Monster Magnet Makes Their Way Back To The Sunset Scene

November 24, 2013

Space Lords of stoner rock, Monster Magnet, land at the House of Blues in Hollywood on Nov. 27. It may have been 10 years since the New Jersey band toured the states, but they’ve been plenty busy playing around Europe and releasing numerous albums, including the latest, “Last Patrol.”

“Since we’ve been away for so long I plan to do a couple songs off the new record but we’re going to be primarily focused on more overtly psychedelic Monster Magnet material and that would be from the first three or four albums,” lead singer, guitarist, and founding member, Dave Wyndorf said.

“Spine of God” was the 1991 debut on German label, Glitterhouse, followed by “Superjudge”, “Dopes to Infinity”, and the gold record, “Powertrip” which all came out on A&M.

“It’s important for me to remind people that this thing started with album number one and keeps on going.”

Monster Magnet performed a couple of the earlier albums, “Dopes to Infinity” and “Spine of God”, in their entirety in Europe. There’s talk of doing something like that in the states after they finish touring “Last Patrol” around the world. If people want to see it, they’ll do it.

“Playing albums in their entirety is especially cool. It’s a challenge to make that one release an entertaining evening live. We love to do it,” Wyndorf said.

“When transferring a studio album to a live setting, there’s changes that have to be made. Some of the music is made longer, more tripped out, stripped down in certain ways. “

While writing the lyrics for “Last Patrol”, Wyndorf noticed a recurring theme about a guy giving up.

“I’m writing about this guy, of course this guy turns out to be me, and I’m like, ‘wait a second, I recognize this guy’,” Wyndorf recalled.

“And it’s just me in a bleak February in 2013 going, ‘you know, I don’t particularly like what I see; I turn on the news, I get disgusted; I spend too much time on the internet; and I’m disgusted with myself.

“I’m like, ‘can I get out of here? Can I leave? This is the last patrol. This is it. I’m not trying any harder in life. I’m leaving.’

“I’m not going to commit suicide, I would rather go into my own delusions and get a ten foot blonde with giant tits and move to the moon. Then nuke people and have some adolescent style revenge on the rest of the world.

“So ‘Last Patrol’ seemed like a dramatic way to say ‘ok, this is it, fuck it, I’m leaving.’ Unless, of course, I get some more bookings in which I’ll come back from the moon and finish up my contractual obligations. I can be persuaded.”

Wyndorf finds there’s more pressure when writing the lyrics than writing the music because he wants it to be very good and he never seems to give himself enough time.

“When the deadline happens it’s like giving birth to a watermelon. What’s going to come out? It’s an excruciating experience for me every time.

“Maybe if I ever get my mind completely right I’ll come up with a new method that will have me writing all year. But for rock and roll songs and the kind of music I write, it seems there should be a little pressure.”

But Wyndorf finds that coming up with the music “is fun, it doesn’t have any literary expectations.

“I write the words to the music then what happens is I tend to beef it up. I’ll trip it out more, I’ll use a lot more metaphors, explain through the vernacular of science fiction or religion or something to give it an operatic, over-baked feel. Words and music should compliment each other at all times.

“I think if I wrote words first, I would probably write country and western.”

Wyndorf seemed to always know he wanted to be in a band. He never had any formal training but he was always the guy that knew all the words to all the songs.

“All I did as a kid was buy albums, bags of pot, and go to shows. That was it. That was the training ground.”

To this day, Wyndorf is a huge fan of vinyl, and he has managed to keep most of his albums from when he was a kid.

“They’re like magnificent works of art. What a way to deliver music,” Wyndorf mused. “It’s like a Christmas present compared to the stuff that you get music on now.

“There was this time in the 60s and 70s, and any vinyl freaks will totally agree with me, there was this spot in publishing and album making that was so good.

“It was a golden age. When commercial art is delivering stuff like ‘Sgt. Pepper’ that’s an amazing time. That doesn’t usually happen.

