Ian Svenonius has got a new band!

one has to wonder if that was by choice though.

weren't nou broken up by the time the warped tour even rose it's ugly head?

weird war is more 60's soul punk posture music with more neil haggerty guitar plunkery. nice... especially live, but i'd rather listen to nuggets ii or something. where's my black monks cd dammit?!?

the david candy cd is probably THE best comedy cd of last year. awesome.

three cheers for ian and his new writing career as well...his feminist take on the lord of the rings in index was kinda hilarious in it's own tongue and cheek, yet not way. (isn't everything he does like that? tongue-and-cheek, yet kind of dead pan serious?)

m.

http://www.pataphysics-lab.com

You can find a link to a good review of the Creamers' public show through here.

I loved the David Candy album. I was listening to it on my walkman while wandering round Paris recently and found myself outside an Oscar Niemeyer exhibition as he started lauding Niemeyer's architecture, so I went in. Great.

Any references on this writing career of his please.

Winkelmann

This "Soft Focus" thing he's been doing for VICE tv is just really awkward. People think it's a schtick for Ian, being "tounge in cheek" but also dead-pan serious or something. Nope, it's just that Ian is a, how do you say, eh, he is a berk. Maybe "prat" is the word I'm looking for? What is the "Psychic Soviet" book that I have seen a few times? Utter bunkum. This spoilt doofus was Sassy Boy of the Year or something, and it also a "militant vegan". Lord save us...

http://crotchetyoldbastard.com/Image/muslim_protest_2.jpg

"Can I call you My Bloody Valentine?" He asked Kevin Shields. I wonder what he asked Mark E. Smith and Billy Childish. Wow, Vice flew him to the UK to ask these questions.

http://www.vbs.tv/softfocus/

It's things and people like this that make me realize, and thank God that I decided to 'boycott' (i.e. never look at again thing, in print or on the internet, or events promoted by etc.) Vice.

This man is truly an asshole par excellence.

*never look at anything, in print, on the internet, promotions etc. by Vice.

Don't know of the man but wanting credit for anything about the International Noise Conspiracy is stupid.

vice tv has some amazing things in there srsly - also their record label has the boredoms

love this guy, but Vice can fuck right off

The Psychic Soviet is hilarious and thoughtful.

everything he's written for Arthur has been great. the cover story for the last ish was a lot of fun.

no, he totally deserves royalties or something from the Int'l Noise Conspiracy.

Scene Creamers was a better band name than Weird War. but WEIRD CREAMERS would've been better than either.

Groups that ripped off NOU fiercely:

- Brainiac
- that terrible group of afro'd idiots signed to the Beastie Boys' label who turned into that even worse prog band
- nine million horrible punk bands in the early 90s who had Manifestos.

It's worth remembering that none of those bands could come close to holding the rumor of a candle to NOU live, too...

brainiac?

complete rip of the Spiv's stylee, yes.

i dunno, when i think of brainiac i think of their last ep, and when i think of nou i think of 'plays pretty for baby,' which i heard first and still think of as way better than '13 point plan' ...and those two things don't sound much alike!

Brainiac were "influenced" by NOU, Noise Conspiracy looks and sounds like a NOU tribute band.

The Brainiac singer guy was definately taking notes on Ian's dress, dance moves, hairstyles, dentistry, etc.

I will admit that Scene Creamers and Weird War are absolutely great names for a band. Up there with Dead Kennedys even. Maybe.

Saw his newest (?) band Felt Letters last night in DC at the Black Cat Backstage room. Brendan Canty played keyboards and guitar, another guy on bass, and in between songs two people read scripted text about how they were from another planet and were visiting earth to learn what music "groups" are and about the decline of capitalism. Ian sang garage-rock (w/ a touch of soul on a song or 2). They were projecting goofy stuff on the wall (folks looking like aliens, plus random stuff-Paul McCartney, people with afros) as they were playing (and ended with a slide saying "Fin"). There was a song called "600,000 bands" or something like that. The performance art aspect of the gig (Ian's dialogue with his bandmates and the 2 folks reading) was not too impressive. Canty's a good musician.

There weren't that many people there--30 or so. It was a Monday and Nick Cave was doing his second night over at the 930 club.

