WHEN THE FIRST Raveonettes album, Chain Gang of Love, came out, the asymmetrically haircutted masses (aww, remember those?) made lots of jokes about already owning Suicide records. Six years later, those folks have all traded their Tones on Tail records and coke habits for flannel shirts and organic shallots at the farmer’s market. The Raveonettes, though, is still around. The band’s fourth record, Lust for Life, was released Oct. 6 and features some of the same fuzzed-out instruments and cool vocals that members Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner have always been known for, but also have some sweet harmonies and new adventures in songwriting, not to mention a song with a singsong chorus of “fuck suicide.”
New York Press caught up with Foo to talk about leaking demos, mood changes and visa problems in Copenhagen.
You released a lot of the demos for this album online and actually got some shit for it. Why did you decide to do that?
The idea was to invite people into the recording process. It’s always interesting how the songs develop and go through phases, and we think it might be interesting for hardcore fans to be able to see those different versions of a song. So, you could call them demo versions but they were really early versions from the studio as we were recording and having the album materialize.
How did doing so affect the way the album turned out?
Not at all.That’s a very internalized process, it’s still very private even thought we allowed people to listen to it. It’s a decision between Sune and me as to how it’s going to turn out.
OK, so how does In and Out of Control compare to the other records you’ve released?
It’s different and it’s the same. It’s a departure in that we previously had worked a lot with an album having a tone and an overall mood throughout. I guess this one has a mood, but it’s the most diverse album we’ve made and we deliberately wanted to work with each song individually and find a personality for each.The songs are very strong and each stands out. Another thing is the choruses, which are unusual for us.
It’s like every time we make an album, it’s a reaction to the previous one.You’re in a specific mood and space for a couple of years and then you want to do something different. It’s sonically celebratory and extroverted.
Your lineup is always changing; when you tour for this record, what’s the live band going to be like?
It’s Sune and me on guitar and vocals and then we have a drummer and a bass player. Right now they’re stuck in Copenhagen and can’t get their visas—I’m sure they’ll get here eventually. By the time we get to New York, they’ll be here.
You seem to have outlasted a lot of the bands that you’re always lumped in with—did you ever feel like people might not have expected The Raveonettes to last?
I feel like every time I’ve read that we were lumped in with a specific scene or genre, it struck me that we don’t belong there.We’re kind of outsiders.
Your name is homage to the Ronettes and you’ve gotten a lot of 1950s and ‘60s comparisons. What do you think of the return of the girl-group sound that seems to be the big thing right now?
I can understand that.The girl group sound…obviously we embrace it, so it’s understandable.Trends come and go and we’ll always have elements of that sound in our music. Even lyrically we have a modern version of it. I like to call this album ‘bubblegum tragedy.’ It’s innocent, but it’s ironic in a way.
> The Raveonettes
Oct. 14, Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St. (betw. 3rd & 4th Aves.), 212-353-1600; 8, $22. Also, Oct. 16 at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
