Last fall Make-Up singer Ian Svenonius was quoted saying, "Something that’s sad about independent groups is that there’s a real humility around the vocals. People won’t turn up the vocals. The only bad-sounding vocal is a quiet vocal... You’ve gotta be bold and step up to the mic." He has done just that, again, only this time it’s not with the Make-Up, the Nation of Ulysses or Cupid Car Club, but for his new alter ego, David Candy.
Svenonius has always been at the forefront of pushing musical extremes. Cupid Car Club was ahead of its time and is still enjoyable. As for Nation of Ulysses–ask any twentysomething who was into punk rock, and they’ll own 1991’s 13 Point Program to Destroy America and ’92’s Plays Pretty for Baby. I saw the Make-Up a few years later in a small southern record store, Landspeed Records. Having Svenonius’ lips nearly touch mine as he screamed, "Yeow!" and "The gospel, yeah, yeah!" was like getting hit on the head by a television evangelist and being saved. It was revolutionary.
Now, while the Make-Up suffers from putting out too many records that sound exactly alike, Svenonius has moved on to this David Candy persona. He’s challenging his fans with a brand new form of music: pretentious pop. The gospel frontman has traded in his mod clothes (white belt and all) for flamboyant 70s getups. On Play Power’s "Incomprehensibly Yours," which appropriately follows the "David Candy Theme" song, Svenonius talks over catchy French-sounding pop music in a seductive Lite-FM voice: "Hi I’m David Candy/Don’t worry, I will look after you/I understand you/I already know you/I have always known you/from this moment you will never be alone again/I will always be next to you/you’ll never have to feel abandoned anymore/every time you put out your hand you’ll find mine to hold/you won’t have to try to escape anymore/at last you can stop running/your loneliness is over/we will have a perfect life..." He rambles on until you ask yourself what the fuck is going on–and burst out laughing.
Candy goes on to reassure us that all we have to do is "Listen to the Music." The inspiration for this song and "Bad Bad Boy," we’re told, includes "elements of Christopher Jones‚ Max Frost from Wild in the Streets where a pop singer becomes President and of the Paul Jones character in Privilege where the publicity campaign for a pop star turns him into a religious messiah." Elements, in short, one could only gather after smoking a blunt. Or maybe Svenonius’ alter ego was created out of pure boredom, completely sober? I doubt it.
Svenonius seems to have become David Candy for the same reasons Kathleen Hanna became Julie Ruin when she adopted a new style of songwriting. He’s leaving the punk/DIY scene he’s associated with and taking on this dreamy character who loves pop music. Play Power sounds like a 70s pop soundtrack to a bad French movie, with English subtitles.
On "Bad Bad Boy" Candy pleads, "Hey little girl... I’m on my knees/forgive me please/I’ve been a bad, bad boy/I’m not the man you think I am." Next up is "Diary of a Genius." After nearly four minutes of instrumental tribal-sounding music, the track begins: "Dear diary, I woke at the usual time/everything is basically the same as the day before/I checked my ID, I’m still David Candy." He continues: "Dear diary, first the compulsion is to drink coffee in the morning/then hunger for nourishment." Through some 19 minutes the song continues with lines like, "I needed a hobby/so today I took up smoking."
At this point you have to wonder why a label would release something so ridiculous; I’m not sure everyone is going to get the joke. Then again, maybe it isn’t a joke. Someone needs to stop this madman or college students will continue to taunt his father (who, I’ve heard, is a law professor at Georgetown) by quoting Make-Up lyrics at him. Maybe we can hope to see David Candy in a tour with Har Mar Superstar, Sean Na Na and Dakota Smith.
