Secret History: 13-Point Program to Destroy America

The Nation of Ulysses wanted to burn down the palace, dance on the ashes, and build a fresh new society. And they wanted to do it all for the kids, man. The guiding concept was anti-parent culture, and teenage kicks were the order of the day as the Nation of Ulysses crafted the new sound of young America, a brazen, impatient racket and an incendiary call to arms that blended adolescent vigor, a healthy dose of humor, and ideological theatrics. These weren’t just records; they were weapons.

Inherent in the approach was a deep distrust of the baby-boomer generation. “At the time,” says Svenonius, “the baby-boomers were codifying their achievements and kind of laying claim to everything. And that was really harmful, and it still is harmful…. If you watch a ‘50s movie or a ‘40s movie, you’re always shocked at the sexual content or the style or something, because we’re brainwashed into thinking that the ‘60s created everything. Like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think that people had sex before the ‘60s, or that they talked explicitly, or that they talked in an anti-authoritarian way, or that people were cynical before the ‘60s! I thought the ‘60s invented that!’ That’s bullshit.”

Despite this disdain for manufactured nostalgia, Svenonius readily admits that the Nation of Ulysses took their cues from past musical movements of the right kind, namely ‘60s soul, r ‘n’ b, and Nuggets-style garage. “Our guitar player [Tim Green] was in [‘60s garage and psychedelic revivalists] the Vile Cherubs, and we were all into garage rock,” says Svenonius, “We never wanted to be punk. We weren’t a punk revival group at all. In fact, we were interested in all kinds of different music. We were interested in music as subculture, and subcultural movements based around music.”

The Nation of Ulysses’s high-minded ideological and aesthetic vein wasn’t always entirely welcome. “People thought we were fashion victims. They didn’t like the fact that we wore suits on stage, that we always greased our hair…. There was a real anti-fashion ethos happening,” Svenonius recollects. “It was very much divorced from the origins of punk. The origins of punk were very, like, peacock. It was a fashion thing…. By the time the Nation of Ulysses existed, [the punk scene] hated clothes, hated fashion, hated vanity, hated any kind of dressing up.” In essence, says Sevonius, “We had this conservative ethos of dressing, you know, in clothes that fit. Which is still kind of a radical idea.”

While perhaps not as appreciated at the time as they should have been, the Nation of Ulysses has aged incredibly well. Listening to their 1991 debut long player 13-Point Program to Destroy America, it’s hard to imagine this much quality noise being kicked up by kids barely out of their teens (or even in their teens, in some cases). The Nation of Ulysses had a sophisticated style, bolting hardcore tempos and distortion to bruising, hip-shaking rhythms, finding the wide-eyed amphetamine fervor in the Stax/Volt template and upping the aggression considerably.

Heading into the studio, the band was obsessed with the production and sonic textures of the album, according to Svenonius. Unimpressed with the ultra-clean, hi-fidelity multi-tracking techniques of the period, which resulted in the “big” sound common to many ‘80s recordings, “We recorded the whole record on 2-track because we wanted a really rough sound, a messy sound. We wanted that kind of immediacy.” However, after recording the 2-track versions of the songs, the band headed back into the studio. “We made our record on 2-track, and it didn’t sound very good. So then Ian MacKaye was like, ‘Let me record you for real at Don’s [Don Zientara, the owner of Inner Ear Studios], let’s do a good job and make a good-sounding record,’ so that’s what we did.” In the final analysis, 13-Point Program to Destroy America may not sound exactly as the Nation of Ulysses envisioned it: “The first record didn’t really sound like ‘us’ to us,” says Svenonius. “It’s very clean, almost like a Ramones record. It’s almost like bubblegum, which is nice, I think, but at the time we wanted something that sounded much dirtier, grittier.”

Despite any misgivings Svenonius may have, it’s hard to argue against 13-Point Program’s power and immediacy. Coming across as a coffee-and-cola-addled apparatchik, Svenonius spews his lines in a raspy, unhinged howl, and occasionally splatters some trumpet mess all over everything; guitarists Tim Green and Steven Kroner trade live-wire riffs and frantic rhythm chops; bassist Steve Gamboa and drummer James Canty (brother of Fugazi's Brendan Canty and currently bassist for the Pharmacists) supply the armored undercarriage, keeping things swinging even as they dish out contusions and concussions. It's unrelenting and unsparing, a half-hour of hooky, hair-raising pandemonium.

Album highlights include opener "Spectra Sonic Sound," a rushing mauler of an opener and sign of things to come. "Look Out! Soul Is Back" is as much a warning as a sinister, chiming statement of purpose. "Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry" is a love letter from an asylum inmate, a stalker's anthem crooned creepily by a clearly enthused Svenonius. "A Kid Who Tells on Another Kid is a Dead Kid" bursts forth on waves of surfy crunch, a nimble, Descendents-like bassline providing bouncy propulsion. "Diptheria" slows things down considerably while retaining the LP's intensity, a slow-fuse of a song punctuated by eruptions of mid-tempo mayhem. "You're My Miss Washington, D.C." is a nod to Jimmy Cliff’s “Miss Jamaica” and a loving tribute to the District, a hometown shout-out masquerading as an urgent call to make-out.

Reflecting on the Nation of Ulysses’s impact on future acts, Svenonius opines, “It was more the presentation of the Nation of Ulysses that really had an enormous effect on people. In a sense, I feel like the Nation of Ulysses really started a whole entire thing of bands thinking about presenting themselves in another kind of way.” And he may have a point, considering the current prevalence of bands like Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the White Stripes, and the Hives sporting a clearly defined aesthetic, their look as much a part of the act as their music. “I would say our influence - [in terms of] manifestos and band as gang/terror [group]/political party,” continues Svenonius, “was probably most strongly felt through the riot grrrl movement,” referencing the staunchly feminist punk and post-punk musical stylings of bands like Bikini Kill (with whom the Nation of Ulysses frequently toured), Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy.

Without a doubt, the Nation of Ulysses were a shining star in the bright night sky of early D.C. post-hardcore. They had chops and passion, but they also kept their sense of humor. Furthermore, Svenonius and Co. hit on a sound and style that has aged incredibly well, as exhilarating now, almost twenty years on, as it was the day it dropped. Listening to 13-Point Program to Destroy America today, it's easy to understand why all the sharp-dressed kids in the know used to chant the timeless mantra, "Ulysses, Ulysses, little flower, beloved by all the youth."