The 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 Canty on drums. Tim Green joined the band late in 1989 as a guitarist and the band became "Nation of Ulysses." Nation of Ulysses disbanded in the autumn of 1992, having failed to complete their third album. After the breakup, Svenonius, Canty, and Gamboa went on to form the short-lived Cupid Car Club and The Make-Up. Tim Green went on to help create The Fucking Champs, a mostly-instrumental trio out of San Francisco, and later Concentrick, a solo project with a focus on ambient music.

The Nation of Ulysses
Background information
OriginWashington, D.C.
GenresPunk rock, post-hardcore
Years active1988–1992
LabelsDischord, K Records, Southern
Associated actsCupid Car Club, The Make-Up, Weird War, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, French Toast, The Fucking Champs, Young Ginns, Ideal Forms
WebsiteOfficial site
Past membersIan Svenonius
Steve Kroner
Tim Green
Steve Gamboa
James Canty

Nation of Ulysses was known for their far-left politics, their extremely physical live performances, and their unique take on punk culture and fashion. In total, Nation of Ulysses released three full-length albums, and two vinyl EPs released on Dischord Records, and were featured on a number of compilation albums on a variety of record labels.

History

The band formed in spring 1988, initially composed of four members – Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James Canty on drums – and known simply as "Ulysses." In late 1989, Tim Green joined the band as a second guitarist and the band was renamed to "Nation of Ulysses."[1]

In 1990, before the band released any official albums, Ian Svenonius was featured as teen-oriented Sassy Magazine's first "Sassiest Boy in America." He was interviewed at length in the magazine's October issue, going into some depth about the band's sound and political motivations.[2]

In 1991 they released their first full-length album, 13-Point Program to Destroy America on Dischord Records. This was followed a year later by Plays Pretty for Baby, also on Dischord. During the recording of the band's follow-up to Plays Pretty for Baby, Steve Kroner left the band. The remaining quartet continued to record, but eventually dissolved in 1992. In a later interview, Svenonius explained the reason for the split: "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 the Make-Up] is it."[3]

After the band's dissolution, Svenonius went on to form the short-lived Cupid Car Club with James Canty and Steve Gamboa, the Make-Up (again with Canty and Gamboa), and Weird War.[4] Green went on to become an engineer and record producer and joined the prog-heavy metal band The Fucking Champs.[5]

Though relatively short-lived, Nation of Ulysses' influence has been substantial: they have been cited as influences for bands such as Glassjaw, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Hives, Thursday, Refused, Boysetsfire, Bikini Kill, Rocket From The Crypt, Antioch Arrow, The Locust, At The Drive-in, LCD Soundsystem, and Huggy Bear, among many others.[6][7][8]

Recordings

During Nation of Ulysses' four years of activity, they released only two full-length albums: 13-Point Program to Destroy America in 1991 and Plays Pretty for Baby in 1992, both released on Dischord Records. After releasing Plays Pretty for Baby, the band began recording a third full-length album, but Steve Kroner separated from the band before recording was completed. The remaining quartet continued to record, but the group eventually dissolved before the record's completion. In 2000, six songs from those sessions, in addition to four new tracks recorded live, were compiled and released posthumously as The Embassy Tapes.[9]

In addition to their three full-length albums, Nation of Ulysses released two vinyl EPs. The first, a self-titled EP, was the band's first official release, but went out of print when the three tracks from it were included in 13-Point Program to Destroy America. The second EP, released in 1992 under the title The Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic (the synthesis of speed and transformation), also went out of print when its tracks were later released on Plays Pretty for Baby.[10] The band were also featured in a number of compilation albums on a variety of record labels.

In 1992, NOU was on tour with Bikini Kill, and when they arrived in Memphis, the found that the promoter for the show hadn't actually promoted the show. So, while out on the town flyering the streets and ducking into record stores, NOU ran into Primal Scream, a band which had been in town recording their own album. Primal Scream then decided to attend NOU's show at the Antenna Club, and then proceeded to invite NOU to record with them in the studio the next day. Nation of Ulysses then recorded five songs with Primal Scream in nine hours, though of course only after a quick errand for some tin foil to smoke a bit of crack, according to Tim Green. These recordings are known as Memphis Demos, and include the demos of N-Sub Ulysses, 50,000 Watts, Mockingbird, Yeah, and Shakedown.[11]

Musical ideology and style

Nation of Ulysses' music was noisy and manic, but they also had a strong free-jazz influence. The group embodied a rejection of the 1960s and 1970s music and styling by rejecting drug use and advocating that punk youth dress nicely and sensibly. To this end, the liner notes of 13-Point Program to Destroy America states the band's aim "To dress well, as clothing and fashion, are the only things which we -- the kids -- being utterly disenfranchised, have any control over."[12] Much of the band admitted to not knowing how to play their instruments well, stating "All you need is a concept. There's no reason you have to sound like Led Zeppelin."[13]

Political concepts
The Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic EP by Nation of Ulysses.

