It seems that even when utilizing a stone-faced, pummeling, punch line–free tone, truths are still best told in jest. But the greatest prank the book pulls is camouflaging, beneath astrological and geopolitical inanity, the author’s passionately conveyed truths about integrity, artistry, repression, perseverance and the cruelties and joys of the music industry. Mary Wells, spelling in spaghetti, and Buddy Holly, scrawling in salt, warned of cruel, social-engineering overlords that both control and fear rock revolutionaries. “Because living musicians fear competition too much to share secrets of success, this manual, we’re told, was transcribed during a séance where dead rock stars lectured on profound rock & roll truths.
Verdict: Svenonius’s sociopolitical analysis of rock and roll is intellectually interesting, as when he posits that the genre was ‘brought about by the industrial revolution, the harnessing of electricity, and the miscegenation of various poor, exploited, and indentured cultures in the USA.’” “Proscriptive how-to advice ranges over a wide number of subjects (e.g., sex, band photos, etc.) and can be seen both as skewering the cultural idolatry associated with rock and as genuine counsel. Literary Hub, Recommended by Brazos Bookstore bookseller Keaton Patterson “This one-stop, pocket-sized guide from the Nation of Ulysses frontman has everything you need to get started rocking-including ritualistic spells to assure your success!” Even today-as the frontman of Chain & The Gang and the host of the online talk show Soft Focus-he remains cool, cryptic, and impeccably dressed, a mod magician with a trick always lurking up his tailored sleeve.”
Rather, the writer, online talk show host and, most important, singer in a series of breathtaking rock ‘n’ roll bands (Nation of Ulysses, the Make-Up, Chain & the Gang), is drawing a line in the sand and doing so with what he hopes will finally define the undefinable.” “Svenonius hasn’t written a basic ‘How to Make It in the Music Business’ book.
“Svenonius has been interrogating and unpacking the meaning of rock ‘n’ roll for as long as he’s been making it.” Drawing from the wisdom of rock’n’roll’s most famous ghosts, Svenonius’ advice ranges from hilarious to cryptic to surprisingly useful.”
“Like its author, Supernatural Strategies is part tongue-in-cheek, part deadly serious-a satire of rock’s consumerist origins but also a thoughtful treatise on what it means to devote yourself to a collective.