Ian Svenonius Interview
by JASON WEAVER
May 1996
http://www.southern.com/southern/band/MAKUP/Int_jasonweaver.html

Make-Up are a live experience. Togged out in matching suits, Michelle Mae, James Canty and Steve Gamboa craft a lean backbone of frantic r'n'b. Leading the riot is Ian Svenonius, shrieking and shaking like a preacher. Contact with the audience is vital, either by launching himself into the crowd or by calling on them to say "Yeah" during every song. Everything is given, bringing 10,000 volts to the show.

"The idea of putting something on tape is an abstraction of what a band is," explains Svenonius. "When Make-Up came out, we wanted to re-invent the idea of playing live. We're inspired by the congregational form because we wanna include everybody and create these moments in a room that rock'n'roll used to provide but doesn't anymore."

Svenonius speaks highly of bands he saw back home in Washington: "We all grew up going to shows that were life-changing. In DC there were these bands like the Bad Brains. Stuff that was revelatory, so transcendent." The Make-Up experience is similarly life-altering. The emphasis on performance attempts to address the cynicism of the music industry: "All these business concerns have triumphed," says Svenonius. "It's almost like a grind. Records are planned to come out on schedule, every year-and-a-half. On every level, the independents ape the major labels. Our records have reflected a real disdain for that kind of self-conscious marketing strategy by putting out two live records in a row and putting out records on disparate and far-flung labels."

Make-Up think their music through. They are the first group since Public Enemy to come armed with a critique. Like 'Enemy, they also realise that the revolution has to be both funky and grounded in reality. "Rock'n'roll too often refers only to other music. I think that's a real problem. It's what makes it so redundant - 'we're like the Stooges; we're like the Beatles.' Those are really boring ideas. How can you transcend the mentor? If that's the end-all, then there's no place left to go. You have to refer to things outside, anything except rock'n'roll, otherwise it's a sick circle."

Rather than become bogged down in cynicism, Make-Up substitute the gospel vibe: "Dance music is really seductive. But we also like the idea of performance. That to me is what rock'n'roll is. It also articulates things so much better. It's just a spiritual freak-out, what can you do in the face of music? It's overwhelming."