Music profile: Chain and the Gang

The latest vehicle for Washington DC's redoubtable rock'n'roll sage Ian Svenonius, erstwhile frontman of a succession of underground garage punk outfits such as Nation of Ulysses, The Make-up, Weird War and The Scene Creamers, and perspicacious host of internet chat show Soft Focus, who was recently voted into the top ten of NME's Greatest Cult Heroes poll.

WANNA BE IN HIS GANG?

The manifesto this time round, as expounded on their album Down With Liberty … Up With Chains!, is – and we quote, because Svenonius says it better – that "the spread of liberty has been detrimental to the world … fast food, bad architecture, militarism, rampant greed, environmental destruction, imperial conquest, class struggle: these phenomena, when combined, seem to be synonymous with 'Liberty'." They've got a point.

YEAH, BUT DO THEY ROCK?

Most righteously, with dashes of sparse electro-funk, Dr John voodoo grooves and brooding garage funk tossed casually into the mix.

WHAT OTHER FOLKS ARE SAYING?

"About as loose as a band can get without being remotely sloppy" – Pitchfork

"Reminiscent of a younger, leaner, slightly less (or more) serious Jonathan Richman (depending on your perspective)" – Popmatters

WHERE CAN I HEAR MORE? www.myspace.com/chainandthegang

• Chain And The Gang play Stereo, Glasgow, on 21 April