The Raveonettes
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

The Raveonettes, Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner, have slowly been building up a following with their vintage American R&B, surf and rockabilly inflected music. Their latest album is Pretty in Black and I got to speak with one half of the group, Sune Rose Wagner.

Check out the official site of The Raveonettes

Daniel Robert Epstein: I heard your bus broke down yesterday.

Sune Rose Wagner: Yeah, there was some trouble with the bus there. We just rented a van and drove to the next town. It was no big deal, it was fine.

DRE: Did you guys rock so hard that you broke the van?

SRW: Absolutely.

DRE: So with this new album you guys are getting some popularity going. Has that changed anything?

SRW: No not really. A lot more people are coming to the shows and we’re having a good time. We’re just touring. It’s not that strange because we’re always touring. It’s not like we have a lot of breaks. We’re just in a touring kind of mode, so we don’t really feel anything.

DRE: You’ve been on a few late night talk shows, how is that?

SRW: We did Letterman and we were on Conan O’Brien for a second time. Then we went to LA and did the Jimmy Kimmel show, which we’d never done. I love it. I think it’s really wonderful. I think that it is really nice exposure but it’s always strange. It’s always weird when you meet Conan O’Brien, but in a cool way. It’s someone you just watch on TV and all of a sudden you’re sitting next to him, talking to him about whatever. So I like it.

DRE: Are you guys still having as much fun?

SRW: It’s fun now because now we have a new album out. We can play a lot of new songs and shit, so right now it’s really exciting.

DRE: How was writing the album? Were you guys looking to do something that would get more exposure?

SRW: It simply just worked out that way. We never really think about that, because honestly, if we were that kind of band, I don’t think we’re ever going to get a lot of radio exposure anyway, because we dabble in some eras that are just not very popular with the kids right now. We deal with the 50’s and 60’s and the kids want to hear 80’s music. We just don’t want to do that. That’s not where our heart is. It’s kind of hard for people sometimes to get our music because it’s so different from what everybody else is doing right now. We just think about how we can make a cool album and not try to repeat ourselves too much.

DRE: How do you get those warm tones on the album going?

SRW: On this one we recorded all analog and then we mixed it up in ProTools later. I did the beat in Logic and ProTools. It’s the first record where have we used amps and stuff like that. We’ve used to just plug straight into the mixing board and play. It’s a completely different sound, which is what we wanted, because there was no reason to try to do another Chain Gang Of Love right now. That wouldn’t make any sense for us. We wanted to do something completely different.

DRE: Was it even in the songwriting process that you said, I want to do something different?

SRW: When I was writing the songs, I could hear that. It was just a very charming kind of approach I had to it this time around and I thought I’ll just like to keep it that way. Keep the record really charming and beautiful and if people want to hear the heavier or raw stuff they can pick up Whip It On or Chain Gang Of Love. This just had to be a little bit different for me to have some excitement and for me to progress.

DRE: What kind of influence does Sharin have on the lyrics themselves?

SRW: Nothing.

DRE: Was that a distinction that you guys made right from the beginning?

SRW: She doesn’t know how to write songs, so it’s pretty obvious that I should do it. She likes the songs that I write and she would never want to interfere with them. That’s what she tells me, and I say, that’s cool because I can only write by myself anyway. It all works out.

DRE: Does the way she sings have an influence on you?

SRW: No not that either. I just think in terms of the Everly Brothers and stuff like that when I write. I write for two people so I take one voice and give the other voice to Sharin.

DRE: Were you the official producer on it?

SRW: Yes, I produce with Richard Gottehrer.

DRE: How is that process?

SRW: It’s so simple because the songs are pretty much done when we go into the studio. It’s a very different way of working than most people do. There’s not a lot of producing going on. I have everything mapped out before I go into the studio. Every once in a while maybe Richard will say, “maybe you should put a tambourine on here”, and I’ll go, “Okay, let’s try it.” If it works, it works, and if not, then it doesn’t. It’s more like that kind of thing. It’s cool to have Richard around, because he’s our very good friend. He just brings a good vibe to the studio so we laugh a lot and we have fun. He makes sure we get this shit done, that we don’t drink too much and that we get up a little bit earlier.

DRE: Do you drink a lot when you’re out on the road?

SRW: Too much, I would say.

DRE: What do you drink?

SRW: Beer, vodka, margaritas. Whatever we can get our hands on, I guess.

DRE: How is it when you go home and you play? Do a lot of family and friends come out?

SRW: Not mine, because they don’t live in the cities where we play. We don’t really go home and play that much, because that was never really the intention with the band. We don’t live in Denmark anymore either. I live in New York, and Sharin lives in London. We don’t really perceive ourselves as a Danish band. We just wanted to go outside of Denmark and play, which is what we did. We’re just like an international band.

DRE: I assume it was your parents that introduced you to all that older music.

SRW: No, I grew up in a non-musical home. I had to discover everything on my own when I was about 15. I was just reading about it, watching movies and borrowing records from the library. I just went through my own musical phase where I discovered a lot of things. It was interesting that way.

DRE: What did you look at exactly?

SRW: I was just reading music encyclopedias so could learn about people. Like if I was reading about Jimi Hendrix, it would say, contemporary artists at his time would be Jefferson Airplane, Cream and all these bands. I would go borrow a Cream record and I would discover there was this guy Eric Clapton in Cream, who also used to play with the Yardbirds.

DRE: Were you always a writer?

SRW: Pretty much. Like the usual poetry and stuff. I don’t do that anymore. Now it comes out in the music.

DRE: Are you married or have a girlfriend or anything like that?

SRW: Nah, I don’t have any of these things. It’s too complicated when you travel so much. There’s really no point to it. I wouldn’t want to be with someone that I truly loved and missed. It wouldn’t make any sense to me because I would be so sad.

I’ve had girlfriends but in the end we just decided it wasn’t working. We never saw each other. Maybe if I was married and had kids, we would have a really special bond between us, but whatever.

DRE: What is the songwriting process for you?

SRW: I just sit down and write. It comes to me very easily. I can’t really do it on the road because there are so many people on the bus. I just need to be home by myself.

DRE: What do you do when you’re not making music?

SRW: I like to go shopping for vintage clothes and stuff like that. I take a lot of pictures and I read. I like to go for long walks.

DRE: A lot of people, of course, describe your stuff as retro. Where do you find all that stuff?

SRW: There’s one place in New York I like, The Family Jewels on 23rd St and Chelsea. In Portland they have really amazing stores. That’s totally my favorite place to go vintage shopping. Also in Nashville you can find some really good stuff.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/words/The+Raveonettes/