Bobby Conn

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 avant garde rock quartet Conducent (Conn/guitar, Rex Jenny/bass and vocals, DeShawn/drums and vocals, Le Deuce/loops, beats, and atmosphere). The eclectic Conducent sound was born from improv and raised on the "open mic" circuit, eventually growing into full maturity as a performance troupe, perhaps best known for the infamous "Best Of Buddha" tour. Conn 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 six studio albums to date: Bobby Conn (1997), Rise Up! (1998), The Golden Age (2001), The Homeland (2004), King For A Day (2007) and Macaroni (2012), 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.

Albums

12-inch

Singles