TAS In Session: The Raveonettes
Denmark's indie darlings, The Raveonettes, have traversed the breadth of the last fifty years of rock 'n' roll throughout their career, ricocheting from surf rock to shoegaze. On Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo's latest oeuvre, the darkly-named Raven in the Grave, they ferociously bend into a dense, nearly-cinematic soundscape that, as they told The Alternate Side's Russ Borris, was surprisingly influenced by Rick Rosenthal's 1983 flick, "Bad Boys."
The Raveonettes wrap their North American tour this Saturday, May 14, in Vancouver and launch a European tour June 3 in Barcelona. if you missed their spring Stateside road trip supporting their fifth album, out now on Vice Records, check out Sune and Sharin live in session, playing a quartet of songs from Raven in the Grave, including "Ignite" and "War in Heaven:"
Russ Borris: Talk about the new song, “Recharge and Revolt,” which starts with an acoustic sound and builds into that wall of sound you guys are known for. One of the things I love about the wall of sound is that some bands try to create that, but I don’t necessarily think it comes across as warmly as when you guys do it. Is that something you make an effort with in the recording process?
Sune Rose Wagner: I think it’s whatever the song needs. I think our wall of sound, or whatever, is actually made from being very minimal. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t have a bunch of guitars on there or anything like that. A particular track like “Recharge and Revolt” was only two guitars and it sounds just huge. It’s a sound that we’ve perfected over the years to make music that’s really simple, but it sounds really beautiful and big. If that makes sense!
Russ: Yes, big and simple! So when you’re sitting down to write songs, how do these things come together? Words first? Melodies?
Sune: Mostly melodies first, yes. That will usually trigger the words.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S20z9z1Fh34&feature=channel_video_title]
Russ: I think for years you’ve had a reputation for having certain influences, whether that’s been 50s or 60s rock ‘n’ roll or maybe a little Jesus and Mary Chain. On the new record is there anything particular that inspired you guys?
Sune: Well, no. I mean a lot of film music, I guess, but we’ve always had that influence. I don’t really think that we’ve changed it up that much. I think we write whatever we feel is right at a particular time. For us, it was time to make our own very Scandinavian kind of album.
Sharin Foo: It is different from previous records in that sense, what Sune is mentioning, in that it’s moodier. More Scandinavian and reflective. It doesn’t have the surf beats, it has less sunshine than previous records.
Russ: There’s always been a darkness through your albums, but you could say that this one is even darker.
Sharin: But it’s not hopelessly dark. It’s a very poetic, ethereal, reflective dark.
Russ: No, you’re not bummed out listening to this. Not that kind of moody.
Sharin: It is different. But very much the same influences in it.
Russ: This is five records in eight years? A pretty solid turnaround. How’s that writing work? Do you feel like you have to write?
Sune: It’s what we like, to create music. That’s all we really know how to do. We’re getting to a point where we’re a really good live band, better than we’ve ever been. It took us many years to get to that point because that’s two very different things; performing and creating. I think that we’re extremely good at both right now, but I don’t think we’ve reached the pinnacle yet. We’re getting better at what we do and I think we can get ten times better.
Sharin: I think we’re also the kind of band that puts our creative process on display because we’re not looking to, as Sune is saying, find the pinnacle. We are looking for it … but not waiting to feel that moment. So we’re basically making music, recording albums and making mistakes, if you can call it that. It’s that moment in time, maybe two years later, you look back and say, “maybe I wouldn’t have done it quite like that now.” We just keep developing and evolving and invite people into that process of what we’re going through as a band musically.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZlSrzCb3e8&feature=channel_video_title]
Russ: You talk about evolving as a band and finding a voice. Your voices together are something that are really cool when blended. Did that start naturally for you? Did it come with time.
Sharin: That was a surprisingly natural thing that happened and one of the reasons why we immediately wanted to work together is that we sang so great together and blended so naturally and organically. I think we’ve tried, more so now, to create more of an individual sound or sing more songs solo, take those voices apart in a more individual style. But I think on “Rip It On” I still can’t hear sometimes who is singing what.
