Nation of Ulysses
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| Nation of Ulysses | ||
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 Nation of Ulysses
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | Washington, D.C. | |
| Genre(s) | Punk Rock First Wave Emo |
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| Years active | 1988–1992 | |
| Label(s) | Dischord Records K Records Southern Records |
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| Website | Official site | |
| Former members | ||
| Ian Svenonius Steve Kroner Tim Green Steve Gamboa James Canty |
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Nation of Ulysses was a post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C.. The band formed in spring 1988, with four members and known as simply Ulysses, drawing inspiration from MC5's mix of revolutionary rhetoric and rock music.
Nation of Ulysses consisted of Ian 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. 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 Make-Up) is it." [1]
After their break up, Svenonius went on to form the short-lived Cupid Car Club with James Canty and Steve Gamboa, The Make-Up (again with Canty and Gamboa), and Weird War. Green went on to become an engineer and record producer and joined the prog-heavy metal band The Fucking Champs.
Nation of Ulysses toured extensively in the United States and Europe with bands like Beat Happening, Fugazi, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Slant 6, among others.
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[edit] Style
Musically and stylistically, the Nation of Ulysses had a tremendous influence on the underground punk rock and hardcore music scene in the early 90's. Their music was noisy and manic, but they also had a strong free-jazz influence. The band was also notorious for their 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 juvenile delinquency.
The group embodied a rejection of the 60's and 70's music and styling by rejecting drug use and advocating that punk youth dress nicely and sensibly. To this end, the liner notes of 13-Point Program to Destroy America states the band's aim "To dress well, as clothing and fashion, are the only things which we -- the kids -- being utterly disenfranchised, have any control over." [2] While this might seem to be a trivial point, it should be noted that not long after the Nation of Ulysses toured the USA, the fashion sensibility of the post-hardcore scene, did indeed, change quite considerably, and this was a precursor to the thrift store chic and straight edge fashion sensibilities of the 90's.
Besides punk rock 'n' roll, Nation of Ulysses incorporated elements of doo-wop, R&B, and avant-jazz in their sound. One of their mottos was "Look Out ... Soul Is Back!"
The Nation of Ulysses' song lyrics and writings were often sophisticated, erudite, humorous, and sometimes silly. The band did, however, address many issues concerning the underground music scene of the time, such as corporate co-opting, drug use, bad fashion, and poor grammar.
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.
[edit] Ideology
The Nation of Ulysses was not a rock 'n' roll group in the normal sense, but "the group as political party."[citation needed]
Upon the addition of guitarist Tim Green late in 1989, the ideology of the band largely changed from idealism to actionism.
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," [3] 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." They conceived themselves as being a political party disguised as a rock 'n' roll band.
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." [4]
Asked about their use of the medium they claimed to counteract - rock 'n' roll - Svenonious declared "Well, it's a camouflage, to allow for movement, revolutionary liberation from the constraints of everyday composure, basically allowing anybody to move in anyway that they want and to lift spirit to a plateau to destroy 'parent culture.' " [4]
Nation of Ulysses claimed not to make records, but weapons. Discussing their second release, Svenonius asserted: "it's like a blueprint for the destruction of the Parent Culture. It's like a zip gun ... It's an instruction pamphlet for kids on how to destroy their home life, you know, their domestic state." [4]
Although their first album was named 13-Point Program to Destroy America Nation of Ulysses didn't align themselves with a particular political philosophy: "We don't usually address normal political dictums. We aim toward the everyday fixtures of life, like aesthetics, sound, non-spoken things that are inherently political in nature instead of, like bogus politicians who focus on glossy surface issues which avoid any kind of revolutionary change." [4]
Nation of Ulysses record sleeves were festooned with broadsides inspired by the Futurist screeds of F. T. Marinetti, the situationist polemics of Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem, and the bulletins of the Black Panther Party. Their record covers were also often direct homages to El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko, Russian Constructivists from the 1920s and 1930s. The band's ideology and clothing were largely influenced also by politicized 1960s street gangs like The Vice Lords (Nation) and the Vice Lords's pantherized kin The (Almighty) Black P. Stones Nation.
The Nation of Ulysses also made a zine called "Ulysses Speaks," which was an extension of the ideology propagated in their liner notes.
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." [5]
[edit] Miscellaneous
In 1991, Ian Svenonius was featured as teen-oriented Sassy Magazine's first and only "Sassiest Boy in America." [6] He was interviewed at length in the magazine's October issue, much to the disbelief of many in the punk community.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- 13-Point Program to Destroy America (Dischord) (1991)
- Plays Pretty for Baby (Dischord) (1992)
- The Embassy Tapes (Dischord) (2000)
[edit] Studio EPs
- The Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic (the synthesis of speed and transformation) (Dischord) (1992)
[edit] References
- ^ Steady Diet fanzine - April 98. Steady Diet, April 1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ Morris, Daniel (2006-10-11). THE NATION HAS SPOKEN. City Belt. Retrieved on 2001-01-15.
- ^ Huey, Steve. The Nation of Ulysses Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ a b c d Dundas, Zach (1993-01). The Nation of Ulysses. Mumblage #1 (January 1993). Archived from the original on 2005-11-27. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
- ^ Cheslow, S.. Nation of Ulysses interview - 1989. Interrobang?! #1 (1989). Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ New York Night Train One-Year Anniversary. New York Night Train (2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
