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GU’s Thevenot Eyes Sweet Success The Georgetown Hoya, September 28, 2001 By
Jenn Brookland Chad Thevenot (GRD ’02), lead singer and songwriter for the soulful funk group Sugar Jones, doesn’t perform to be cool. He doesn’t write songs to be famous. He sings because he loves to, and it’s what he does best. His passion for music and for self-expression is not something he wants to neatly package and sell to the public. His commitment to honesty and non-conformity is evident in his work, which combines different musical genres to create complex attitudes and expressions in a product which is entirely unique. Thevenot’s music career began at age 15 in Louisiana, when he and some high school friends formed a band named Sugar Jones, cut two tracks at a local studio and got their songs on the Louisiana State University radio station. After hearing his own songs on the radio, the young musician was hooked and knew he had to be a songwriter. The incredible feeling of that first accomplishment pushed Thevenot to continue writing and performing. He eventually moved to Austin, Texas, to pursue music more deliberately. The band he started, however, fell apart in about a year. He took a year off from music, but couldn’t let go of his long-time dream to make a record. Thevenot decided he had to keep trying, and assembled another group the old-fashioned way — by looking up players in the local newspaper. This new group recorded a CD called “The Push” and played numerous gigs in Austin. However, Thevenot soon discovered the difficulties of keeping a band together in a fairly unreceptive environment. Not wanting to conform Sugar Jones to fit in with the “road rock” music popular in Texas at the time, Thevenot grew frustrated with what he deemed were the only outlets for his music. This band too dissolved, and by that point, he was fed up and discouraged. Thevenot moved to Washington, D.C. with $200 to his name and lived in his uncle’s basement. Leaving his music behind turned those years into a cold and unfulfilling existence for Thevenot, who felt uncreative, uninspired and lost. Self-doubt and confusion flooded his mind as he struggled with questions of where his life was going. Ironically, it was hearing Jeff Buckley’s powerful song “Grace” that convinced Thevenot that he could never make it as a musician: The music was so profound and deeply honest that the young songwriter couldn’t imagine himself creating something that moving and real. He fell into a deep depression and his dreams of recording another record seemed lost. Thevenot finally realized that he desperately needed music to provide direction and meaning in his life. He threw himself into an internal recommitment to his work and pulled himself out of his painful depression with a newfound confidence and vision. Emerging from this dark period somehow cleansed him of his previous fears of rejection and confrontation. No longer inhibited, the songwriter finally felt free to return to music, this time with a more sophisticated and mature recognition of what he wanted his songs to represent. This new honesty in his music has been a focal point ever since. “I’m trying to lose all my inhibitions and really express myself in an honest way,” he said. For Thevenot, that means not selling out to the rest of the music industry for the sake of profit. Instead this creative artist’s music is defined by a strong sense of spirituality, and a constant re-evaluation of life through existential questions and new inspirations. Thevenot refuses to change what and who he is in order to live up to society’s expectations: “I would love to see the death of convention. I understand the attraction … but I think it’s in conflict with individual human potential,” he calmly explains in an interview with The Hoya. Maybe that’s why Thevenot’s music is imbued with such a distinct feeling. It is a hybrid of carefully planned lyrics and melodies with layers of spontaneous free-association and dissonance. It is insanity with purpose and passion. Thevenot breaks a smile as he sums it up as “southern-fried sex music for brainiacs.” This carefully crafted phrase marries the emotional and introspective components of his individual sound. The mixing and layering of his music allows for subtle twists and turns in his reoccurring melodies that create ambience and emphasis. Thevenot explores the conventional themes of love and spirituality, but does so with an edgy intellectualism. His music is a spicy jambalaya of attitude and soul. For now, Thevenot is busy with his job in drug policy reform and promotion of his newest record, Bring Your Own Insanity, which features legendary bass player George Porter Jr. He also has a number of live performances coming up, most notably his first official show in the District, an Oct. 25 performance at the Velvet Lounge on U Street. Music by Sugar Jones can also be heard online at www.mp3.com/sugarjones or at Thevenot’s own Web site, www.sovereignmusic.com. Most importantly, however, Thevenot is content with his life right now. His spiritual outlook and his satisfaction with his work have enabled him to see life as a gift. “I can pursue my interests if I have the courage to do so. I try not to take that for granted,” he says. As evidence of his mental and spiritual evolution, Thevenot keeps copies of “Grace,” a song that once discouraged him to the point of depression, to give out to people as inspiration. He hopes to see other artists throughout the industry realize that conformity is limiting and that they need to define for themselves their goals and passions. He is only at the beginning of his recording career, but Thevenot is holding fast to his identity and his vision: “Here it is. Here’s what I do. Are you interested?” |
Press
Kit
Incredibly, it was my parents who sat me down and said, "Look, we really think you should give the music another try." I was trying to talk them out of it! But I eventually took their advice. |
