Quoth The Raveonettes: 50% Electronic Lust
Take the Buddy Holly track, “Rave On”, combine with The Ronettes to stir, and the resulting hybrid is cool Danish pop duo, The Raveonettes.
With a title such as this and a history of collaborating with those that they admire, The Raveonettes, Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner have always been happy to wear their heart on their sleeve when it comes to the array of musical influences that contribute to their sound.
However, according to Wagner, the band’s guitarist, vocalist and general instrumentalist, there are a couple of favourites amongst the list that may come as somewhat of a surprise to fans.
“There’s a wide plane of musical influences that you wouldn’t expect,” he confesses.
But few would expect that the plane would be as expansive as to extend to the respect and admiration of boy bands.
“You can laugh at that but you can’t deny their (quality) harmonies and their vocals,” Wagner says in his own defense.
Obviously, looking outside the square towards a broad and diverse range of musical interests are what have ultimately contributed to The Raveonettes own style.
The duo, who describe their sound as: “50% electronic and 50% organic”, have always ensured that their album efforts have remained fresh and different, tapping into different musical styles, producers and even band line-ups.
The 2005 album, “Pretty in Black”, which featured the popular single, “Love in a Trashcan” included some of the workings of musical greats as Ronnie Spector of The Ronnettes and Velvet Underground instrumentalist, Maureen Tucker.
And their latest release, the ardently named: “Lust Lust Lust” (and also, seemingly apt, with the very lustworthy bassist and vocalist, Foo being honoured as one of Rock’s Hottest Women in 2006 ) is sure to continue to exceed expectations.
Through their seven year partnership, The Raveonettes fan-base following has only continued to amass.
In retrospect, Wagner, as opposed to slamming the new-wave technologies of music downloads and file sharing, concedes that it has helped the band reach the level of success they have achieved over the past seven years.
“We’re all for it – without the exposure of the internet and downloading I don’t think we’d be in the position that we’re in right now….” He says.
“As long as new people are listening to our music all the time and we’re getting the exposure that’s all that really matters.”
OK, so there’s obviously not going to be any legal embargoes from The Raveonettes against iTunes, Kazaa or Limewire, but Wagner still acknowledges the band as a business and as such would like to reap a bit of revenue.
“As much as possible, we try to encourage the buying of CD’s just as anyone would.”
For Wagner personally, unlike the world of live music goers, one of the main pitfalls of their success is the need to play to go out and reach the masses by way of performing at music festivals.
“We don’t like playing festivals, where all the bands sound the same and the days are really long and redundant you know.”
Well, try telling that to Richard Branson et al…
So Splendour on the Grass isn’t likely to become an addition for the Raveonettes already hectic world touring schedule. Especially not with the surprising and very recent news of Sharin Foo’s pregnancy, which has led to a few cancellations and a slight line-up alteration.
Foo’s sister, Loui, is planning to take over as the other half of the Raveonettes in anticipation of the arrival of her niece or nephew, due in September.
Luckily, biological urges were contained whilst The Raveonettes rocked their way around Australia. “It’ll be good for all of us.” Wagner said in anticipation of their visit down under.
And not just in terms of the geograpghy, as much as the prospect of visiting the homeland of one of Wagner’s favourite bands, silverchair, that appealed to him.
“I’m really impressed with their new stuff and what they’ve done and what they’ve done over the past 15 years or whatever. You’ve got to appreciate anything that they do.”
It would seem that Wagner takes on a much more forgiving attitude to the ‘chair’s more recent efforts. And his overall excitement about the way the music scene is currently standing can only be described as contagious.
Recently, he enthused over the current musical perspective:
“These are exciting times in the music industry…The worlds have changed and the artist is finally back in control of everything, the way it should have always been.”