Nation of Ulysses described themselves not as a rock 'n' roll group in the traditional sense, but "as a political party"[14] and as "a shout of secession."[13] Explaining their intent, Svenonius said "it's basically a new nation underground for the dispossessed youth colony. It's all about smashing the old edifice, the monolith of rock and roll."[15]

Allmusic's Steve Huey described Nation of Ulysses' philosophy as "a relentlessly provocative (and entertaining) jumble of teenage rock 'n' roll rebellion, leftist radicalism, anarchist punk polemics, and abstract intellectual rambling, [...] [which gives the sense of] an off-kilter, almost tongue-in-cheek approach to a 'perpetual 18-year old's' view of America, and life in general."[5] This tongue-in-cheek political attitude was echoed by a spoken-word introduction to the song "The Sound of Jazz to Come", from their 1992 Plays Pretty for Baby, in which the band describes themselves as "the seriously unserious, reverently irreverent, amoral moralists."

Asked about their use of the medium they claimed to counteract – rock 'n' roll – Svenonius declared "Well, it's a camouflage, to allow for movement, revolutionary liberation from the constraints of everyday composure, basically allowing anybody to move in anyway that they want and to lift spirit to a plateau to destroy 'parent culture.' "[15]

Nation of Ulysses claimed to make weapons, not records. Discussing their second release, Svenonius asserted: "it's like a blueprint for the destruction of the Parent Culture. It's like a zip gun ... It's an instruction pamphlet for kids on how to destroy their home life, you know, their domestic state."[15]

Although their first album was named 13-Point Program to Destroy America, Nation of Ulysses didn't align themselves with a particular political philosophy: "We don't usually address normal political dictums. We aim toward the everyday fixtures of life, like aesthetics, sound, non-spoken things that are inherently political in nature instead of, like bogus politicians who focus on glossy surface issues which avoid any kind of revolutionary change."[15]

Ulysses Speaks
"Ulysses Speaks" zine, issue No. 4

Nation of Ulysses published a zine called "Ulysses Speaks," which was an extension of their ideology expressed in their music and liner notes. The zines espoused what they referred to as "The Ulysses Aesthetic," which was a mix of 1960s and 1970s radical politics, French Situationist writings, and juvenile delinquency. The zine was distributed at live shows as well as made available by writing the band. A total of 9 issues were published.[16]

Live performances

The band was known for their extremely physical performances, during some of which Svenonius recalls breaking his arm, his leg, and breaking his head open on numerous occasions. Audience members were also hurt during performances. Svenonius described Nation of Ulysses performances as "an extraordinary freak-out kind of thing [...] really masochistic, lots of blood [...] cacophonous, and violent, and aggressive."[6]

Discography

Studio albums

Studio EPs
  • Nation of Ulysses (Dischord) (1991)
  • The Birth of the Ulysses Aesthetic (the synthesis of speed and transformation) (Dischord) (1992)
gollark: Mostly I do actually have to think before typing things, so typing speed isn't a *terrible* concern.
gollark: I can type 100WPM or so on my laptop's keyboard, and really slowly on my phone even with the autospellcorrection.
gollark: I really just want a cuboid with a 5"-diagonal display with a sensibly low-resolution rectangular LCD screen (or a smaller one with a keyboard or something, like BlackBerry's keyone stuff), enough thickness to fit in a few days of battery life, swappable batteries (maybe even two), GNU/Linux support, headphone jacks and other important IO (maybe a USB-C and USB-A port), and µSD card support.
gollark: And notches, weird curvey screens you can't put in cases easily, overlarge screens, sort of thing.
gollark: I want one to replace my ailing existing phone (it runs an outdated Android version with no hope of support, the battery's degraded horribly and is not easily replaceable, and earlier today it randomly rebooted), but they're not being produced now or something.

References
  1. "Who are the Nation of Ulysses?". Southern Records. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  2. "New York Night Train One-Year Anniversary". New York Night Train. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  3. "Steady Diet fanzine – April 98". Steady Diet, April 1998. Archived from the original on May 10, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  4. "What Has Become of the Nation of Ulysses?". Southern Records. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  5. Huey, Steve. "The Nation of Ulysses Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  6. Danger Mike, Jesse Rockoff (DJ Mark Foley), Ian Svenonius (2006-10-30). "10-3-06 Ian Svenonius / The Make-Up". Washington, D.C. Radio CPR. 97.5 FM. Missing or empty |series= (help)
  7. Zac (2005-07-18). "A Kid Who Tells On Another Kid Is a Dead Kid: Nation of Ulysses". Urban Honking. Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  8. Butler, Blake. "Shape of Punk to Come – Refused". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
  9. Allen, Ryan. "The Make-Up". eNotes.com. Archived from the original (PDF also available) on 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
  10. "Nation of Ulysses – Discography". Southern Records. Archived from the original on 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2008-01-23.
  11. "The Nation of Ulysses "Primal Scream" Demos". www.chunklet.com. Chunklet. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  12. Morris, Daniel (2006-10-11). "THE NATION HAS SPOKEN". City Belt. Retrieved 2001-01-15.
  13. Cheslow, S. "Nation of Ulysses interview - 1989". Interrobang?! No. 1 (1989). Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  14. Gale, Thomas (2005). "The Make-Up Biography". eNotes. Archived from the original on 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  15. Dundas, Zach (January 1993). "The Nation of Ulysses". Mumblage No. 1 (January 1993). Archived from the original on 2005-10-27. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  16. "Ulysses Speaks!". Retrieved 2007-10-02.

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