As a drummer and self-taught guitarist, Wagner is responsible for the majority of the Raveonettes sound. “I write three to four songs a day,” Wagner says. “When I wake up, I know melodies, guitar lines…” His large collection of songs is his diary. “People don’t realize it, but a lot of the things I do are random,” he says. As for production and recording, he tends to keep first takes. He claims that there are musical blemishes on every Raveonettes record. “I find the mistakes charming,” he says. Foo considers her band mate to be a musical mastermind, noting that the songs for Lust Lust Lust were chosen out of 100 of Wagner’s demos.
Musically, Lust Lust Lust is a return to Chain Gang of Love. It’s noisy, there are few chords, and the vocals are soothing. “In typical Raveonettes fashion, it’s romantic and dirty,” Foo says. “But there is a coldness to it.” Wagner adds, “[The album] is exactly how I envisioned it. I wanted something groovy, mellow, and with an edge.”
“The third track, “Lust,” is a dark song with a drum-machine backbeat, dark, ambient guitar lines, and sad but pretty lyrics. Its style prompted the overall feel of the record. “As we get older, it takes much longer to get satisfied with things,” Foo says. “This is a more modern album.”
Setting it side by side to their other records, it looks distinctly different. There is no nostalgic movie poster, let alone much color at all, and Foo and Wagner are not on the cover. “We got fed up with looking at ourselves,” Foo says. “When people think of the Raveonettes, they think of Sharin and Sune,” Wagner says. “There was too much focus on what we looked like.”
Wagner is looking forward to the upcoming tour, which starts just after the release of the new album. They plan to keep both travel arrangements and their show simple, with only Wagner, Foo, and a drummer on board. “I think a three-people tour works best,” he says laughing. “It looks good on stage. We don’t need a tour bus.” These days, Wagner considers the East Village of New York his home, while Foo resides in Los Angeles. Although they live on separate sides of the country, Wagner and Foo are together for most of the year, touring and, for part of 2007, making the album. “Obviously, it’s not the optimal way of being in a band,” Foo says. “When we’re together, we bounce ideas sitting next to each other.”
“We miss each other socially,” Wagner says. But the idea of home seems to be temporary. “I’m [in the United States] for music. Anything can happen.” he says. “Ten years from now? Maybe I’ll be in Denmark raising a family and ending it. I’ll be proud knowing that I’ve made a name for myself.”
-Kristine Capua
The Raveonettes: www.theraveonettes.com
Vice Records: www.vicerecords.com