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Make-Up (band)
Encyclopedia
The Make-Up was an American post-punk
band from Washington, D.C.
formed in 1995, consisting of ex-Nation of Ulysses
frontman Ian Svenonius
on vocals, James Canty
on guitar and organ, Steve Gamboa on drums, and Michelle Mae
on bass guitar. The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff
(of the groups Golden
and Extra Golden), who played guitar with the group until the band's dissolution in early 2000.
The Make-Up combined garage rock
, soul
, and a self-styled liberation theology
to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". This style led to an emphasis on live performances and interaction between the band and their audience, incorporating the audience into the performances as a "fifth member", creating what one reviewer described as ""highly energetic and participatory live shows". Parallel to the band's gospel musical stylings, the Make-Up produced music under a communism
-influenced political philosophy that they saw as counter to the capitalist
form of modern rock and roll and pop music.
The Make-Up released four studio albums, two live albums, a compilation release collecting several single
s and B-side
s, and a number of vinyl singles, all released on independent record label
s such as Dischord Records
, K Records
, and Southern Records
. Svenonius, Mae, and Minoff are now part of the group Weird War
. Svenonius has since released a solo album under the pseudonym David Candy
. Canty went on to play with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
and French Toast
.
. Before joining the Make-Up, Mae played with the Northwest group The Frumpies
. In a post-Nation of Ulysses interview, Svenonius explained the formation of the Make-Up from the ashes of his former band: "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". The Make-Up released records through many independent record labels, most notably Dischord Records
, K Records
, Southern Records
, and their own Black Gemini Records. On their numerous releases, the Make-Up recorded with a number of producers, including Brendan Canty
, Calvin Johnson, Guy Picciotto
, Royal Trux
("Adam and Eve"), John Loder, and Ian MacKaye
. They toured extensively with many groups such as Dub Narcotic Sound System
, Royal Trux
, Sonic Youth
, Fugazi
, Ted Leo
, Slant 6
, Lungleg, Mr. Quintron
, Blonde Redhead
, among others.
In 2000, after releasing their fifth studio album, the Make-Up dissolved, reportedly "due to the large number of counter-gang copy groups which had appropriated their look and sound and applied it to vacuous and counter-revolutionary forms". Svenonius also added in retrospect, "[The Make-Up] went on for five years. We had a five year plan like Stalin
. It was becoming redundant and people were copying us. That's fine. We don't have to do it anymore because they can".
During the Make-Up's five years of activity, they released four studio albums, a live album, a compilation of single
s and B-side
s, and a number of singles and splits. A posthumous live album was also released in 2006. The band was also the subject of the short film Blue is Beautiful by James Schneider, later repackaged as part of In Film/On Video
in 2006.
While the Make-Up released both "live" and "studio" records, their recordings were all created with an eye to spontaneity. Most studio songs were cut as they occurred to the group at the moment. Therefore, the Make-Up's studio records were in a sense, quite "live".
The Make-Up's first release in 1995 was "Blue is Beautiful," a 7-inch single released on the band's own Black Gemini Records–a label which only released a handful of the Make-Up's releases, many of which used a characteristically simple single-color album sleeve. Their second and third releases were also 7-inch singles: a split with the Meta-Matics, again on Black Gemini, and another split with Slant 6
on Time Bomb Records.
The band's first full-length studio album, Destination: Love - Live! At Cold Rice
, was released in 1996. The album was touted as a live release, though it was actually recorded in a studio with "live" sounds added into the mix later. In 1997, the band released two more albums less than a month apart: After Dark, a live-recording from London, and Sound Verite
, a studio album. Although they were released nearly simultaneously, the two albums shared a number of tracks, recorded either live or in-studio. The same year the Make-Up released "Free Arthur Lee," a 7-inch single promoting the release of Love
singer Arthur Lee
, who was incarcerated in 1996. Also in 1997, the Make-Up were the subject of James Schneider's fictionalized tour-documentary Blue is Beautiful
.
