The Make-Up



"It ain't where you're from, it's where you're at," as Ian Brown was doubtless not the first to say. But, if you're gloriously attired, inflammably funky DC-based gospel/punk/soul/rock'n'roll foursome THE mAKE UP, it clearly ain't what you wear, it's the way that you wear it. Or your reasons for wearing it, according to elegantly coiffed vocalist Ian Svenonius and bass player Michelle Mae, who sits applying her make-up in a Camden caff with dispassionate cool.

The mAKE UP aren't just a fabulously well-attired band decked out in dandified matching suits, they're a fabulously well-attired Marxist band. One whose singer opines, without apparent arrogance, "I think what we do on stage is way more violent to the status quo than handing out leaflets on a street corner."

Which makes them rarer than most, and that's before we get to the stripped-down soul power of "Sound Verite" and the live "After Dark", both released this spring. Or their opinions. Believe me, the mAKE UP - politely, enthusiastically, sweet-naturedly - have opinions. "I'm trying to figure out who determined that every American should look like John Belushi," Ian exclaimes when the topic of clothes comes up. "I hate countercultures who wear sportswear!"

"Everyone just wears flannels and sweats," sighs Michelle. "Though last time I was in London, someone said, "It's not cool to dress cool here"...so maybe it's spreading."

"In America, there's all this false unpretentiousness," Ian notes, witheringly.

So who do you want to look like?

Michelle: "Freddie Mercury. Any era at all."

"Not the rest of Queen," Ian interjects hastily.

"Actually, our new stage uniforms are very Communist inspired," Michelle explains.

"Che Guevara," nods Ian. "The big names of the Cuban revolution - Che, Raoul, Fidel. Look at early pictures of Fidel - he was completely stylish. Uniforms are all just ideology and idealism and portraying that in what you wear. That's why we wear uniforms; we're submerging ourselves to join the audience, just like gospel music's always including the congregation. Our calling's definately spiritual and political." But is it sexual?

"Hmm," hedges Michelle, "Maybe you should say sensual."

"Music is always sensual if it's powerful," concedes Ian. "But people are just confused if they think sensuousness is necessarily sexual. Not that I'm anti-sex," he adds, "But I think sexy is a wierd word. I mean, the way people use it is like they'd never had sex."

But surely, you must have noticed that doing what you do on stage might lead us to concentrate...."On the crotch level?" Ian interjects. "Well, yeah, our trousers are really tight, but that's for a different reason. It's because men in the modern age are encouraged to wear the baggiest pants as a power position, and women are encouraged to wear super-tight clothes. So, just to even the score, all of us wear tight trousers! "You know, that's the one thing I think dance should really assess about itself," Ian Svenonius confides, eyes twinkling. "All those baggy clothes..."

JENNIFER NINE.

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