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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Scene Creamers
Wednesday 26 March @ 11:08:02 |
 by Tim Carnahan
Emerging from the ashes of the legendary punk, gospel, soul hybrid Make-Up, Washington, D.C.’s Scene Creamers are set to launch some rock bombs at the forces of artistic commodification and conformity.
Following the dissolution of Make-Up in 2001, band mates Ian Svenonius, Michelle Mae and Alex Minoff—joined by drummer Chris Turko—regrouped and developed a mythology. “The story of the Scene Creamers is that they met in a missile silo in the Soviet Union—in Siberia,” Svenonius says. “And they felt very strongly in their passion against the Imperial West and one day they were informed by traveling geologists that it was all over and they had to find a new vocation.”
Svenonius and the Scene Creamers certainly toil hard at their “new” occupation. Luckily their devotion to criticizing the relationship of popular music and social conformity has not reduced the pure entertainment value of the Scene Creamers’ music.
In fact, the Creamers’ fine-tuned theatrical sense, solid rhythmic grooves, and effortless execution lend weight to the message. Much like the Make-Up’s soul rave-ups, the Scene Creamers’ music is designed to be engaging, fresh, and fun—never preaching or proselytizing.
The Scene Creamers’ debut album, I Suck on That Emotion blends an original mix of disco, funk, and rock with Svenonius’ innate sense of lyrical timing. The music sounds intelligently conceived and crackles with immediacy and presence.
“Well, in Make-Up, it was an effort to mimic gospel music in the sense that we tried to do sermonistic speeches and then mostly repetition,” Svenonius says. “This band is more formal in the sense of rock and roll song structure—more lyric writing.”
The most striking similarity between Make-Up and Scene Creamers is the strong adherence to a musical populism, combining the raw transformative power of music with a topical intellectualism. The Scene Creamers are a rare musical amalgamation, obliterating the cultural boundaries demarcating raw, unfettered fun and socially conscious intellectual discourse.
According to Svenonius, the impetus behind the dismantling of Make-Up and the creation of the Scene Creamers was the members’ disappointment with the current state of rock music. “Music right now is especially formalistic,” Svenonius said. “Things have become very genre-specific; if you become a genre of groups it’s really not very interesting to anybody.”
The band had also begun sensing their style and approach was being co-opted. “Once it’s been co-opted, by the Craig Kilborn Show or MTV it’s time to regroup and attack in a different way,” Svenonius says. “Rock and roll uses a lot of war terminology. In war theory you’ve got to be one step ahead of the enemy. And the enemy, they’re using your tactics and you have to evolve ahead of them.”
Svenonius broadly defines the adversary. “The culture of anti-intellectual infantilism; the conformity, the fascism—we live in fascism, so that’s the enemy,” Svenonius says. “And on a smaller level, an aesthetic level, it’s kind of like [the] idiotic formalistic obsession that’s really just conformity.”
Ironically, the Scene Creamers’ music is also formalistically rooted in the rock and punk vernacular. What separates them from the herd is how they manage to include the audience in their artistic vision while not lowering the intellectual bar or sacrificing fun or entertainment. Svenonius and the Scene Creamers will not play the reckless, immature rock star role.
“The thing about rock and roll is people pretend they’re stupid,” Svenonius says. “The propagation of rock and roll as the paradigmatic art form in America is like a celebration of irresponsibility for men and a celebration of not working—an infantilization.”
Svenonius chafes at the presumption that rock music is inherently counter-cultural. He believes the idea ignores the reality that art can be used as a tool for the establishment:
“Whenever you look at art you have to wonder: who is the establishment this art is bucking? Is it in fact the vulgar working class? Which is often the case,” Svenonius says. “We’re taught to think of the artists and the art as a progressive force. In fact, it’s often just announcing the latest stage of advanced capitalism for its master.”
The Scene Creamers provide a context for the band to attack the fictitious cultural equation of rock music to freedom and rebellion. Engaging in that dialogue has enabled the Scene Creamers to pay tribute to their cultural roots without sacrificing critical perspective or alienating the audience.
In fact, the Scene Creamers’ tight, strangely danceable musical attacks are designed to empower the audience. Ultimately the band can engage the audience in a dialogue deeply rooted in a mutual respect for the power of art.
“Ultimately [Scene Creamers are] wrestling with the paradox of making rock and roll when rock and roll is essentially a cultural tool for reifying American imperialism,” Svenonius says. “That’s really what it is.”
The Scene Creamers are at the 7th St. Entry, Thurs., March 27 with the Soviettes. 8 p.m. $7. 21+. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388. The band will also be playing at Ralph’s Corner Bar in Moorhead on Wed., March 26, in case yer in the neighborhood.
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