Pictures were taken by Michael Killian. All credit goes to him.
The Raveonettes myspace
The Raveonettes website
I'll be totally honest here. I hadn't heard a single Raveonettes song until like two months ago. I had heard their names being thrown around on the internet a couple of times, i just never bothered to check them out. Then i heard they were coming over to Indonesia. The ticket was like 15 AUD which is about as good of a deal as you can get over here. So i headed over to their myspace and listened to a few songs on there. My first impression was "well they sounded like if Jesus and Mary Chain and The Velvets had a baby". Despite liking those bands, i wasn't really impressed at first.
I decided to give them a fair shot and downloaded a few albums. I can tell you that they changed their sound with each album, although you can probably still tell it's the same band. They definitely nail The Jesus And Mary Chain guitar tone down to a T when they wanted to. Check out their first release, Whip It On for example of this (more Psychodandy than Darklands). It's also their most straight forward, noisy, rocking album. The difference between them and JAMC is that if JAMC seem to be leaning toward the simplicity of what would later become post-punk, The Raveonettes seem to be influenced more by 50's/60's garage pop/rock. Strangely enough, they sounded way more modern and "today" compared to JAMC due to their uses of synths.
Their releases post-Whip It On see them improving on songwriting department and putting the "noisy" parts more strategically. The songs are more varied and less one dimensional. They also seemed to be getting poppier and more accessible with each album (not a bad thing in my book). Their last output, In And Out Of Control even sounds like a lost Blondie album at times. One thing that doesn't change within the equation of their music is the juxtaposition of the male/female pop style of harmonized vocals and the "dark" nature of the lyrical content being sung. Much like The Velvet Underground, much of their lyrics seem to revolve around relationships gone sour, lust, rape, violence, and everything in between.
Let's get back to the show review. After driving down for about 2 hours, me and friends got to the venue. We missed one of the opening bands, Denial. I've seem them before and they definitely got the JAMC thing too, making them a definite good pick for the show. I don't know how to describe Cuts, the second opening band of that night. They were simply awful. Two female singers and the rest of the band dressed as if they were going for A Clockwork Orange audition. None of them seemed to be older than twenty. And they play some kind of boring modern rock-dance hybrid or whatever it was.
Finally it was The Raveonettes time to hit the stage. To put it simply, they killed it. The guitar tone was amazing, especially Sune's. The surfy clean tone is to die for. I never wanted a Jazzmaster more than that night. The crowd vibe was really good too. There were plenty of singalong sessions and the band seemed to really enjoy themselves that night. I think they were a bit overwhelmed by crowd reaction given it was their first time in Indonesia.
The Raveonettes also mix it up a bit on stage that night. A few songs started with Sune and Sharin and their guitars with the rest of the band joining in. Sharin and the drummer also swap duties on second guitar and drums for a bit. Their setlist was pretty good that night, it was a good mix of old and newer songs. It was one of the funnest shows i've been too this year and i definitely like them more after that night.
Here's a couple of videos i took off of their set that night. Enjoy!
I decided to give them a fair shot and downloaded a few albums. I can tell you that they changed their sound with each album, although you can probably still tell it's the same band. They definitely nail The Jesus And Mary Chain guitar tone down to a T when they wanted to. Check out their first release, Whip It On for example of this (more Psychodandy than Darklands). It's also their most straight forward, noisy, rocking album. The difference between them and JAMC is that if JAMC seem to be leaning toward the simplicity of what would later become post-punk, The Raveonettes seem to be influenced more by 50's/60's garage pop/rock. Strangely enough, they sounded way more modern and "today" compared to JAMC due to their uses of synths.
Their releases post-Whip It On see them improving on songwriting department and putting the "noisy" parts more strategically. The songs are more varied and less one dimensional. They also seemed to be getting poppier and more accessible with each album (not a bad thing in my book). Their last output, In And Out Of Control even sounds like a lost Blondie album at times. One thing that doesn't change within the equation of their music is the juxtaposition of the male/female pop style of harmonized vocals and the "dark" nature of the lyrical content being sung. Much like The Velvet Underground, much of their lyrics seem to revolve around relationships gone sour, lust, rape, violence, and everything in between.
Let's get back to the show review. After driving down for about 2 hours, me and friends got to the venue. We missed one of the opening bands, Denial. I've seem them before and they definitely got the JAMC thing too, making them a definite good pick for the show. I don't know how to describe Cuts, the second opening band of that night. They were simply awful. Two female singers and the rest of the band dressed as if they were going for A Clockwork Orange audition. None of them seemed to be older than twenty. And they play some kind of boring modern rock-dance hybrid or whatever it was.
Finally it was The Raveonettes time to hit the stage. To put it simply, they killed it. The guitar tone was amazing, especially Sune's. The surfy clean tone is to die for. I never wanted a Jazzmaster more than that night. The crowd vibe was really good too. There were plenty of singalong sessions and the band seemed to really enjoy themselves that night. I think they were a bit overwhelmed by crowd reaction given it was their first time in Indonesia.
The Raveonettes also mix it up a bit on stage that night. A few songs started with Sune and Sharin and their guitars with the rest of the band joining in. Sharin and the drummer also swap duties on second guitar and drums for a bit. Their setlist was pretty good that night, it was a good mix of old and newer songs. It was one of the funnest shows i've been too this year and i definitely like them more after that night.
Here's a couple of videos i took off of their set that night. Enjoy!