The following year, The Make-Up released their fourth studio album, In Mass Mind
, as well as a split 7-inch with Scottish band Lungleg. In 1999, the Make-Up released I Want Some
, a compilation album of previous singles and B-sides. A month later, the band released what would be their fifth and final studio album Save Yourself
.
A posthumous live album, Untouchable Sound
, was released in 2006 by Drag City
and Sea Note. The album included the addition of Alex Minoff
on guitar. Despite presenting themselves as an inherently "live" act, Untouchable Sound was one of only two full-length live releases. The same year, Dischord Records released In Film/On Video
, a DVD collection of live performances, music videos, and Blue is Beautiful.
and socialist
terms, in opposition of what he saw as the capitalist
, bourgeois
, machismo
paradigm of rock and roll
. This political position was typically presented during live performances and interviews with Svenonius, rather than in the music itself or its lyrics. Svenonius compared the Make-Up's ideology to the Situationist International group of the 1950s and 1960s, since both presented a critique of the modern, capitalist lifestyle, specifically of capitalism's effect on popular and consumable culture, such as rock and roll and pop music. When asked if, in line with the title of The Nation of Ulysses' 1991 album 13-Point Program to Destroy America, he still hoped to "destroy America", Svenonius responded simply: "Of course". This aversion to American culture was crystallized through their self-style musical genre "Gospel Yeh-Yeh," a belief system through which they advocated to their audience to "get theirs" and to "off the pigs in all their forms".
The Make-Up's aversion to capitalist American culture was echoed in the 1998 short film Blue is Beautiful
, in which the band starred. The film follows the band's fictionalized escape from America as "cultural refugees", where they are hunted by mysterious government agencies and find refuge in coffeehouses and underground night clubs. Much like the assumed personae and personalities of all of Svenonius' bands and projects, a make-believe mythos and back-story surrounds the Make-Up, primarily based on the band's gospel approach and its pseudo-political, socialist aesthetics. The political identity of the Make-Up was ideologically and semantically similar to Svenonius' other bands and projects, all of which culminate in his collection of essays, The Psychic Soviet, published through Drag City Press
in 2006.
's use of the congregate as a "fifth member", the Make-Up incorporated audience participation through call and response vocals, lyrical "discussion" techniques, and destruction of the fourth wall
by physical transgression.
Discussing the appropriation of the form of gospel music
(as opposed to its content), Svenonius said:
One concern of the group was to keep their music "stripped down" and minimal. This was indicative of the Make-Up's aversion to letting communication be upstaged by technology. Svenonius explained that "the problem is that the high creatures are the server mechanisms of the technology and the system they have created, meaning that we're dictated to as much by cars. We've turned the world into a parking lot. Similarly we use musical technology that we create, and it finds a use for itself".
Due to the Make-Up's consideration of the audience and the special techniques they applied to performing, their live shows exhibited a convergence of soul
, surf
, and punk
– an example of which is their single "I Want Some" some from their 1999 album of the same name
. Citing the Make-Up's soul influences, one reviewer stated "If you didn't know it, you'd swear that the four members of The Make Up had stolen the soul from James Brown
himself". The Make-Up were also highly influenced by bubblegum music
, particularly the French variety called Yé-yé
. The factory style of production Yé-yé music had utilized interested the group, who were interested in expanding the labor force involved in the production of pop music, a movement which they saw as in opposition to the rock and roll trend (begun by The Beatles
) toward self-sufficiency and "downsizing" labor. Through the synthesis of these two disparate and contradictory forms – gospel and Yé-yé – the Make-Up devised a hybrid style they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". Live interpretations of this style can be found on the Make-Up's two full-length live releases, After Dark and Untouchable Sound
, including "They Live by Night," a song recorded both in studio and live, on Destination: Love - Live! and Untouchable Sound respectively.
