LIVE REVIEW Water Rats Theatre Text by Matthew Grundy

The Raveonettes @ The Water Rats 19/12/02 It would be pretty easy to ignore the Raveonettes. The 'new' stripped down garage rock sound is reaching its peak and the alternative music scene is bursting at the seams with a thousand and one bands all trying to muscle in on the market currently fronted by bands such as (you already know which ones I'm talking about, but let's just run through them one more time shall we?) The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, The Vines, The Libertines, and so on; the list seems endless. Any band drifting amongst this vast ocean of noise would have to be pretty damn special and twice as lucky to be noticed at this stage in the game. What chance have the umpteenth band to begin with a 'The' got when the floodgates are already being closed? To be fair, The Raveonettes have a lot going for them. For a start, they look great. Singer Sharin Foo possesses those gob-smacking blonde Scandinavian looks that so many men find hard to resist, and at tonight's gig, there's a mob of goggle-eyed men circled round her at the front of the stage, drooling over the monitor. Sune Rose Wagner, the founder member and songwriter, looks like a young Nick Cave - tall, dark, skinny and brooding. The cover of their excellent debut EP 'Whip It On', and the video for the new single 'Attack of the Ghost Riders', have been meticulously designed to look like adverts for a B-Movie. You just can't ignore them, because it all seems so promising. And they're almost ready to release another record. I slipped backstage for a few minutes before the gig to have a chat with Sharin. The Raveonettes played the Water Rats a few months ago, what have you been up to since? Sharin: We've just constantly been on the road, working really hard on promoting the album ('Whip It On', recorded entirely in the key of Bb Minor). Tonight's one of the last shows before we take a well earned Christmas break, but it's good to be back, we like it here! You've recently been signed to Columbia, what's it like now you're on a major label? Sharin: Apart from being really really busy, it's been great. We've been given the opportunity to work with really prominent people like Richard Gottehrer (original Blondie producer). As far as the recording goes, they've been totally hands off, we've been given total freedom to do whatever we want with the new record, which is really good of them. The last album was recorded entirely in Sune's bedroom. What sort of process did you have this time round? What can we expect from the new record? Sharin: We did all of the initial stuff in Sune's bedroom again, but now we had the opportunity to take the beginnings and transform it into a bigger setting in a proper studio, which was a challenge. The album will have much the same sound, but a little more poppy, a little more light, and this time all the songs are in Bb Major! How would you describe your sound? Sharin: We have such a diverse range of taste. We feel the music is quite influenced by the Cramps and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but vocally we love Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers, and 60s girl groups. You've never done a tour this big before. Do you think you'll manage to keep the live gigs fresh? Sharin: Well it is hard to keep it interesting when you're on the road for so long, but now we've finished off our second record, thankfully we have quite a lot of songs to choose from, so we can change our set every night. And it's always fun to play anyway. Plus we have some important shows coming up next year, like supporting Supergrass at Wembley Arena. Wow, that's a little different from the Water Rats, how do you think the band will cope with such a huge audience? Sharin: We are quite nervous about it, but at the same time we can't wait. I think it will be interesting to see how our music translates on a big stage. The story goes that Sune spent some time in New York and Los Angeles looking for players, but found it hard to find anyone who shared his vision. Why do you think you two have done so well together? Sharin: I guess we just have a lot in common musically. When Sune was in America a few years ago trying to find musicians, he just hit a brick wall. No one was interested in the sound he wanted to create. They were like "You can't do that", they just thought it was weird. But now, of course, the stripped down rock sound is all the rage. The Raveonettes, then, are very much in the now. They look great, they have all the right ideas, and they have a cracking album out, but unfortunately, it all gets a bit lost live. They are a good band, it's clear. With the help of avant-garde drummer Jacob Hoyer and guitarist Manoj Ramdas (who displays enough energy to power the house lights in Wembley Arena), the Raveonettes can capture the attention of even the most cynical of music fans. Sharin and Sune's symbiotic vocals come together to form one beautiful voice, and combine that with the keyed up rock guitars and jazz drums and you've got a winning combination. But somehow, the attention that they grab so early on wanders after a few minutes as the limitations of their sound begins to show. It's definitely edgy, and it's undoubtedly attractive, but it just doesn't quite deliver. You leave with a feeling of being short-changed. Perhaps they're just not on form after so much work over the last few months, but there is ultimately something missing from the performance, which spoils the experience after being promised so much. And so it seems, The Raveonettes are going to have to work pretty hard if they want to get ahead of the new rock revolution game. Reviews Archive: Laptop, Maroon 5, The Parkinsons, Guitar Vader, Mono, Dawn of the Replicants, Demo Workshops, The Jeevas, The Wannadies, Mclusky, Alanis Morissette, The Leaves & Phantom Planet, The Breeders, Freeheat, The Hives, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Peter Yorn, Jason Mraz, Mary Guibert