Russ: It’s something I thought about but didn’t want to ask. There are times that you don’t necessarily know who is singing. It’s really cool because they feel ….
Sharin: Ambiguous. Yes, I like that too. It’s interesting. Even on the last record, I’d read reviews that would say, “And then Sune is singing that.” And I’d say, “No, actually, I’m singing that.” But that’s okay. I like it.
Russ: Is that a goal in the writing process? Do you have that figured out beforehand?
Sune: It depends what range we’re singing in because sometimes I think songs need a little bit of an output from the voice. I think we can both do it in unison, but then I realize that particular output is Sharin’s normal range so she can’t sing it as forcefully as I can, because I have to get up high. So maybe it makes sense if I do it. And vice versa. It depends on the song. A song like “Forget That You’re Young” would have had a completely different meaning if I’d sung it. I would have been a little scary (laughs).
Sharin: Yeah, that wouldn’t have been very nice. Now it’s got a little sweetness.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSvCmR7GpKQ&feature=channel_video_title]
Russ: There’s a quote I saw describing the new record as, “the perfect winter soundtrack, just in time for spring.” Does that give the impression that it’s a dark, cold and bleak album?
Sune: Well, no, but it’s true. I don’t think everything has to be all here-comes-summer, the beach and sun. I think summertime can be incredibly depressing and I think it’s a good time to reflect on things. I get more depressed in the summer than the winter and that can again relate to a very Scandinavian thing. I think it’s a great summer album but people have to listen to it in the dark (laughs).
Russ: It’s funny. You’ve referenced the Scandinavian thing a couple of times. Do you think the band would be different if the band hadn’t come from where you come from?
Sune: Absolutely. One hundred percent. Oh yeah. (laughs). We would have made completely different music, I think.
Russ: What stuff were you listening to back home when you were getting into music?
Sune: I grew up in the 80s so I was listening to 80s music. Just pop music. And because of the 80s music I got into 50s and 60s music because you hear Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” and that’s just a 60s song, basically. I didn’t really listen to alternative, indie music until I got a lot older.
Sharin: I was exposed to a lot of music through my parents, like Velvet Underground, The Beatles, the Stones, Fleetwood Mac and stuff like that. I’ve gone through different periods too. As Sune was saying, in the 80s I was Kim Wilde and Duran, Duran.
Russ: So much of that of that 80s stuff is tremendous, but it’s maligned by certain people who think that the 80s was a lost time for music. But it’s good to see that there’s a lot of 80s influence in bands making music now.
Sune: Yeah. If there was one huge influence on this album it would be an 80s movie, I think it’s 1983, called “Bad Boys” with Sean Penn and Ally Sheedy. That was a huge influence on the album in the sense of the mood that the movie has and the soundtrack.
Russ: There’s a lot of cinematic qualities to the music you guys make. Do you have aspirations for scoring films?
Sune: There is, but not enough. It takes a lot of time if you have to do something like that and unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of time outside of The Raveonettes. Also, our number one priority is The Raveonettes and this is what we want to do. I think it would be nice for us to try something different at some point, but it would have to be a total collaboration with someone to really make something beautiful and spectacular. But it’s a time question, really.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GSaII_T-0o&feature=channel_video_title]
Russ: One think we love to do is let you take over for a song and play something you’d like to hear.
Sharin: I would like to hear Kate Bush’s “Running Up The Hill.” I think it would be a really natural progression from “Apparitions” which has a little bit of a beat inspired by that song.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM]
The Raveonettes' Remaining Tour Dates:
May 10 Bimbo's 365 Club , San Francisco
May 12 Wonder Ballroom , Portland
May 13 Neumos , Seattle
May 14 Venue , Vancouver
June 3 Bikini, Barcelona
June 4 Auditorio, Murcia
June 5 Sala Heineken, Madrid
June 7 La Machine, Paris
June 8 Tivoli, Utrecht
June 9 Vooruit, Gent
June 10 Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing
June 11 Artrock 2011, Brittany
June 13 Islington Academy, London
June 25 Sled Island Music & Arts Festival, Calgary, Alberta