The Make-Up's gospel attitude was related to utilization of the audience as a group member, which Svenonius likened to the rise of the 90s dance music
scene: "We're not interested in countering it. It makes sense to me that techno
, rave
and dance music
should go over in the face of rock and roll because it's democratic for everybody to express themselves. Whereas a lot of rock and roll isn't even entertaining at all, let alone allowing people the voice for expression. That's what the Make-Up has come to remedy. We want to be at once entertaining and inclusive in terms of using the gospel form to sort of breathe life into the old Frankenstein
monster". Svenonius would often interact with the audience in a number of ways, including call and response lyrics, direct address, and leaving the stage and going out into the crowd.
Despite the band's "gospel" and "ad-libbed" approach to recording, the Make-Up's live performances were often quite structured, as opposed to the typical "jam session
". Svenonius explained that "there's a skeleton that we create and the form of our shows is unchanging - there's an intro, an outro, a middle break. It's very vaudevillian
in form". The Make-Up always wore matching uniforms on stage. Like most of the Make-Up's identity, the uniforms were an ideological statement, meant to "[destroy] individualism. Instead of there being this person [or] this member, and them having their separate personalities, or having them as separate entities. We're trying to create a unification. A one-ness. That's basically what it is: they're uniforms".
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
formed in 1995, consisting of ex-Nation of Ulysses
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James...
frontman Ian Svenonius
Ian Svenonius
Ian Folke Svenonius is an American musician, notable as the singer of various Washington, D.C.-based bands including Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, and Chain and The Gang. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has released more than 15 full-length albums and more than 20 singles,...
on vocals, James Canty
James Canty
James Canty is a Brooklyn, New York-based multi-instrumentalist musician from Washington, D.C. Canty is the younger brother of Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and writer Kevin Canty....
on guitar and organ, Steve Gamboa on drums, and Michelle Mae
Michelle Mae
Michelle Mae is an American musician from the state of Washington, who is known for playing in rock 'n' roll groups such as The Make-Up and Weird War.-Biography:...
on bass guitar. The Make-Up were joined in late 1999 by a fifth member, Alex Minoff
Alex Minoff
Alex Minoff is an American musician from Pennsylvania who is known for his work with the groups Golden, Weird War, and Extra Golden.Though coming from an independent rock 'n' roll tradition, Minoff plays Kenyan Benga music in Extra Golden, which also includes a drummer and singer-guitarist from...
(of the groups Golden
Golden (Band)
Golden is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Oberlin, Ohio. Since Golden's members are also involved with other, more well-known bands, Golden is often considered more of a side project than a full-fledged band in its own right....
and Extra Golden), who played guitar with the group until the band's dissolution in early 2000.
The Make-Up combined garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and a self-styled liberation theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
to make a new genre they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". This style led to an emphasis on live performances and interaction between the band and their audience, incorporating the audience into the performances as a "fifth member", creating what one reviewer described as ""highly energetic and participatory live shows". Parallel to the band's gospel musical stylings, the Make-Up produced music under a communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
-influenced political philosophy that they saw as counter to the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
form of modern rock and roll and pop music.
The Make-Up released four studio albums, two live albums, a compilation release collecting several single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
s and B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
s, and a number of vinyl singles, all released on independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
s such as Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
, K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
, and Southern Records
Southern Records
Southern Records is an independent record label closely associated with Crass Records, Corpus Christi Records and Dischord Records. It is based in London and previously had offices in Chicago , Le Havre and Berlin .Southern was originally a recording studio owned and operated by John Loder...
. Svenonius, Mae, and Minoff are now part of the group Weird War
Weird War
Weird Wars is a series of horror role-playing games set during past and future wars and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. The original release, Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine was set during World War II, and utilized the D20 System...
. Svenonius has since released a solo album under the pseudonym David Candy
David Candy
David Candy is a pseudonym of Ian Svenonius . Only one album was released under the name David Candy, Play Power...
