YM'' magazines. ''Sassy'' existed between 1988 and 1996 ...

conducted a search for the Sassiest Boy in America. Over 150 entries were received with the eventual winner being Ian Svenonius. In the story highlighting his selection Sassy founding editor

Jane Pratt Jane Pratt (born November 11, 1962) is the founding editor of '' Sassy'', ''Jane and'' xoJane. She is the host of the talk show ''Jane Radio'' on Sirius XM Radio. Early life Jane Pratt was born in San Francisco, California, to Sheila Marks Blake ...

states "He's going to be a big deal. I'm sure he will be and we're going to be so proud that we were the first ones to discover him." Though Svenonius was too old to qualify for the title under the rules of the contest, this was not discovered until after he had already won.

''The Psychic Soviet''

In July 2006, Svenonius released a book of 19 essays entitled ''the Psychic Soviet'' (), published by Drag City Press. Pocket-sized and bound in bright-pink plastic with beveled edges, its form is similar to " The Little Red Book," a Bible, or a foreign-language dictionary. The book serves as an anthology of past articles and essays by Svenonius previously published in periodicals, edited for readability and flow, with a number of new essays included. The "Instructions" that preface the book state that it "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". The writing addresses topics such as the ascent of the DJ as a "star," the "cosmic depression" that followed the defeat of the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in the Cold War, and the status of

as a

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. To date, ''The Psychic Soviet'' is the most complete collection of written material by Svenonius.

Discography

Nation of Ulysses

* '' 13-Point Program to Destroy America'' (Dischord) (1991) * '' Plays Pretty for Baby'' (Dischord) (1992) * '' The Embassy Tapes'' (Dischord) (2000)

The Make-Up

* '' Destination: Love – Live! At Cold Rice'' (Dischord) (1996) * '' After Dark'' (Dischord) (1997) * '' Sound Verite'' (K Records) (1997) * '' In Mass Mind'' (Dischord) (1998) * '' Save Yourself'' (K Records) (1999) * '' I Want Some'' (singles compilation) (K Records) (1999) * '' Untouchable Sound'' (Drag City/Sea Note) (2006)

Weird War

* '' Weird War'' (Drag City) (2002) * '' I Suck on that Emotion'' (as Scene Creamers) (Drag City) (2003) * '' If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em'' (Drag City) (2004) * '' Illuminated by the Light'' (Drag City) (2005)

Chain and The Gang

* ''Down With Liberty... Up With Chains!'' (K Records) (2009) * ''Music's Not For Everyone'' (K Records) (2011) * ''In Cool Blood'' (K Records) (2012) * ''Minimum Rock n Roll'' (Radical Elite Records) (2014) * ''Experimental Music'' (Radical Elite Records) (2017) * ''Best of Crime Rock'' (In The Red) (2017)

David Candy

* '' Play Power'' (Jet Set/Siesta/If Records) (2001)

Cupid Car Club

* '' Join our Club'' (Kill Rock Stars) (1993)

XYZ

* '' S/T'' (Mono-tone Records) (2014)

Escape-ism

* ''Untitled'' (Flat Black Studios) (2017) * ''Introduction to Escape-ism'' (Merge Records) (2017) * ''Split w/ Light Beams'' (Lovitt Records) (2017) * ''The Lost Record'' (Merge Records) (2018) * ''The Silent Record'' (Radical Elite Records) (2021) * ''Rated Z'' (Radical Elite Records) (2021)

Too Much

* ''Club Emotion'' (Radical Elite Records) (2020)

Filmography

* ''

Half-Cocked (film) ''Half-cocked'' is a cult music road movie, made in 1994 in Louisville, Nashville and Chattanooga. The movie tells the story about a group of high school teens who steal a van full of music equipment and pretend to be a band, called "Truckstop" ( ...

'' (independent release) (1994) * '' Plaster Caster'' (Xenon Pictures) (2001) * ''Soft Focus'' ( VBS.tv) (host, 2007–2010) * ''The Seduction of Paolo Hewitt'' (Ooga Booga) (2008) * ''The Launching of the Dream Weapon'' (Ooga Booga) (2008) * ''What is a Group?'' (Strawberry City) (2013) * ''The Lost Record'' (2021)

Writings

* Afterward of

's ''Recognize'' () (Burning Flags Press) (2005) * ''The Psychic Soviet'' () ( Drag City Press) (2006) * Introduction of Glen E. Friedman's ''Keep Your Eyes Open – The Fugazi Photographs of Glen E. Friedman'' () (Burning Flags Press) (2007) * "Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group" ()(Akashic Books)(2013) * "Censorship Now!" ()(Akashic Books)(2015)

Musical projects

Nation of Ulysses

The Make-Up

Weird War

Chain and the Gang

Other projects

Sassiest Boy in America

''The Psychic Soviet''

Discography

Nation of Ulysses

The Make-Up

Weird War

Chain and The Gang

David Candy

Cupid Car Club

XYZ

Escape-ism

Too Much

Filmography

Writings

References

External links