Hit it!

Inspiration: Gigs

Created: Mon 3 Apr 2006 16:36

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Well thank you very much, Weird War. What exactly is your story? Are you trying to confuse the heck outta all your fans? If it weren't for a series of coincidental events, then I would not have made it to Ding Dong last night to see you play, and worse still, I would not even be aware of your existence. See, for some reason, you saw fit to, after forming as Scene Creamers outta the remnants of The Make-up, change your name again (according to wikipedia, "due to a lawsuit with a French graffiti collective which goes by the same name"), and then not let me know. How I am supposed to keep up with all of this, I will never understand. But somehow, I found out about this gig in time, got myself a ticket, and I'm mighty glad that I did.

Now that I've done my time figuring out a brief history of Weird War, let me impart some knowledge. First, there's Michelle Mae, who is on bass. She was in The Make-up. Then, there's Alex Minoff - guitar. He was in Six Finger Satellite and Golden. Next up, it's Ian Svenonius. He's on vocals, and is important enough to have his own page on wikipedia. He was in The Nation of Ulysses, and The Make-up. Rounding out the current line-up is Sebastian Thomson on drums. He was in The Fucking Champs and Trans Am. So, basically, what I'm saying is, we're dealing with a bit of rock royalty here.

So, what happens when these guys get on stage together to do their thang? It's pretty fantastic, that's for sure. After listening to The Make-up for some time, I became fascinated with the man behind that voice, and you can rest assured, Ian Svenonius is every bit as intriguing in person as his voice is captured on disc. From the moment he sauntered on stage, and uttered his first word (a simple "hey"), I was hooked. The voice is instantly recognisable, even in the spoken form, and there's some quality to it which I absolutely love. If you're thinking about Ian's voice as you might a great food and wine combination, then it's like the full bodied red which perfectly matches with a great bassline (i.e. a top quality piece of steak). The guy is equal parts charisma and complete and utter madness. He is incredibly difficult to take your eyes off.

Weird War's music is even stranger in lyrical content than Ian's previous efforts, and having crammed on a couple of their albums before the final gig exam, I must admit that I wasn't as keen on this stuff as I am on The Make-up. Nonetheless, they're stupendous to see live, because they're all superb musicians, and their live show provides an energy and passion that is not necessarily present with the recorded stuff. Each song contains a drawn-out introduction by Svenonius, during which he teases you with the song, attempting to create a frenzy as the anticipation of the inevitable is prolonged. His maniacal eyes stare out into the crowd and make you sure that if you were to meet up with the guy in a dark alleyway, you'd be history, and then, with a "hit it!" the song proper kicks in, and it's simply awesome.

It's a rare treat to see a performer this accomplished. Kudos to the rest of the band for being able to work with such a complete stealer of the spotlight. It is certainly true that no matter what Svenonius' current incarnation, he is worth seeing in a live scenario. How he manages to be appealing whilst spending the entire duration of the show snarling at his audience and pulling some of the most horrendous looking faces you've ever seen is beyond me. But if you can dig it too, then grab yourself a Weird War desktop background. There's snarling ape-like Ian (160ish K) or completely psychotic I-hope-the-wind-doesn't-change Ian (180ish K) to choose from (both 800x600).

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