. Canty went on to play with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are an American rock band formed in 1999 in Washington, D.C. and currently recording for Matador Records. They have released six full-length studio albums and have toured internationally...
and French Toast
French Toast (band)
French Toast is a band from Washington, D.C., formed in 2001 as a duo consisting of James Canty and Jerry Busher. They added a third member, Ben Gilligan, in 2005. Dischord's website has James Canty credited with guitar, vocals, keyboards and drums, and Jerry Busher is credited with bass, drums,...
.
History
Before the formation of the Make-Up, Svenonius, Canty, and Gamboa were members of The Nation of Ulysses and the short-lived Cupid Car ClubCupid Car Club
Cupid Car Club, also known as Cupid Car Club M.P., was a short-lived American post-hardcore band consisting of Ian Svenonius on vocals, James Canty on drums, Steve Gamboa on guitar , and Kim Thompson on bass and vocals.They released one 7" EP on Kill Rock Stars, called...
. Before joining the Make-Up, Mae played with the Northwest group The Frumpies
The Frumpies
The Frumpies was a punk rock band formed in 1992 Olympia, Washington. The original line-up consisted of singers/guitarists Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren , and Bratmobile drummer Molly Neuman. Their debut was the 7 inch single Alien Summer Nights on the Chainsaw label...
. In a post-Nation of Ulysses interview, Svenonius explained the formation of the Make-Up from the ashes of his former band: "Nation of Ulysses broke up because the epoch changed with the advent of digital music
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
and the Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
explosion. We were faced with what's now known as indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
, a sort of vacuous form. We had to determine our next move and this [the forming of Make-Up] is it". The Make-Up released records through many independent record labels, most notably Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
, K Records
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
, Southern Records
Southern Records
Southern Records is an independent record label closely associated with Crass Records, Corpus Christi Records and Dischord Records. It is based in London and previously had offices in Chicago , Le Havre and Berlin .Southern was originally a recording studio owned and operated by John Loder...
, and their own Black Gemini Records. On their numerous releases, the Make-Up recorded with a number of producers, including Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi....
, Calvin Johnson, Guy Picciotto
Guy Picciotto
Guy Picciotto is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer from Washington, DC.He is most widely known for his role as the guitarist and vocalist of Fugazi, as well as Rites of Spring.-Rites of Spring & Early Projects:...
, Royal Trux
Royal Trux
Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band from 1987 to 2001, founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema .-History:...
("Adam and Eve"), John Loder, and Ian MacKaye
Ian MacKaye
Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
. They toured extensively with many groups such as Dub Narcotic Sound System
Dub Narcotic Sound System
Dub Narcotic Sound System is an Olympia, Washington based indie-funk musical group founded by Calvin Johnson, signed to K Records.-Origins:The band is named after Calvin Johnson's basement recording studio, Dub Narcotic....
, Royal Trux
Royal Trux
Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band from 1987 to 2001, founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema .-History:...
, Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
, Fugazi
Fugazi (band)
Fugazi is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members are guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty....
, Ted Leo
Ted Leo
Theodore F. Leo , called "Ted," as a short form of "Theodore," is an American punk rock/indie rock songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, though he is most known for his singing and guitar playing...
, Slant 6
Slant 6
Slant 6 was an all-female punk rock trio based in Washington, D.C.The group consisted of Christina Billotte , Myra Power , and Marge Marshall ; it formed in July 1992 following the 1991 breakup of Autoclave, in which Billotte had played...
, Lungleg, Mr. Quintron
Mr. Quintron
Quintron is an American musician and leader of the eponymous one-man-band, "Quintron". He is a celebrated nightclub organist and inventor, who has patented a number of his own inventions and often performs at his own private club, the Spellcaster Lodge, located on St. Claude Avenue in New...
, Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace , which formed in New York City in 1993....
, among others.
In 2000, after releasing their fifth studio album, the Make-Up dissolved, reportedly "due to the large number of counter-gang copy groups which had appropriated their look and sound and applied it to vacuous and counter-revolutionary forms". Svenonius also added in retrospect, "[The Make-Up] went on for five years. We had a five year plan like Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. It was becoming redundant and people were copying us. That's fine. We don't have to do it anymore because they can".
