She Wants Revenge

The Wombats enjoy dancing ironically to Joy Division and, apparently, they aren’t the only ones. Thoughts might naturally drift to New Order because, after all, dance is the direction the remaining Joy Division members headed. While that answer would be incorrect, it’s a fair guess since rounding out this bizarre dance triangle is She Wants Revenge. Comparisons to their aforementioned predecessors aren’t insulting to She Wants Revenge, whose members Adam Bravin and Justin Warfield count both groups as influences (check out track “Tear You Apart” from their self-titled debut release and you’ll wonder if She Wants Revenge resurrected Ian Curtis). However, with She Wants Revenge, the dark and melancholic meet a ray of sunshine — that’s the commonality existing in all three SWR releases. Currently touring in support of their latest album Valleyheart (an homage to their home base in the San Fernando Valley), She Wants Revenge continues to set dirty misery to a dancefloor-worthy electronic beat that even Curtis himself would find it hard to resist. (Appearing with Peter Murphy and Hussle Club at Metro on November 26) –text: Lisette Medina

She Wants Revenge

Whether you support Obama or Hillary Clinton, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you vote and let your voice be heard, especially young people, because there is no reason why people over 60 should be deciding the future of people in their twenties and thirties.

story by James H. Ewert Jr.

It’s not enough to say that She Wants Revenge has been dogged by comparisons to other bands that reference a modern architecture style (Bauhaus) or a certain happiness separation (Joy Division). No, it would be more accurate to say that the Los Angeles creep-rock duo has been plagued by them.

Since the band first broke onto the scene with their self-titled release in 2006, She Wants Revenge has been fighting to strike a balance between its own unique sound and that of other influences that have come before it. Having just released their second full-length album, This Is Forever, She Wants Revenge is drifting further from empty analogies and more into their own — like a drunken, lonely fan dancing with reckless abandon as the rest of the crowd looks on in disbelief.

The band’s dark electronic beats and neurotic lyrics have led many critics to label the group as disingenuous imposters, but lead singer Justin Warfield thinks that’s all just a bunch of bullshit. “Knowing how serious Adam ['Adam 12' Bravin] and I are about music, it was pretty heartbreaking when we first started hearing a lot of things people were saying about us,” Warfield told Chicago Innerview from Austin, Texas. “I mean, if you think it sucks, just say so, but don’t tell us we’re not being real. Good and bad is subjective, but real can only be judged by the people making it and the people surrounding a project. I can’t look at a painting and say whoever made that isn’t being real.”

Take Pitchfork’s February 2006 review of She Wants Revenge for example: “While Warfield and Bravin don’t deserve bonus points for actually being teenagers during the ’80s as they suggest, they’re studio rats who trouble and toil for the exact sounds necessary to propel their mediocre songwriting.” Or Rolling Stone’s review: “Full of one-note bass-guitar plucking, cheap drum machines, pointed rough-sex poetry and heavily haunted vocal mannerisms, the pair’s debut provokes much hilarity, despite the serious intentions of its inspirations…She Wants Revenge steal from the best, and steal well.”
It’s no question that critics have been somewhat snobbish toward the band, but really what electro dance rock have critics not been hard on? The Faint? It still seems like a common misconception when writing about music that bands aren’t allowed to sound like other bands or use the same technique employed by other musicians.

Either way, She Wants Revenge’s music is a little unsettling for some yet cathartic for just as many. After all, being compared to some of the best post-punk Goth bands recent history has to offer isn’t all that bad — and even Warfield seems to think so in the end. “I don’t have a problem with comparisons because that’s how we all operate,” Warfield said in his calm welcoming baritone. “The problem with comparisons though is that they don’t always tell you the whole story.”

What exactly that whole story is has yet to be decided, but one could get a good idea by catching the band live, where one would be treated to more than just a concert. Though Warfield is quick to point out that he doesn’t like to force his opinion on anyone, any She Wants Revenge concertgoer would realize right away that the band is not some label-trained money-making Joy Division-sounding drone, but rather a self-reflective, politically conscious band that is fully supporting Barack Obama for president.

