Bobby Conn

All Music Guide:

The once self-proclaimed antichrist Bobby Conn is in a league all his own when it comes to performing live as well as creating his tongue-in-cheek chameleon-like pop that genre-hops with a decadent flair. Conn got his start playing guitar in the Chicago prog rock trio Conducent in 1989; by 1994 the group called it quits and Conn went solo. Conn received attention quickly in the Windy City's live circuit for his outlandish live shows that verged on performance art and theater. Whether dressed as a priest, wearing mud on his face, or just dishing out hugs and kisses to unsuspecting fans, Conn defiantly didn't go unnoticed. His first lineup consisted of ex-Conducent member DJ Le Deuce on turntables, as well as Julie Pomerleau (aka Monica BouBou) on electric violin.

In 1995 and 1996 Conn released two EPs, then in 1997 he released his self-titled debut album on the Truck Stop label, but it was 1998's Rise Up! LP that extended Conn's musical palette and got music fans outside of Chicago to take notice. Then in 1999, Conn released the Llovessonngs EP (on Chicago independent label Thrill Jockey), which showcased the hilarious French disco tune "Virginia." Into the millennium, Conn released The Golden Age and toured with the support of the Glass Gypsies, featuring Pomerleau/BouBou on organ as well as guitarist Sledd, keyboardist Pearly Sweets, bassist Nick Macri, and drummer Colby Starck. Released in 2004, Homeland cast a satirical gaze at America and the war in Iraq, while 2007's King for a Day tackled fantasy, celebrity, and the media. Rise Up! was reissued just in time for Conn's 2011 tour playing the album in its entirety.

Wikipedia:

Bobby Conn (born June 13, 1967) is an American musician based in Chicago, Illinois, known for his pop-rock. He often collaborates with other artists such as musicians Colby Starck and Jim O'Rourke, and film-maker Usama Alshaibi. In 2003, Conn produced a session for UK punk band The Cribs, whom he met when they were a support band on his UK tour. A part of that session was used on The Cribs' self-titled debut release in 2004.

Biography

Conn was born as Jeffrey Stafford in New York, but spent much of his young life in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles. He started a hardcore punk trio in high school called "The Broken Kockamamies" (The BK's, or BKS) who were noted for using eight-foot strobe lights on a darkened stage as their only prop. The strobes were affectionately called "the pillars of fear."

In 1989, Conn played guitar in the Chicago progressive rock trio Conducent. He went solo in 1994 after Conducent broke up. His first lineup consisted of ex-Conducent member DJ Le Deuce on turntables, as well as his future wife Julie Pomerleau (a.k.a. Monica BouBou) on electric violin. Conn went on to release five studio albums to date: Bobby Conn (1997), Rise Up! (1998), The Golden Age (2001), The Homeland (2004) and King For A Day (2007), along with a live album Live Classics (2005) and an E.P. called Llovessonngs (1999).

Bobby Conn and the press

Bobby Conn is known for his elaborate and fabricated press releases, and for making outrageous statements in interviews.

The following excerpt is from Bobby Conn's Southern Records biography:

In more recent years, Conn has been more candid in interviews, and has admitted that all of these early fabrications for the press were merely a charade. Conn told Magnet magazine that "I always thought it was part of the creative process. Creativity is lying. My own story doesn’t seem very interesting to me... You don’t want to be who you are onstage everyday. What’s the point in that?" Conn also said in another interview that the source of his onstage persona was "egomaniacal delusions that I've had since I was a kid - I tried to hyperbolize them to see how far it would go. To me when I came up with the whole idea of trying to promote myself as a potential Antichrist I figured that no-one is going to take this seriously or even acknowledge it because it's about the dumbest thing you could say."

Protest

While Conn would usually be considered more avant garde than a protest singer, he said of his art that "All the records that I've done are a critique of what's going on in contemporary America", and he was an outspoken critic of the George W. Bush administration. However, Conn has admitted he was not always at ease with the "protest singer" label for himself. He told Magnet Magazine, "I’ve always done lots of social commentary that I believe in pretty strongly but I am very uncomfortable with the role of the artist as a meaningful social critic...my whole generation [is] a confused group of people with an ambivalent way of dealing with protest."

Regarding his 2007 album "King For a Day", Conn said "it's political, but just in a contemporary culture kind of way[...] Two of the songs are about Tom Cruise, and I don't know if there's a more political statement than Tom Cruise. He kind of symbolizes a lot of what's going on in this country right now and how people are responding to it."

Personal life

He currently lives in Humboldt Park, Chicago with his wife, violinist and session musician Julie Pomerleau, and their two children.

In 2001, Conn and Pomerleau became the first couple who were cast by Cynthia Plaster Caster.