SC Distributon

Chain & the Gang have grown up in the crevices and the cracks of society, not due to the hi-octane nurturing of main-stream media and corporate wizards, but in spite of them. They make their version of call and answer rock'n'roll to fill a yawning chasm in music where fun, personality, charm, and content fit in. With songs like "Surprise Party," "Heavy Breathing" and "Certain Kinds of Trash" C&tG's punk spirit is as natural as falling off a log, and emits the pure expression of a feral child with finger paint. The Record is called IN COOL BLOOD (KLP240). Dig it?Chain & the Gang are singers Ian Svenonius, Katie Alice Greer, and other musicians including Brett Lyman (M'Lady's records), Fiona Campbell (Coasting, Vivian Girls), Chris Sutton (Hornet Leg), Madison Farmer (Coasting), and Fred Thomas (Swimsuit, Saturday Looks Good to Me).

Many people have compiled a home library of records, compact discs, ticket stubs or concert set lists, but Chain & The Gang might not be included in all of them. Their delightful racket isn't for everyone. Is it for anyone? Possibly. Music's Not For Everyone is their follow-up long-player to Down With Liberty ... Up With Chains! and it is pithy and succinct. Led by Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, Make Up, Weird War etc), it features roaring organ solos, shredding guitar, and plomping percussion by an all star cast (Fred Thomas, Arrington de Dionyso, Brian Weber) complete with call and response vocals by fabulous back-up singers such as Veronica Ortuño, Sara Pedal and Tara Jane ONeil. Some will play this Music at pool parties, proms and pizzerias because there's a hard-edged dance groove. It sounds real "earthy." Others might choose "Not Good Enough" to be the anthem for their Football Team because it really psyches out the competition. Chain & the Gang knows they have a long way to go before they're fully accepted. But they have a strategy: maybe if someone heard their music, they would like it.

While recording their first album at Dub Narcotic Studio, Down with Liberty...Up with Chains! [KLP203], Chain & The Gang had so many good, extra songs and radical ideas, it became obvious that it would spill over onto a Dub Narcotic Disco Plate 7" single; Chain (aka Ian Svenonius) croons on "Cry, Cry, Cry (Over You)" ? culling inspiration from background vocals by Sixx (The Vibrarians), and a stinging piano solo by Brian Weber (Dub Narcotic Sound System). Extra strong, no cream, in a word: classic. On the other side, Selector Dub Narcotic (aka Calvin Johnson) added his own melodica flourishes, and voila! you've got the brand new Chain & The Gang 45 rpm record: a logical link from Liberty to the forthcoming Chain & The Gang long-player, Music's Not For Everyone [KLP220] out in February 2011.

Have you heard? Grandma's doing the bird to the latest rock-breaking teen sensation, the wig-flipping Chain & the Gang. "(I've Got) Privilege" is the latest volume in our International Pop Underground series of 7" 45 rpm records. Young and old alike love the beat, the cranked riffs, just the overall vibe! You may, too, as soon as this package slides under your door. Ian Svenonius and chums have really come up with a winner of a dance task master, a real double-A side plate. Chain (o.k., Ian) croons on the first side; espousing the joys of being part of the privileged class. Then he gets real confused about the relationship between cars and music (isn't it obvious?) on "Detroit Music ." "(I've Got) Privilege" was recorded by Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic Studio here in Olympia, Wash. Breaking all the chains, in the best possible way.

Just as it's called "liberty" when war and greed stalk the land, Ian Svenonius (Make Up, Nation of Ulysses and Weird War) calls his band Chain and the Gang. Like a true chain gang, they're on the road to confront and defy any freedom-lovers that come across their path. They shuffle, manacled, across railway yards, and through graveyards; they're on the side of the road, picking up the garbage as they walk, as people drive by, yelling at them. All they can do is become a chorus of metal meeting metal, hands hitting hands and a collective voice louder than one. The songs they have created on Down With Liberty ... Up With Chains [KLP203] are sing-alongs; a call and response in the tradition of gospel tunes, work favorites and the girl groups and vocal aggregates that once dotted the corners of the Mid-Atlantic United States.