Recordings
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
s and B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
s, and a number of singles and splits. A posthumous live album was also released in 2006. The band was also the subject of the short film Blue is Beautiful by James Schneider, later repackaged as part of In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
in 2006.
While the Make-Up released both "live" and "studio" records, their recordings were all created with an eye to spontaneity. Most studio songs were cut as they occurred to the group at the moment. Therefore, the Make-Up's studio records were in a sense, quite "live".
The Make-Up's first release in 1995 was "Blue is Beautiful," a 7-inch single released on the band's own Black Gemini Records–a label which only released a handful of the Make-Up's releases, many of which used a characteristically simple single-color album sleeve. Their second and third releases were also 7-inch singles: a split with the Meta-Matics, again on Black Gemini, and another split with Slant 6
Slant 6
Slant 6 was an all-female punk rock trio based in Washington, D.C.The group consisted of Christina Billotte , Myra Power , and Marge Marshall ; it formed in July 1992 following the 1991 breakup of Autoclave, in which Billotte had played...
on Time Bomb Records.
The band's first full-length studio album, Destination: Love - Live! At Cold Rice
Destination: Love - Live! At Cold Rice
Destination: Love - Live! At Cold Rice is the debut album by The Make-Up. They have admitted in interviews that it was actually a studio album to which fake crowd noise was added, in the spirit of 1960s-era "live albums."...
, was released in 1996. The album was touted as a live release, though it was actually recorded in a studio with "live" sounds added into the mix later. In 1997, the band released two more albums less than a month apart: After Dark, a live-recording from London, and Sound Verite
Sound Verite
Sound Verite is the third album by The Make-Up.The album's cover appears to be an homage to the cover of Love's Forever Changes, a band which The Make-Up were often compared to.-Track listing:#"If They Come in the Morning" – 5:53...
, a studio album. Although they were released nearly simultaneously, the two albums shared a number of tracks, recorded either live or in-studio. The same year the Make-Up released "Free Arthur Lee," a 7-inch single promoting the release of Love
Love (band)
Love was an American rock group of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were led by singer/songwriter Arthur Lee and lead guitarist Johnny Echols...
singer Arthur Lee
Arthur Lee (musician)
Arthur Lee was the frontman, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of the Los Angeles rock band Love, best known for the critically acclaimed 1967 album, Forever Changes.-Early years:...
, who was incarcerated in 1996. Also in 1997, the Make-Up were the subject of James Schneider's fictionalized tour-documentary Blue is Beautiful
In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
.
The following year, The Make-Up released their fourth studio album, In Mass Mind
In Mass Mind
In Mass Mind is the fourth album by The Make-Up.All tracks were written and composed by The Make-Up, except for tracks #1, #13, and #14. "Black Wire Pt. 1" and "Black Wire Pt. 2" are attributed as inspired by the MC5...
, as well as a split 7-inch with Scottish band Lungleg. In 1999, the Make-Up released I Want Some
I Want Some
I Want Some is a compilation album from The Make-Up. I Want Some collects 23 of The Make-Up's singles and B-Sides. It was released as a double LP, and as a CD version that included an 11-page booklet...
, a compilation album of previous singles and B-sides. A month later, the band released what would be their fifth and final studio album Save Yourself
Save Yourself (Make-Up album)
Save Yourself is the fifth album by The Make-Up. Track #9, "Hey Joe," is a cover of a popular rock and roll standard of the same name. "Hey Joe" has been covered by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Leaves, among many others.-Track listing:...
.
A posthumous live album, Untouchable Sound
Untouchable Sound
Untouchable Sound is the sixth, posthumous album by The Make-Up. It is their second live album . On this album only, Alex Minoff joined The Make-Up on guitar...
