When a band’s name is a complete sentence, there are typically some things that one can expect: angst, antisocial lyrical content, and a mountain of pretensions. As you may have already guessed, She Wants Revenge’s self-titled debut has all three.
From Los Angeles, SWR are Justin Warfield and Adam 12. Warfield is the frontman with the Ian Curtis baritone and Adam 12 is the bass player that probably didn’t have to compromise much when he picked an email address. Their music is dark, dance-y, and foreboding, recalling Manchester circa 1988. According to their press materials, the band’s stated goal is to make girls dance and cry, and they may very well succeed: Songs like “Red Flags and Late Nights” and “Out of Control” stand a good chance of inducing ecstasy, even without MDMA.
In interviews, the pair has insisted that their music is not a deliberate attempt at recreating the sounds of any bygone era. She Wants Revenge, they claim, is a personal record that “just happen[s] to be dance music” and they’d appreciate not being associated with the current crop of 1980s revivalists. That’s asking a lot, but, in their favor, Warfield isn’t just another sad sack with a Morrissey complex. In fact, he used to be a rapper: His 1993 album My Field Trip to Planet 9 was produced by Prince Paul, and his rhymes on Bomb the Bass’ standout single “Bug Powder Dust” were among the freshest of the trip-hop era. More so than a Brandon Flowers, then, Warfield might actually know how to make you dance.
She Wants Revenge is out in early 2006 on Geffen.
She Wants Revenge official site
