Kicking the Clichés
While the Raveonettes’ music may shift gears from one album to
the next, Wagner’s songwriting approach is both consistent and
beautifully self-contained. Rather than piecing together riffs and
parts with guitar in-hand, he prefers to do the initial writing in a
more internal way. “We try to make music that is fairly simple,” he
says, “and after playing guitar for so many years, I don’t really need
it to write songs anymore—I know how chords work and I know
what I like. I just try to come up with riffs and things in my head
first, and then, if I have a riff or an idea for something, I’ll grab
the guitar and make a little demo recording. But I usually sit and
just think about riffs and rhythmic patterns and stuff like that, and
then I pick up the guitar and figure out how to do it.”
Writing this way helps Wagner avoid some of the obvious guitar
clichés that come from dependence on shapes and patterns.
Another method he employs to create out-of-the-box guitar parts is
to write on another instrument. “I play the piano as well, so a lot
of the stuff I write on piano I transfer onto guitar. I’ll play different
things on the guitar that I normally wouldn’t think of.”
When it comes to gear, Wagner and Foo have a relatively simple
setup that allows them to create enormous, space-filling ambient sounds
when they play live. Like many indie rockers, Wagner is a devoted fan
of the quirkier Fender models. “I mainly use a 1963 Jazzmaster and a
1963 Jaguar,” he explains. “One of my favorite guitars, mostly for touring,
is the 1996 Fender Jazzmaster Ventures model that they did limited
editions of when they had their 50th or 40th anniversary or something.
I got it from Japan on eBay, and I just bought another one. So now
I can really go on the road. It just seems like a really sturdy guitar. It
doesn’t have all the switches that a normal Jazzmaster has, and it feels
a little bit heavier. It feels like one of those guitars that you can really
travel with and nothing will break it. I’m very happy about it.”
Amp-wise, Wagner favors the tried-and-true Fender Twin Reverb,
particularly the popular ’65 Twin Reverb reissue. “We’re not much
for vintage amps, because it’s a little shaky touring with them sometimes.
And I always really liked the ’65 reissue—it sounds wonderful,
and it’s one of those amps you can get anywhere. It doesn’t
matter where you play in the world, you can always order two ’65
Twin reissues, so you know you will always have your sound.”
Foo relies on a Fender Mustang. “Because it’s a short-scale, it’s
good for my fingers.” She runs it into an Ampeg SVT Classic with
a healthy dose of effects. While she is a multi-instrumentalist, Foo
insists her favorite instrument is bass. “It’s a very natural instrument
to me,” she says. “It’s that kind of grounded, heartbeat-y feel.
I love that. I feel like it suits my personality better than the guitar.
And also I would prefer not to be in front so much. To be a guitar
player, you have to love the spotlight.”
Both Wagner and Foo rely on a few trusted pedals to recreate their
atmospheric sound in concert. The secret, says Wagner, is not distortion,
but chaining several reverb pedals together for massive, ambient
harmonic overload. “The thing is, because we do make a lot of
noise when we play live, people always think that noise comes from
hooking up 10 distortion pedals,” says Wagner. “But we actually only
use one distortion pedal, and it’s a Pro Co RAT—which is not even
turned up a quarter of the way. Our guitars are actually not that distorted,
but when you run them through three reverb pedals that are
blasting, it creates so many overtones and so much craziness that you
get that wall of sound—but it’s not really a distorted wall of sound.
It’s just more crazy harmonics going on there.”
Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin
Foo onstage with their trusted
Fender Jazzmasters
and a backline
of ’65 Twin Reverb reissues.
When we talked with Wagner and Foo, they were just a week away
from rehearsals for the
Raven in the Grave tour, and both were clearly
excited to get underway. This tour, not surprisingly, will find the pair
exploring yet another new lineup—one that will include two drummers.
“That was actually the initial thought for the Raveonettes when
we started back in 2002,” Wagner insists. “But we got into it so fast and
started touring, and we got signed really early on in our career, so we
just didn’t have time to make things work like that. But now we have
a substantial amount of time off, and I said to Sharin, ‘Why don’t we
do the two-drummer setup?’ And it would be great for this album, too,
because it has very simple beats that are just looped so it’ll look great
when you have two drummers play identical beats. It’ll be very powerful,
like a machine that just runs through the whole thing. And also,
they can both play guitar as well, if we need to change it up a little bit.”
Foo adds that the two-drummer lineup also allows them to
incorporate samples without losing a live feel—a sense of immediate
physicality. “When we toured on the last record, we played without
tracks and samples, which was a completely new thing for us,” she
recalls. “Now we want to reintroduce the electronic sound, but in a
way where it’s less fixed. So we can trigger a lot with just the drums.
We also like the visual, very physical feeling of two drummers.”
So when you listen to the Raveonettes—or if you’re lucky enough
to catch them live—don’t say we didn’t warn you. Just behind the
heady mixture of undeniable hooks, dark waves of sound, and ethereal
harmonies lurk some dark and diabolical intentions. But even
once you know the score, the seduction is still hard to resist. And
what fun is resisting anyway?
Sune Rose Wagner's Gearbox
Guitars
1963 Fender Jazzmaster, 1963 Fender Jaguar,
1996 Fender Jazzmaster Ventures model,
student model Yamaha nylon-string acoustic
Amps
Fender ’65 Twin Reverb reissues
Effects
Pro Co RAT, Boss RV-5, Boss DD-20 Giga Delay,
Boss TR-2 Tremolo, Dunlop JH-OC1 Jimi Hendrix
Octave Fuzz, Z.Vex Fuzz Factory
Strings and Picks
Fender Super Bullets (.010–.046), Fender medium
Miscellaneous
Mogami cables
Sharin Foo's Gearbox
Basses
1976 Fender Mustang bass
Amps
Ampeg SVT Classic
Effects
Pro Co RAT, two Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb units,
Boss TU-2, T-Rex FuelTank Classic
Strings and Picks
Fender Super 7250 (.040–.100), Fender medium
Miscellaneous
Mogami cables