The War on Drugs is an American indie rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Band member Adam Granduciel (born Adam Granofsky in Dover, Massachusetts) moved from Oakland, California to Philadelphia in 2003, where he met Kurt Vile and began playing music with him. They began playing as The War on Drugs in 2005, and self-released a demo EP. While Vile and Granduciel formed the backbone of the band, they had a number of accompanists early in the group's career, before finally settling on a lineup that added Charlie Hall as drummer/organist, kyle lloyd as drummer and Dave Hartley on bass. Granduciel had previously toured and recorded with The Capitol Years, and Vile has several solo albums. The group gave away its Barrel of Batteries EP for free early in 2008. Their debut LP for Secretly Canadian, Wagonwheel Blues, was released in 2008.

Reviewers of the band's music make note of its Americana overtones. The group's sound has been described as influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and My Bloody Valentine.

The lineup underwent several changes, and by the end of 2008, Kurt Vile, Charlie Hall, and Kyle Lloyd had all exited the group. Granduciel and Hartley were joined by drummer Mike Zanghi as the group slimmed to three members.
After Zanghi's exit in 2010, Steven Urgo took over drum duties and Robbie Bennett joined on keys

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Ape School's Michael Johnson has a solid indie rock résumé. He was part of the SubPop group Holopaw, played with the Lilys, Kurt Vile, and Human Television, and along the way hooked up with Daedelus, appearing on the stand-out track "Make it So" on his 2008 album Love to Make Music To. This is Johnson's second mostly solo album; it was barely noticed, and his first under the name Ape School. Johnson wraps his catchy songs in a hazy, insulated sound that references neo-psych heroes Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips, ropes in elements of hip-hop (in the rhythms), shoegaze (the drifting textures are reminiscent at times of the Lilys best work), and oddly enough, a shoestring budget version of stadium dreamers like Coldplay or Keane. The lyrics and vocals don't reach for the back row of the arena,
but the epic sweep and cinematic sound of songs like "My Intention" or "Deathstomp" work to bring the album a larger scope than the average "one dude on a studio album" usually has. If this comparison scares you off, please note that the everyman vocals and carefully crafted arrangements keep the album from becoming an overblown mess. The general sharpness of the hooks (especially in the killer one-two punch of "Wail to God" and "That's Okay" that kicks off the album), the powerful groove of songs like "Be an Encore," and the tender, freaky balladry of "Did What I Did" and "The Underground" make the album well worth investigating for anyone who likes their pop made with a blissfully weird sonic nventiveness..

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