Seattle Subsonic

Political Punks Chain & the Gang Just Want To Party

July 8th, 2010

In my preview for this show, I mentioned how Chain & the Gang chief Ian Svenovius was a “a sharp-dressed street corner evangelist, proselytizing on the cultural ills of Liberty, Freedom, [and] the Pursuit of Happiness”. And while his sing-along set aptly contained those crucial convictions, it became apparent that the wild-eyed, rubber-legged stage jumper was in town to kick it rock n’ roll style. Party first, politics second, people.

The D.C. band opened with what could’ve been a real chain gang chant back in the day, “Cemetery Map”, and the performance proceeded to (d)evolve into some sort of rowdy Rock Club Revival. Svenonius continually implored the gawkers to learn his lyrics and help him solidify his sassy sermons. Lots of “yeeeeeaaah” responses from the crowd, which was average in size, but fully committed to a silly, sardonic baptism on a Tuesday night at the Croc. After “Reparations” and the “Chain Gang Theme (I See Progress)” warmed us up with some gyrating garage rock, we all sang along with this chorus: “It’s a hard, hard job / keepin’ everyone high”. The word ‘high’ would be subsequently substituted with ‘stoned’ and ‘lit’. Party first, dudes, party first. Svenonius does a lot of talking during his sets, and most of it’s pretty entertaining. One notable bit lamented on how “youth is wasted on the young” and the cultural conundrum of a newborn baby sporting a Ramones-emblazoned onesie. “That baby doesn’t even know who the Ramones are!”

The Gang boasted a drummer and an unidentifiable bassist who served as Chain’s right hand woman, backing him up with vocals on every song, deep purplish bass, and coy smiles. Brian Weber, formerly of the Saturday Knights and Dub Narcotic Soundsystem, provided a naaasty blues organ backdrop, along with the requisite guitar shanks he churned out on an old beat up Rickenbacker 360. Whenever Svenonius told him to solo, he did! One weird thought I had during the campy, anti-Capitalist “What is a Dollar?” was that it totally could’ve been a Wailers song. Not ‘Bob Marley and the Wailers’, but the original Wailers with Bunny and Peter and Bob. Must’ve been the bass and organ. Quite a few songs not found on their lone record were played, which was both surprising and neat (i.e., “(I’ve Got) Privilege”, “Livin’ Rough”, “Why Not, Who Cares Anymore?”, and the lackluster closer “Detroit Music”). Here’s a pretty sweet vid of “Reparations”, featuring one of many trips from stage to floor to rile us cowards up: