The SSION

The SSION is an electro-punk rock disco crazed ball of filth from KC MO that makes me cream my pants - every time - without fail. I first saw them when we both performed at the first couple of Whoop-De-Doo's (a showcasing of Kansas City's contemporary art) back in 2006. Frontboy Cody Critcheloe's live performance is undeniably invocative of his predecessor's , Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury's, loud and over the top theatrics. But much more perverted. His cult followings are two-fold: 1. the calculated, performed following of boys dressed in 80's, Keith Harring inspired prints and spandex and 2. the public following of hipsters, radical queers, dirty art school kids and fourteen year old girls.

In terms of their live performance, they're on par within their contemporary genre of visual performance art bands, including: Leslie and the Ly's, My Barbarian, Kids on TV and the like - but definitely in the more exciting vein of Homocore. Typically performed in front of projected images, Cody's movements are contained, loosely choreographed and somewhat improvised and the energy stems mostly from their visuals: costuming, animated backgrounds and the sweaty, sweaty boys.

What is most impressive about Cody's performance is his mastery of persona both on and off stage. Philip Auslander's latest treatment of persona in Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music throughly articulates its tri-fold nature:

" ... I see the performer in popular music as being defined by three layers: the real person (the performer as human being), the performance persona (the performer's self-presentation) and the character (a figure portyaed in song text). p4 "

Of course these three elements are overlapping and intersecting (especially in the improvised moments), but Cody's mastery of the spectacle of persona is of particular interest. Cody, as visual artist, steps outside of Cody from the SSION to direct, construct and implement spectacle. This is most evident in their Myspace pictures of them on set, filming one of their music videos. They are all imbued with sexually anarchy, but a well considered anarchy. As Cody carefully adjusts the camera in one shot then sits open legged and ready to fuck on top of some busted car in the next, we see the small gaps between the different layers as proposed by Auslander. Offstage, you're faced with this sweet kid from Kentucky that probably once delivered your newspaper until he found Fifth Column.

What if we extended this treatment of persona to gender, racial and all other subject identity performance? This reminds me of what post-colonial writer Frantz Fannon had to say about existing in triplicate when a young white boy called him a nigger on a train. He said he not only existed as Frantz Fannon, not only as the nigger in the white boys eyes but also as the universal black man. Perhaps persona is just that - a careful and well considered performance of what we perform everyday. If done well, we buy the spectacle as whole, as truth, as completely outside of us; as with the case of David Bowie, Cher and the like. But when the cracks are left open - when the drunken dancing of a beautiful boy rips down the projector screen and falls into the crowd laughing - we find the human us and perhaps a new sexual, anarchic contingency worth being open to, even if it takes a few drinks:

" I don’t think about it in terms of “role model.” It’s bigger than just a gay thing, and I think it’s the great thing about being a musician or an artist when you can help out other kids in that same place. That really awkward phase where they can either pick up on something a little bit more outsider if they’re interested, or just go down the same path their families always went down. I think it’s great if kids are into what we’re doing and want to do something similar. That’s awesome. That’s what punk is about in one way or another." (from an interview with Gavon Laessig)

| ssion.com | videos | ssion myspace | Images via Ssion |