Hot on the heels of his latest album Minimum Rock N Roll, Ian Svenonius’ current band Chain & The Gang will be touring the West Coast later this month and into August. In a radical gesture of Trotskyist entryism, the tour continues to promote the Gang’s latest LP, itself a piece of acutely meta, post-structuralist garage rock. While Svenonious’ previous bands The Nation of Ulysses and The Make-Up had their roots, respectively, in the DC hardcore scene and a fictitious garage soul revival, Chain & The Gang go for a minimalist, raw reading of rock & roll going back to Memphis’ version of punk rock (Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, early-days The Cramps, Mud Boy & The Neutrons, etc.) or the grittier cuts in the Nuggets anthology.
Even if you know Svenonius as just a guy with cool hair who dons 70s-TV-anchor suits, or actually hold his books as enough proof of him being the smartest guy in rock today, it’s impossible to deny the Gang’s shows are effing fun. It doesn’t matter if you laugh at (or with) Svenonious’ deliberately over-the-top agitprop screeds — he’s an unrepentant Marxist-Situationist for something — or his unmasked pretentions — he’s described this album as an exploration of youth’s appetite for rebellion as channeled through rock & roll — you’ll absolutely shake your ass and rock out to the ferocious riffing of a legit garage rock supergroup featuring Dead Moon’s Brett Lyman on guitar, Dub Narcotic Sound System’s Chris Sutton on bass, Vivian Girls’ Fiona Campbell on drums, and Priests’ Katie Alice Greer on backing vocals. You can watch the band performing on the current leg of their tour below:
Tour dates:
07.26.14 - Washington, DC - Fringe Fest
07.27.14 - Washington, DC - Black Cat *
07.28.14 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie *
07.29.14 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right *
07.30.14 - New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine *
07.31.14 - Portsmouth, NH - The Red Door *
08.01.14 - Pawtucket, RI - Machines with Magnets *
08.02.14 - Cambridge, MA - The Lily Pad *
08.03.14 - Portland, ME - SPACE Gallery *
08.04.14 - Montreal, QC - Divan Orange *
08.05.14 - Toronto, ON- Smiling Buddha *
08.06.14 - Detroit, MI - Jumbo’s Bar *
08.08.14 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
08.09.14 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverwest Public House *
08.10.14 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry at First Avenue *
08.11.14 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill
08.12.14 - St. Louis, MO - Luminary Center
08.13.14 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
* Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
• Chain & The Gang: http://chainandthegang.bandcamp.com
• Dischord: http://www.dischord.com