, was released in 2006 by Drag City
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
and Sea Note. The album included the addition of Alex Minoff
Alex Minoff
Alex Minoff is an American musician from Pennsylvania who is known for his work with the groups Golden, Weird War, and Extra Golden.Though coming from an independent rock 'n' roll tradition, Minoff plays Kenyan Benga music in Extra Golden, which also includes a drummer and singer-guitarist from...
on guitar. Despite presenting themselves as an inherently "live" act, Untouchable Sound was one of only two full-length live releases. The same year, Dischord Records released In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
, a DVD collection of live performances, music videos, and Blue is Beautiful.
Politics
As the Make-Up's frontman and mouthpiece, Ian Svenonius often contextualized the band's music in terms of larger socio-political themes. Svenonius typically described the band and its gospel attitude in MarxistMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
terms, in opposition of what he saw as the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
, machismo
Machismo
Machismo, or machoism, is a word of Spanish and Portuguese origin that describes prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism...
paradigm of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. This political position was typically presented during live performances and interviews with Svenonius, rather than in the music itself or its lyrics. Svenonius compared the Make-Up's ideology to the Situationist International group of the 1950s and 1960s, since both presented a critique of the modern, capitalist lifestyle, specifically of capitalism's effect on popular and consumable culture, such as rock and roll and pop music. When asked if, in line with the title of The Nation of Ulysses' 1991 album 13-Point Program to Destroy America, he still hoped to "destroy America", Svenonius responded simply: "Of course". This aversion to American culture was crystallized through their self-style musical genre "Gospel Yeh-Yeh," a belief system through which they advocated to their audience to "get theirs" and to "off the pigs in all their forms".
The Make-Up's aversion to capitalist American culture was echoed in the 1998 short film Blue is Beautiful
In Film/On Video
In Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
, in which the band starred. The film follows the band's fictionalized escape from America as "cultural refugees", where they are hunted by mysterious government agencies and find refuge in coffeehouses and underground night clubs. Much like the assumed personae and personalities of all of Svenonius' bands and projects, a make-believe mythos and back-story surrounds the Make-Up, primarily based on the band's gospel approach and its pseudo-political, socialist aesthetics. The political identity of the Make-Up was ideologically and semantically similar to Svenonius' other bands and projects, all of which culminate in his collection of essays, The Psychic Soviet, published through Drag City Press
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...
in 2006.
Musical ideology and style
The Make-Up intended to create ad-lib performances in order to re-energize what they saw as the stale, bland, and formal ritual of rock and roll. Appropriating gospel musicGospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
's use of the congregate as a "fifth member", the Make-Up incorporated audience participation through call and response vocals, lyrical "discussion" techniques, and destruction of the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
by physical transgression.
Discussing the appropriation of the form of gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
(as opposed to its content), Svenonius said:
One concern of the group was to keep their music "stripped down" and minimal. This was indicative of the Make-Up's aversion to letting communication be upstaged by technology. Svenonius explained that "the problem is that the high creatures are the server mechanisms of the technology and the system they have created, meaning that we're dictated to as much by cars. We've turned the world into a parking lot. Similarly we use musical technology that we create, and it finds a use for itself".
Due to the Make-Up's consideration of the audience and the special techniques they applied to performing, their live shows exhibited a convergence of soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, surf
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
, and punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
– an example of which is their single "I Want Some" some from their 1999 album of the same name
I Want Some
I Want Some is a compilation album from The Make-Up. I Want Some collects 23 of The Make-Up's singles and B-Sides. It was released as a double LP, and as a CD version that included an 11-page booklet...
. Citing the Make-Up's soul influences, one reviewer stated "If you didn't know it, you'd swear that the four members of The Make Up had stolen the soul from James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
himself". The Make-Up were also highly influenced by bubblegum music
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
, particularly the French variety called Yé-yé
Yé-yé
Yé-yé was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from "yeah! yeah!" The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg....