“Last vinyl I bought was a Blue Cheer reissue, ‘Outside, Inside’. It was really, really nice. I mean I’ve got the original cover, but mine was kind of banged up. I’m always looking for reissues that are art specific. I hate when they reissue and chintz on the art. You can keep your 125 grand vinyl, I want the cover.

“But the granddaddy of them all, thee best vinyl cover of all time: Hawkwind’s ‘Space Ritual Live’. It must fold out 16 times! It’s the size of a small child when you open it up. It’s amazing. Talk about getting your money’s worth.”

Monster Magnet is happy to be on the road and they’re excited to play L.A. again after such a long time.

“There’s so much rock history there. For the longest time L.A. was the center of the universe as far as the record industry was concerned,” Wyndorf said.

“L.A. crowds are fickle. They’re tough. It’s great. It’s the way it should be.”

British Indie Rock Take Over A Night In The OC

November 23, 2013

UK indie rock band, Foals, hit The Observatory in support of their 2013 release, “Holy Fire” on Dec. 5.

The 5-piece band has played numerous live dates throughout the year, including an earlier stint at Coachella. The December US tour precedes upcoming sold-out shows in the UK and then Japan in 2014.

It’s all a long way from the group’s early years in Oxford, where Yannis Philippakis (vocals/guitar), Jack Bevan (drums), Walter Gervers (bass), Edwin Congreave (Keyboards) and Jimmy Smith (guitar/synthesizer) convened after spells in various bands.

“Holy Fire” is Foals third album and highest selling record to date, reaching gold status in the UK in June. They have stepped up from, as Yannis puts it, “songs for indie clubs” to something much, much bigger. Their third album might not sound like Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails, but it has much of the same ambitious spirit and grandiose aesthetic that led to those groups touching the lives of millions. This is the sound of Foals arriving.

Yannis gives much of the credit for this huge leap forward to producers Flood (U2, Nick Cave, NIN) and Alan Moulder (Arctic Monkeys, Jesus and Mary Chain, Killers). “The two of them have a knack of taking something that at its core is fairly leftfield or fairly idiosyncratic, and whatever they capture becomes a universal experience,” he says. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something that attracted us to them.

The feeling is mutual. Moulder said, “I was impressed with their attitude to making a record and their ambition towards achieving something individual and unique but still wanting to appeal to the ‘masses’.”

This all became part of the influences that went into “Holy Fire”, which Yannis describes as “The Delta, voodoo, the swamp, sexuality, byzantine iconography and music, syrupy rhythms, the mountains, the abyss, the decline of the bee populations, hip hop and stoner rock.”

Much like the classic Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins albums that Flood and Moulder have previously collaborated on, “Holy Fire” finds Foals uniting the personal with bigger themes – specifically feelings of contemporary dread.

This developed from an experience on Foals’ last tour of the US. “We went to Detroit and it affected me like no other place has before,” Yannis says. “I saw these blue collar workers who you could imagine 15 years ago working as these honest Americans, but everything had obviously been collapsed in by crystal meth. Opposite the venue were these tenement blocks where most of the windows were smashed out and there’d be lights flickering inside, and it was just freakish, it was dystopian. It was the embodiment of the fall of the Empire.”

Foal’s 2007-debut album, “Antidotes” attempted to capture the live energy and sense of spontaneity that had made them one of the most sought-after live acts in the UK. Their follow-up three years later, “Total Life Forever”, was a surprise to many dealing in more expansive, eloquent sounds and a more mellow feel inspired in part by Foals’ long-time enthusiasm for weed. Now, as they approach their 30s, Foals are moving on from the “kind of lost boys club element to how we’ve lived for the past six years” to make their best music yet.

“I want to make songs for people who I feel like have been disenfranchised by alternative rock music,” Yannis said.

Up And Coming Indie-Pop Rocks The Constellation Room

November 20, 2013

Portland-based indie-pop duo, Dresses, hits the Constellation Room on Nov. 25, playing with The Limousines and Mona.

