The following is a screed from Ian concerning the debut of Soft Focus.
SOFT FOCUS DEFILES GRAVES OF HISTORIC TV PROGRAMS
As one strolls through the cemetery of bygone television shows, one genuflects dutifully before the headstones of the hypnotists, charlatans, and mind control experts who have shaped our world through their cathode ray. They’re all there—the venerated classics, the lesser knowns, and even the shows who never made it past the pilot stage, often due to influenza. Every now and then you see some gravediggers intent on exhuming the corpse of a particular show, like Miami Vice or The Brady Bunch, so that they can attempt to give it new life as a major motion picture.
Amongst the graves, by a pond lined with sycamores, there is a striking marble edifice, set on a hoary mound right in the middle of the yard. It obviously houses some of the more significant shows. This mausoleum, gaudier than its neighboring crypts, holds the cadavers of chat shows gone by. It bursts at its seams with the ghastly demons who presided over these iniquitous programs.
As one steps nearer this sepulcher (perhaps to throw a pile of dung on it), one might hear a shriek or feel a chill sent out by its terrifying residents, the cursed phantoms who were the chat show hosts. We actually remember these characters fondly. They were the warm and welcoming mediators who invited their guests to share their innermost feelings with the “general public,” that as yet unseen mass of men and women who are apparently the target of all the advertisements we other people endure day in and day out. Yes, they were the nicest of women and men, these hosts, experts at chitchat and quick with their wits—the masters of vague banter.
Yet these people, despite their best intentions, failed us. The talk show hosts were beholden to dark powers and ideology beyond their ken. The parties who determined their guests were an unending stream of desperate shills, hawking this or that movie or product, and the conversations were dumb—or at least pointless.
Strangely enough, this enforced vacuity didn’t undermine the chat show hosts’ popularity. It actually enhanced their viewership. The hosts became, like the President of the United States, people with no apparent skill or qualification except the ability to wear a suit. People everywhere thought to themselves, “I could—and should—be doing that job.” Just as they do with the President. Everyone imagines themselves as a possible chat show host, as opposed to, for example, a professional tennis player.
Soft Focus is a chat show that is different from every other ever. A new kind of vacuity is present in the sense that there is a vacuum of corporate pressure to say this or that or avoid some subject so as not to bum out the sponsor, who is usually an arms manufacturer. Soft Focus is a free space for the host—myself—and the guests—today’s most exciting underground performers—to discuss whatever is relevant and of urgency. These are not definitive interviews in terms of being historical round-ups, but discussions about art, culture, politics, personal history, personal feelings, fashion, and the like.
IAN SVENONIUS
whoa. this is good.
Posted by: mick the bruiser | February 06, 2007 at 01:02 AM
Truly inspiring.
Posted by: tom | February 06, 2007 at 08:10 PM
i think this could end up being the best part of vbs.
Posted by: jack the tripper | February 07, 2007 at 01:38 AM
This is easily my favourite part of VBS so far. Hilarious. Can't wait for more episodes...
Posted by: Jimmy | February 07, 2007 at 07:01 PM
this is fucking great
soft focus has an aesethetic i can't get over
Posted by: ben Manson | February 12, 2007 at 10:50 PM
hey vice don't let this shit get to your head, but good job.
Posted by: Caitlin Russell | February 13, 2007 at 02:13 AM
this was great. long live soft focus
Posted by: happy | February 13, 2007 at 04:48 AM
The cromags age of quarrel album was hands down the best hardcore album of all time. So what the fuck are these guys talking about? "ooooh, I dont want to read what people write about me because it might interfere with what i still have left to do, ooooohhh." Both the Ians are pathetic nerds but svenvonius is a total knob. Ronald Reagan isnt the prez anymore and hes completely lost. Jeez, I just cant wait for one on one with him and rollins.
Posted by: jeff | February 13, 2007 at 06:14 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q32HrkDtSqY&mode=related&search=
Posted by: jeff | February 13, 2007 at 06:15 AM
The show is godd, but to be honest, I don't think Ian MacKaye has ever had to answer a difficult question in his life. I've never seen him actually have to defend anything he's said, or rather, proclaimed. I'd like to see him actually have to debate someone who disagrees with him, rather to see him fielding softballs from his middle aged cult following. He's a fat sacred cow who needs to be challenged.
Posted by: moose | February 17, 2007 at 01:32 PM
it's strange watching this show because I think ian svenonius is ultimately more interesting than the guests he has lined up... 'cept genesis p. orridge I guess.
Posted by: beefbalones | February 18, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Hopefully if vice keeps going like this we can completly rebuild modern media. Fuck TV. This is fun.
Posted by: JROCK | February 20, 2007 at 10:18 PM
congratulations: so far, so good. you made reference to billy childish in your interview with will oldham; is there any chance you could get him on the show?
Posted by: forty5ives | March 05, 2007 at 04:40 AM
Ian, as a communist, why are you working for Vice, a conservative enterprise?
Feel free to answer me.
Posted by: Mike | March 09, 2007 at 08:49 AM
i'd like to see ian svenonius interview himself. MORE SVENONIUS!!!!!!!!
Posted by: b | May 05, 2007 at 05:34 PM
Thank you for finally giving the music world a venue for intelligent commentary and dialouge. It's nice to see a series of artists who have actually made a difference in the music industry and CONTINUE to put out good, intelligent music!
Down with Top 40!!! Up with Soft Focus!!!!
Posted by: hSh | October 18, 2007 at 05:04 PM