Music act SSION (pronounced "shun") is mainly the project of openly gay singer Cody Critcheloe in its many incarnations.
He has produced several music videos for artists including Peaches and Santigold. Making interesting videos for himself with his last album, Bent, has grown him a strong fan base that has brought him back out on the road again. He has toured in the past with groups such as yeah yeah yeahs and Gossip. His feature length film BOY has been described as a 'gay, punk rock Forrest Gump."
Windy City Times went backstage before his Chicago show to learn more about this immerging artist.
Windy City Times: Heyyy, Cody. Explain to me about how SSION came to be.
Cody Critcheloe: SSION started off when I was doing music at age 16. I had a four-track and would make music on that. The cassette tapes I would make I called SSION. I had a band in high school and it leaked over into that. When I went to art school I started making videos that was SSION as well. I made a group right out of art school and called it that, too.
It is my project but there are always different people involved. I oversee it, like this last record. It was me writing these songs and having different people come in and help produce them.
The band I am playing with tonight and on tour with were not involved in the process of making the record; they are just friends of mine that are playing.
WCT: They are along for the ride.
Cody Critcheloe: It's people like Zach and I who have worked together on SSION-related stuff for a really long time. To break it down very simply, it's a pop group and I'm a pop singer. I make these songs and records to travel a pop show.
WCT: Did you just cut the word "obsession" off to make that title?
Cody Critcheloe: The truth of the matter is that it's from the punk band Mission of Burma. I thought it was funny and I liked the way it looked. It just stuck. I didn't think it would continue on but I used it as a branding to what I did.
WCT: You are from Kansas?
Cody Critcheloe: I'm from Kentucky, originally.
WCT: What part of Kentucky?
Cody Critcheloe: Lewisport.
WCT: I went to school in Bowling Green, Ky.
Cody Critcheloe: Really? Lewisport is 30 minutes away from Owensboro, Ky. So I would always hang out in Owensboro on the weekends. I definitely went to Bowling Green a few times.
WCT: So you are a country gay…
Cody Critcheloe: Yes; I grew up on a farm and everything.
WCT: Were you raised religiously?
Cody Critcheloe: Yes.
WCT: Southern Baptist?
Cody Critcheloe: Yup.
WCT: You are just like me! How did you wind up in New York?
Cody Critcheloe: I went to school in Kansas City and did a study where I went to New York for six months. They gave me a free studio so I was hanging out there then. I then went back to Kansas City, making music there for 10 years. I was touring like crazy.
I made this movie called BOY that accompanied the last record. We started showing it in galleries. When I was in New York for that I decided to just couch surf and hang out for six months. I met my boyfriend there so I stayed. I live in New York but still go back to Kansas City to produce a lot of the visual elements of SSION. I feel like the people I am closest to live in Kansas City and keep me in check.
WCT: You have done a lot of self-releasing in the past?
Cody Critcheloe: We did. We gave it away for free in 2011 on the Internet. I didn't want to wait around for something that I didn't think was actually going to happen. After that a music label from Brooklyn wanted to re-release it physically and put some push behind it. It was awesome because it is always nice to have physical formats to things you are making. It's nice to have press and help a tour out. I love it but don't want to be reliant on it. I just want to make sure five CDs sell. I want to be able to do whatever.
WCT: Maybe you just want to have control.
Cody Critcheloe: Yeah, of course.
WCT: Many artists are doing vinyl again.
Cody Critcheloe: We have vinyl but it just hasn't arrived yet. It was supposed to be on this tour but they say it's coming in a couple of days.
WCT: You are selling merchandise tonight?
Cody Critcheloe: Oh, hell yeah. The T-shirts are gorgeous.
WCT: How do you get the word out about your concerts?
Cody Critcheloe: I have been touring as SSION since 2004. I think that has a lot to do with it. We have a good draw here in Chicago.
WCT: Is you live show wild and crazy?
Cody Critcheloe: It's funny because if you have seen the video for "Clown" that was shot in Kansas City, it was a fake live show. We went all out and had a budget to do it. That is not our typical show. We have had a show in the past with a lot of cardboard, props, video and costumes—lots of theatrical stuff to it.
The show we are touring now is very pared-down. It's a band playing the songs behind me, with me performing in front. I don't think of what I do as performance art. It drives me crazy when people talk about it that way. I do shows in art institutions, like I did that show at MoMA PS1. I don't think of it as performance art. I think people just slap that label on it because there is not the budget to do some elaborate Bruce Springsteen-like theatrics. I consider this a really great band playing these songs and doing a good show. That's what is bringing me the most joy right now doing that.
WCT: The live aspect of what you do must take some planning.
Cody Critcheloe: This record has all these video backdrops that we made with huge elaborate environments that we did at the PS1 show. I took all those videos and made it into one thing that could be projected. I did a show with all of that condensed and thought it was such a joke. It was projecting images on a bedsheet behind me. It looked like a shitty version of karaoke. I think this music is really good and I'm a good performer. If you can't do it the right way, then why do it? You know what I mean?
WCT: I do because I go to big shows like Rihanna's, also.
Cody Critcheloe: Exactly what I'm talking about. I know there is charm to doing things on a DIY scale. Things that are written about us now, I feel like people are just looking up articles from 2006 and reiterating the same thing over and over without actually investing much time or thought into what we are doing right now. It's so silly because I'm wearing makeup and a wig, but that doesn't make it performance art. I just don't buy that. No one calls M.I.A. or Devo performance art, or Sonic Youth or Talking Heads. They all went to art school. When Kim Gordon is up there throwing her bass around I don't think of it like performance art.
Look at the Pet Shop Boys. Their visuals are still amazing. I don't think of that as performance art but a pop show instead.
SSION will perform at Chicago's Tomorrow Never Knows Festival Friday, Jan. 18, at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave.; full info on the event is at www.tnkfest.com . Follow www.ssion.com for more on this creative artist.
