Weird War with Spitfires and Action Makes at the Horseshoe, April 5. Tickets: $10. Attendance: 125. Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN
Hearing Weird War Frontman I.F. Svenonius ‘s between-song patter – sweet somethings about sexual Palestine and ideology on the backs of jeeps – made it worth going to the Horseshoe on a quiet Monday night. The songs in between the banter were pretty hot, too.
Weird War’s current incarnation, after parting ways with original member Neil Michael Hagerty and briefly adopting the moniker Scene Creamers, is as tight as shit yet totally loose onstage. That can be chalked up to the fact that they’ve been been touring solidly since the release If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em – you can tell by the wear and tear on Svenonius’s weathered rock pants. Or maybe they just magically play radly.
The solid drum work of Steve McCarty plays off the low-key but essential dexterity of bass wizardess Michelle Mae , which complements the piercing wails of ex-Six Finger Satellite Alex Minoff ‘s white guitar, which held Svenonius’s ranty shouts and perfectly placed falsettos in a brotherly embrace.
Minoff has isolated a heavy, trebly precision-based noise that sounds like Jeff Beck circa Truth or, if you’ve got more modern rock tastes, your favourite guilty pleasure riff of Jane’s Addiction or even vintage I Mother Earth, and it’s pretty special noise.
I missed local openers Action Makes and Spitfires and Mayflowers. They may have pleased many, but I don’t know if they can compete with the songs we sang at the Passover seder I attended instead.