K records and others are busy highlighting his new Chain & the Gang thing recorded with a cast of thousands (I exaggerate a bit)

Tell me about: Ian Svenonius

Anybody see Chain & the Gang? I missed the DC show at Comet Ping Pong Wednesday and saw no reviews in newsprint or blogs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2014/05/08/how-the-sassiest-boy-in-america-became-the-most-interesting-man-in-rock-and-roll/

MINIMUM ROCKNROLL people

why are they out there?

I'm tired of him now

I'll never not like this guy, but there's something a little stunted-growth about what he is doing in his mid 40s.

Yeah, it's terrible when people can continue making stuff they enjoy in their 40s. I say kill them all instead.

his book was great, he's still funny/provocative and knows his way around a stage. good on him sez I

nah I just mean there's something a little adolescent about the pose he strikes with Chain & The Gang. I loved the book.

The title of this new album is “Minimum Rock N Roll,” which is a great joke on the legendary punk fanzine Maximum Rocknroll. I’ve heard you talk about rock as a proxy agent of capitalism, both of which some might argue are currently in decline. Are rock music and late-capitalism one and the same?

Well, I don’t think rock-and-roll is a proxy for capitalism, exactly. It’s just been assimilated. Ultimately, we are rock-and-roll. The workers are rock-and-roll.

This kind of answer is just the same old schtick/routine from him.

I adored this guy in the 90's, but when I grew up I imagined if I ever talked to him in some train station or somewhere I would see him for what he really is, just another prick, walking about breathing, shitting and ultimately probably fucking more than me, but also just as shit as the rest of humanity.

he seems p cool

Insomuch as all of humanity is shit, yeah, everyone's like that. But on the occasions our paths have crossed he's always been a super-nice dude. I'm not sure if "nice" is enough for you not to have your dreams shattered, though?

Yeah, it's terrible when people can continue making stuff they enjoy in their 40s. I say kill them all instead.

― emil.y, Thursday, May 8, 2014 11:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is a good idea

Hi banaka have a blessed day

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Well imo he's totally cool and hilarious and weird, not a prick at all, really engaging - I randomly hung out with him for a bit and ate dinner with him and a few other people one night during last year's pop mtl fest - fun times. It's weird when yr 90s heroes get all real life in the 2010s (like meeting Dave Foley last year, hm), but this was very-good weird!

super nice guy from my one hangout experience with him back in the '90s.

i saw him dancing quite well at a nightclub once.i don't enjoy anything he's done post nou and i only ever saw weird war but who cares.

Yeah who cares? I mean who really cares? Really. Who cares. Who even cares? I know I certainly don' t. Not a single jot. Could. Not. Give. A. Hoot.

hi hinklepicker

His musical offerings have gotten progressively weaker imo. I like NOU and the Make Up a lot, then it kind of slides. But I enjoy the writing and the interview show a lot.

Heard he and Kid Congo alternating on spinning soul and garage 45s a little while back and they played great obscure stuff. But living here in the DC area, its easy to get overwhelmed by coverage of him and to hope for coverage of other DC rockers (plus I am tired of his "The workers are rock-and-roll" phrasing stuff although not the sentiment.)

one time i saw him dress up as a cop and pretend-interrupt a trans am instore, demanding they play CCR songs. then he sang CCR songs backed by trans am. was pretty good.

lol

that is awesome

man fuck it I love this dude, fuck my narcissism of small criticisms

what a baller

I really liked the last Chain and the Gang album fwiw. It's true that music's not for everybody.

I liked that song but the rest was kind of forgettable for me.

one time i saw him dress up as a cop and pretend-interrupt a trans am instore, demanding they play CCR songs. then he sang CCR songs backed by trans am. was pretty good.

that does sound good

If you can't beat it then you bite em.

Apart from the entertaining celebrity persona, I am a supporter of his music but it seems like he struggles to make a coherent album - I like/ love some scattered songs from throughout his career but usually do not connect with while records.

Whole

one time i saw him dress up as a cop and pretend-interrupt a trans am instore, demanding they play CCR songs. then he sang CCR songs backed by trans am. was pretty good.

Where was this? That's basically an ideal gig for me.

I love Svenonious but that recent "I Love Castro" article he did was a little queasy

it was at "now! music and fashion" in arlington va in 99 or 2000, great store with terrible name. i assume like everything else even slightly cool in dc it is long gone.