Weird War
Weird War, briefly known as Scene Creamers, is an indie rock band based out of Washington, D.C.. The current lineup consists of Ian Svenonius on vocals, Michelle Mae on bass guitar, Alex Minoff on guitar, and Sebastian Thomson on drums.
Weird War was initially formed as an umbrella organization in 2001 to encompass disparate anti-authoritarian groups and to "challenge the idiocy of the new epoch." While the current lineup appears on the group's first release I'll Never Forget What's His Name, the group's first full length, self-titled release featured Neil Hagerty and Jessica Espeleta on guitars, and Steve McCarty on drums.
These collaborators soon left to pursue other programs, and the band became known as The Scene Creamers, with Ian Svenonius on vocals, Michelle Mae on bass, Alex Minoff on guitar, and Blake Brunner on drums. In this incarnation, the band released I Suck on that Emotion, through Drag City.
After being threatened with a legal suit for the name Scene Creamers by a French graffiti artist collective of the same name, the band reverted to the name Weird War. Since then, its membership has become static, with the addition of Argentine Sebastian Thomson on drums, and its intent has become more cosmic.
Ideology
Weird War claims that they are "the sole answer to the hype-based careerism, empty formalism and vacuity which has infected what was once a genuinely creative underground rock 'n' roll scene."Such rhetoric however is not necessarily mirrored by the group's lyrical content. Svenonius told an interviewer "I don't actually like rock and roll lyrics that are political because lyrics are almost irrelevant in rock and roll. What lyrics are is just an incantation, a kind of spell. A political band isn't a band with political lyrics. A political band is a group that's creating a narrative that guides the culture towards, well, towards destroying the ruling class, in whatever way."
In comparison to their own music, Weird War often reference a cookie-cutter aesthetic of other bands and musicians as neo-conservative political forces: "Weird War see the clone nature of the revisionist groups as a direct analogue to the fascism and conformity which defines 21st century America, and their general idiocy an infiltration conspiracy by counter-intelligence forces."
According to Svenonius, Weird War's brief stint as The Scene Creamers was as a result of politically motivated, collective-dream:
Songs like "AK-47" address "the technology gap which faces modern Anti-colonial guerilla fighters" and that similar songs "could be called a celebration of nationalist resistance movements worldwide which fight Anglo-American imperialism."
Discography
Studio albums
- Weird War
- I Suck on that Emotion
- If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
- Illuminated by the Light
DVD / Video
- appears on Burn to Shine 01: Washington DC 01.14.2004
7 inch singles
Appearances on compilations
"I'll Never Forget What's His Name"
"AK-47"
"Girls Like That"
Performance of
"AK-47"
Performance of
"Girls Like That"