Interviews
The Politics of Dancing: The (International) Noise Conspiracy
by Felix Thursday
(International) Noise Conspiracy front man Dennis Lyxzen has
been running amok in San Francisco's Great American Music Hall for
well over an hour. 
Not performing, but rather setting himself about a
series of tasks several hours before (I)NC is scheduled to perform. In
fact, the singer/star role is virtually imperceptible in him. Instead
of secluding himself in a corner or relaxing his vocal chords, he is
involving himself in a host of utilitarian duties--from helping his
fellow band members load in their equipment, to assisting their merch
guy in managing his table. In spite of the European-intellectual guise
of his attire, his actions display an ethic less punk than
proletarian. I forgive the fact that he is two hours late for our
interview, and decide not to interrupt him until (I)NC finishes their
sound check.
Dennis leads us down the sepulchral stairway that descends
beneath the GAMH into his band's dressing room. Once inside, he pulls
a pen from his pocket (as if to defend himself--or, at least, even the
odds), and seats himself on the room's only couch--an outmoded but
still fully-functional piece of furniture more often seen in the likes
of thrift stores than backstage lounges.
(International) Noise Conspiracy has been on tour supporting
Rocket From The Crypt and promoting their latest release on
Epitaph/Burning Heart, Survival Sickness. (I)NC's blend of vintage
Gang of Four meets Pink Flag-era Wire meets 60's garage rock may seem
an abrupt departure from Dennis' last band, the acclaimed Swedish
hardcore outfit, Refused. What, perhaps, has surprised (or even
shocked) Refused fans more, however, is that Refused seemingly
disbanded while they were on the brink of huge international success
via a video that somehow got placed in heavy rotation on MTV.
"The funny part with that is it all happened after we (Refused)
broke up," Dennis says candidly in his surprisingly comprehensible
Swedish accent. "We did Refused for seven years, we broke up, then
boom! I'm sitting at home after practicing with the Noise Conspiracy
and people are calling me up from the States saying they saw the video
on MTV. When we broke up the Refused record had sold 15,000
records--now, it's sold 150,000. If we would have been together still,
we definitely would have tried to work with the fact that people liked
us. That's what we try to do with the Noise Conspiracy. We've done
interviews for MTV in Europe. We'll be on for two minutes and talk
about squatting or shoplifting. No one else does that on MTV. But if
some idiot is going to give us the opportunity, we'll do that. If
we're going to be on MTV, we're going to talk politics. Even if they
start asking about the music, we'll just change the topic to politics.
That's definitely part of the plan. If someone will let me be on MTV,
I'll be there--I'll just be really obnoxious."
Despite the fact that MTV caters to apolitical teen couch
potatoes most of the time, Dennis remains convinced that change is
possible within the network's dumbed-down programming perimeters.
"I would like to see Socialist-political ideas be popular
instead of boy bands and guys in shorts trying to be punk rock. I'd
rather see Rage Against The Machine on MTV twenty-four hours a day
than Kid Rock. So many kids know about Leonard Peltier just because of
Rage Against The Machine. Yes, there's a huge percentage of their
crowd that sings 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" before they
play a football game--that's kind of fucked up. But, if you're a band
with political ideas, you have to realize that not everybody is going
to care about the political ideas."
Dennis does concede, however, that punk rock has become--for the
most part--a lifestyle built more around consumerism than political
agendas.
"It's all about identity politics--to buy yourself a kit of
preset ideas and a preset role you have. The punk rock scene in Sweden
is very, very political. Very confrontational--kind of violent and
crazy--in a good way. The problem I have with it is, for a lot of
people, they're very political, they're very radical, they're very
'punk rock', but once they become established, they're not political
anymore. But, at the same time, the punk scene is pretty cool. There
are a lot of radical people. In Sweden every time there's talk about
"crazy terrorist kids", there's always a picture of a punk kid. I
think you can be radical in numerous ways. I'm not very good at
smashing windows, I get too nervous.
"We're a very intellectual band. We read a lot of books and
actually think about the things we talk about. We try to set ourselves
outside youth culture and be a band that talks about politics that
concern everyone. You don't have to have a certain uniform or a
specific musical preference to be inspired by political ideas that we
talk about. That's a distinction that we try to make. We're not
interested in youth culture. We're not interested in 'scenes' or
genres. We're just interested in playing music and talking about
politics. If the punk rock community embraces us, that's cool. But, at
the same time, we're not going to let ourselves be confined to just
one scene. We'll play with anyone, anywhere. So that more people than
just the chosen few can take part in these ideas. Our intent is to be
a product that has substance. Hopefully people can leave the show and
say 'They talked about stuff that was important to me and I got really
inspired.' That could amount to them taking it further."
This interview appeared in section M magazine, Issue #21, July 2001.
