Weird War, briefly known as Scene Creamers, is an eclectic

Eclecticism in music

Eclecticism is used to describe a composer's conscious use of styles alien to his nature, or from one or more historical styles. The term is also used pejoratively to describe music whose composer, thought to be lacking originality, appears to have freely drawn on other models .-Sources:* Kennedy,...

 funk punk band based out of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The current lineup consists of Ian Svenonius

Ian Svenonius

Ian Folke Svenonius is an American musician, notable as the singer of various Washington, D.C.-based bands including Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, and Chain and The Gang. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has released more than 15 full-length albums and more than 20 singles,...

 on vocals, Michelle Mae

Michelle Mae

Michelle Mae is an American musician from the state of Washington, who is known for playing in rock 'n' roll groups such as The Make-Up and Weird War.-Biography:...

 on bass guitar, Alex Minoff

Alex Minoff

Alex Minoff is an American musician from Pennsylvania who is known for his work with the groups Golden, Weird War, and Extra Golden.Though coming from an independent rock 'n' roll tradition, Minoff plays Kenyan Benga music in Extra Golden, which also includes a drummer and singer-guitarist from...

 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

Neil Hagerty

Neil Michael Hagerty is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work in Royal Trux. Hagerty released several solo albums since Royal Trux's demise in 2001, followed by recordings under the moniker The Howling Hex...

 (of Royal Trux

Royal Trux

Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band from 1987 to 2001, founded by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema .-History:...

) and Jessica Espeleta (formerly of Love as Laughter

Love as Laughter

Love as Laughter is an American indie band. The band was formed in 1994 by vocalist and guitarist Sam Jayne as a solo project following the break-up of his previous band, Lync. The band currently features Ivan Berko on bass, Nic Gonzales on drums, Andy Macleod on guitar and Robbie Lee on keyboards...

) on guitars, and Steve McCarty (later of Dead Meadow

Dead Meadow

Dead Meadow is an American hard rock band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Currently comprising vocalist and guitarist Jason Simon, bassist Steve Kille and drummer Mark Laughlin, the band has released five studio albums and one live album.-Biography:...

) 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 (of Golden

Golden (Band)

Golden is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Oberlin, Ohio. Since Golden's members are also involved with other, more well-known bands, Golden is often considered more of a side project than a full-fledged band in its own right....

) on guitar, and Blake Brunner on drums. In this incarnation, the band released I Suck on that Emotion, through Drag City

Drag City (record label)

Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

.

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 back to the name Weird War. Since then, as its membership has become static, with the addition of Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 Sebastian Thomson (of the group Trans Am

Trans Am (band)

Trans Am is a three-piece band which originated in Bethesda, Maryland that was one of the originators of "post-rock" in the mid 90s. Their work centers on a cerebrally robotic, usually instrumental, semi-danceable, minimalistic format, with influences including Krautrock, heavy metal, hardcore...

) on drums, 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

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 and conformity which defines 21st century America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and their general idiocy an infiltration conspiracy

Conspiracy (political)

In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....

 by counter-intelligence

Counter-intelligence

Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...

 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 movement

Resistance movement

A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...

s worldwide which fight Anglo-America

Anglo-America

Anglo-America is a region in the Americas in which English is a main language, or one which has significant British historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural links...

n imperialism."

Studio albums

• Weird War
  Weird War (album)
  -Side one:#"Baby It's the Best" − 2:55#"Chicago Charlemagne" − 2:35#"Who's Who" − 2:18#"FN Rat" − 3:25#"Grass" − 2:07#"Ibex Club" − 2:05-Side two:#"Name Names" − 3:11#"Burgers and Fries" − 3:07#"I Live in a Dream" − 2:30#"Pick Up the Phone and Ball" − 2:05...
  
  (Drag City) (2002)
• I Suck on that Emotion
  I Suck on that Emotion
  I Suck on That Emotion is the second album by Weird War, recorded and released under the short-lived name Scene Creamers.Track #11, "Here Comes the Judge ," shares the same name as a Make-Up song from their 1997 album After Dark, of which Svenonius, Mae, and Minoff were all members.-Track...
  
  (as Scene Creamers) (Drag City) (2003)
• If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
  If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
  -Track listing:#"Intro " − 1:42#"Grand Fraud" − 3:24#"Tess" − 3:00#"If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em" − 3:58#*vocals by Jennifer Herrema #"Moment in Time" − 4:38#"Store Bought Pot" − 4:22#"AK-47" − 3:43#"N.D.S.P." − 4:34...
  
  (Drag City) (2004)
• Illuminated by the Light
  Illuminated by the Light
  Illuminated by the Light is the fourth album by Weird War, said to be their best.When asked about the album's title, Svenonius has responded "Illuminated By The Light just means lit by the light...
  
  (Drag City) (2005)

DVD / Video

• appears on Burn to Shine 01: Washington DC 01.14.2004
  Burn to Shine (DVD series)
  Burn to Shine is an ongoing series of music DVDs created by Trixie DVD, a collaboration between filmmaker Christoph Green and ex-Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. The filmmakers select a house that is set to be demolished in a certain city and ask a member of a local band to curate the event...
  
  (Trixie) (2005)

Appearances on compilations

"AK-47"
|Trixie DVD
|Ex-Nation of Ulysses, Make-Up, and Cupid Car Club member James Canty also appears as part of French Toast

French Toast (band)

French Toast is a band from Washington, D.C., formed in 2001 as a duo consisting of James Canty and Jerry Busher. They added a third member, Ben Gilligan, in 2005. Dischord's website has James Canty credited with guitar, vocals, keyboards and drums, and Jerry Busher is credited with bass, drums,...

.
|-
|2006
|Pancake Mountain

Pancake mountain

Pancake Mountain is a children's television show based in Washington, D.C. Created by filmmaker Scott Stuckey , it is notable for featuring many indie rock bands, such as Tegan and Sara, Bright Eyes, Deerhoof, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Shonen Knife, Weird War, The Fiery Furnaces, Thievery...

(TV)
(Episodes 5 & 6)
|
Performance of
"Girls Like That"
|Monkey Boy Studios
|Washington, D.C.-based Public-access television

Public-access television

Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...

 cable TV children's show featuring performances by many indie rock bands.
|}