. The factory style of production Yé-yé music had utilized interested the group, who were interested in expanding the labor force involved in the production of pop music, a movement which they saw as in opposition to the rock and roll trend (begun by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
) toward self-sufficiency and "downsizing" labor. Through the synthesis of these two disparate and contradictory forms – gospel and Yé-yé – the Make-Up devised a hybrid style they called "Gospel Yeh-Yeh". Live interpretations of this style can be found on the Make-Up's two full-length live releases, After Dark and Untouchable Sound
Untouchable Sound
Untouchable Sound is the sixth, posthumous album by The Make-Up. It is their second live album . On this album only, Alex Minoff joined The Make-Up on guitar...
, including "They Live by Night," a song recorded both in studio and live, on Destination: Love - Live! and Untouchable Sound respectively.
Live performances
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
scene: "We're not interested in countering it. It makes sense to me that techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, rave
Rave music
Rave music may either refer the late 1980s genre or any genre of electronic dance music that may be played at an electronic dance party such as a rave. Very rarely, the term is used to refer to less electronic related genres glam, powerpop, psychedelic rock and dub music parties...
and dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
should go over in the face of rock and roll because it's democratic for everybody to express themselves. Whereas a lot of rock and roll isn't even entertaining at all, let alone allowing people the voice for expression. That's what the Make-Up has come to remedy. We want to be at once entertaining and inclusive in terms of using the gospel form to sort of breathe life into the old Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
monster". Svenonius would often interact with the audience in a number of ways, including call and response lyrics, direct address, and leaving the stage and going out into the crowd.
Despite the band's "gospel" and "ad-libbed" approach to recording, the Make-Up's live performances were often quite structured, as opposed to the typical "jam session
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...
". Svenonius explained that "there's a skeleton that we create and the form of our shows is unchanging - there's an intro, an outro, a middle break. It's very vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
in form". The Make-Up always wore matching uniforms on stage. Like most of the Make-Up's identity, the uniforms were an ideological statement, meant to "[destroy] individualism. Instead of there being this person [or] this member, and them having their separate personalities, or having them as separate entities. We're trying to create a unification. A one-ness. That's basically what it is: they're uniforms".
Studio albums
- Destination: Love - Live! At Cold RiceDestination: Love - Live! At Cold RiceDestination: Love - Live! At Cold Rice is the debut album by The Make-Up. They have admitted in interviews that it was actually a studio album to which fake crowd noise was added, in the spirit of 1960s-era "live albums."...
(Dischord) (1996) - Sound VeriteSound VeriteSound Verite is the third album by The Make-Up.The album's cover appears to be an homage to the cover of Love's Forever Changes, a band which The Make-Up were often compared to.-Track listing:#"If They Come in the Morning" – 5:53...
(K Records) (1997) - In Mass MindIn Mass MindIn Mass Mind is the fourth album by The Make-Up.All tracks were written and composed by The Make-Up, except for tracks #1, #13, and #14. "Black Wire Pt. 1" and "Black Wire Pt. 2" are attributed as inspired by the MC5...
(Dischord) (1998) - Save YourselfSave Yourself (Make-Up album)Save Yourself is the fifth album by The Make-Up. Track #9, "Hey Joe," is a cover of a popular rock and roll standard of the same name. "Hey Joe" has been covered by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Leaves, among many others.-Track listing:...
(K Records) (1999) - I Want SomeI Want SomeI Want Some is a compilation album from The Make-Up. I Want Some collects 23 of The Make-Up's singles and B-Sides. It was released as a double LP, and as a CD version that included an 11-page booklet...
(singles compilation) (K Records) (1999)
Live albums
- After Dark (Dischord) (1997)
- Untouchable SoundUntouchable SoundUntouchable Sound is the sixth, posthumous album by The Make-Up. It is their second live album . On this album only, Alex Minoff joined The Make-Up on guitar...
(Drag City/Sea Note) (2006)
DVD/Video
- Blue is Beautiful (included on In Film/On VideoIn Film/On VideoIn Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
) (Dischord) (1998) - In Film/On VideoIn Film/On VideoIn Film/On Video is a collection of video and film of Washington D.C. rock band Make-Up released in 2006 by Dischord Records. Included on the DVD:...
(Dischord) (2006)