“Whether you support Obama or Hillary Clinton, that doesn’t matter,” Warfield said. “What matters is that you vote and let your voice be heard, especially young people, because there is no reason why people over 60 should be deciding the future of people in their twenties and thirties.”

She Wants Revenge :: with Be Your Own Pet, Virgins and Switches :: House of Blues :: June 12.

Poi Dog Pondering, Queens of the Stone Age, She Wants Revenge, Wilco

POI DOG PONDERING
For close to 14 years, Poi Dog Pondering has called Chicago home, having leapt from the island of Hawaii to the musical hotbed of Austin, Texas in the mid-’80s. From memorable appearances at the Taste of Chicago, performing with the Chicago Sinfonietta, to their historic multi-night runs at the Vic Theatre (1996 & 1999), Poi Dog Pondering has made a habit of creating special nights in the city. They are a collective that brings just about everything to the table, whether it’s the dance grooves of the house music scene or the gentle beauty of pop music in all its forms. Poi Dog Pondering is indeed a perennial force in Chicago music. The band is currently working on a follow-up to their 2003 release In Seed Comes Fruit, and look to catch the band reunite at Symphony Center with the Chicago Sinfonietta in 2007. (Sunday, 5:30-6:30, Adidas-Champs Stage) –text: Chris Castaneda

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
After biding his time playing skins for the cheeky garage project Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is back once again with his main musical squeeze. Though it has been well over a year since QOTSA’s fourth album Lullabies to Paralyze was released, we haven’t forgotten how much it kicked our asses. The follow-up to 2002’s much-lauded Songs for the Deaf, Lullabies is without the bass talents of Nick Oliveri and also lacks Dave Grohl’s thundering, inventive skills behind the drum kit. Though missed, the album doesn’t completely suffer from their absence. Frequently, in fact, it has been put down for sounding too much like its predecessor. But if QOTSA’s hard-edged desert rock formula ain’t broke, Homme sure as shit shouldn’t try to fix it. (Sunday, 6:30-7:30, AT&T Stage) –text: Jake Malooley

SHE WANTS REVENGE
Can songs about heartbreak help heal a broken heart? L.A. indie rock band She Wants Revenge might have the idea down. With scratchy guitar riffs, a pounding drum machine, thick baseline, sometimes-monotone melody and provocative lyrics, Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin wrap stories about broken relationships and dangerous crushes onto the tracks of their self-titled album. The duo originally met when Adam was a nightclub DJ and producer while Justin was a rapper who recorded with DJ and hip-hop producer Prince Paul. After receiving radio attention in Los Angeles for their single “Out of Control”, they released their debut album with Perfect Kiss Records in January 2006 and have been placed in the same genre as bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode ever since. And while their music might seem to have the potential to dampen the cheery mood of Lollapalooza, their music will surely allow you to dance — even if you’re sullen. (Sunday, 5:30-6:30, Q101 Stage) –text: Jackie Bernardo–photo: Michael Muller

WILCO
With more than 130 bands ranging from rap icons to rocking soccer moms, Wilco will most likely crop up as a highlight on most Lollapalooza fest-goers’ schedules. And with good reason. First of all, they make us Chicagoans proud. They can even make fans out of those people who say, “I like all kinds of music except country.” Secondly, their country/rock hybrid was made for outdoor shows. (For example, see “Heavy Metal Drummer” off Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the album that made them stars.) Thirdly, those who catch the band’s set will likely get a glimpse of the next album, slated for a spring release, as new material was unveiled during their recent tour in Canada. Finally, with poetic singer/guitarist/leader Jeff Tweedy in good health after kicking a painkiller habit and with a solid lineup after several personnel changes in the past decade, Wilco is at the top of their game and a can’t-miss pick. (Sunday, 6:30-7:30, Bud Light Stage) –text: Dorothy Hernandez