Has there ever been a more relevant band for the times than Chain and the Gang? It’s the confrontational attitude of punk, the resonant power of soul, the strength of rock’n’roll. Ian Svenonious’ acerbic punk philosophy slices through turgid public discourse, its razor-sharp linguistic edge dripping with the blood of political shibboleths and cultural dogma. Jean-Paul Sartre questioned how we could be free when we have personal possessions; Svenonious exposes our expectations of freedom for the pretentious aspirations they will always be.
There is no Free Will; Why Not rise and Devitalise the system, yourself and your mind. We don’t see Certain Kinds of Trash anymore, I See Progress before but What Is a Dollar but a means of exchange for something I can never find? There’s The Logic of Night when we think we can escape the gaze of dominant institutions whose power relies on our subservience; Come Over and talk, Mum’s the Word, don’t say anything less you disclose what you’ve found and if people find out they’ll realise just what’s happening.
Correction: There has never been a more relevant band for today than Chain and the Gang. ‘Nuff Said.