Timothy Heller (vocals/piano) and Jared Ryan Maldonado (vocals/guitar), who happen to be dating, are currently on a mega US tour in support of their SideOneDummy debut album, “Sun Shy.” “Blew My Mind” is the first song Dresses ever wrote together, and it’s also the first single off “Sun Shy.”

Orange County Concert Guide asked Maldonado about their first album, touring, and what happens next.

OCCG: It looks like you’ve been on a huge tour of the US. What have
you found that you enjoy about it?
DRESSES: Yes we have. The best part has been meeting new people and making new fans. Not many people at these shows have heard of us so it’s cool to make new
connections live. There have also been a handful of people that have come
out and knew every word, which was amazing.

OCCG: What is something funny, interesting or surprising that happened while touring around the States?
DRESSES: So many things happen on tour!! One of my favorite memories of this tour
was hiking in the Rockies in Colorado. We had a few days off in Boulder, Colorado and some of Timothy’s relatives took us up to the mountains. It was beautiful and super refreshing.

Also, our tour manager, Gino, ALWAYS plays “Escape (the Pina Colada song) by Rupert Holmes EVERY single time he drives. We all hate it and love it so much.

OCCG: Your debut album, “Sun Shy”, just came out. Where did you record
it and what was the experience like?
DRESSES: We recorded in my friend’s studio in his parent’s garage! It was a really cool experience. He lives down the street from me so we would just go over there whenever we had time and would record parts. It was a slow process, but it allowed us a lot of time to fine tune things.

OCCG: How would you describe Dresses to someone who isn’t familiar with your music?
DRESSES: We always say we’re indie pop, but that’s such a broad genre! We have a lot of different styles and feels on our album, ranging from folk to dance to rock. Ideally, everyone could find something they like on the album.

OCCG: Do you have a particular song you look forward to playing live
and why?
DRESSES: We really like playing “Real People” and “Friends are Dead.” They both mean a lot too us. I wrote, “Friends are Dead” a long time before I even met Timothy,
so being able to play it live for people feels really therapeutic for me in a way.

OCCG: How did you come up with the name of the band?
DRESSES: Our friend thought of it… Sadly, that’s it!

OCCG: What’s next on the horizon?
DRESSES: We’re going home and then opening for Phoenix! So crazy! Then we plan on chilling/writing/recording some demos over the holidays, and I hopefully will tour in the spring!

Original Trance Artist Takes To The Decks At The Yost

November 7, 2013 

Trance legend, BT, born Brian Transeau, will be mixing and effecting many styles of music at the Yost Theater on Nov. 22.

Nominated for a Grammy in the Best Electronic/Dance Album category for his 2010 studio album, “These Hopeful Machines”, the multi-talented BT is also a platinum-selling artist, visionary producer, film composer and technologist.

His ninth studio album, “A Song Across Wires” was recently released on Armada Music.

BT is known as a pioneer in the trance genre but is not truly a DJ as he comes from a classical background, attending the Berklee College of Music, and has played in punk bands.

OC Concert Guide caught up with BT to find out more about his crossover between classical and punk music, and more.

OCCG: You’re playing at the Yost Theater in Santa Ana next week. Have you previously played there or in Orange County and if so, what do you like about it?
BT: I’ve been playing in Orange County since the early 90’s. It’s the flavor of SoCal with it’s own unique spin and a very early adopter in EDM. I love it there. Super look forward to it.

OCCG: You’ve been doing this for a number of years. What still excites you about a live audience?
BT: It’s the focus group for spending a year in the studio. Still one of the best feelings ever. I love performing and honestly have more energy and enthusiasm for it than I ever have in my life. Playing out the songs from A Song Across Wires is amazing. People have been singing back every word since day of release. It’s a spectacular feeling.

OCCG: How would you describe a live BT performance to someone who isn’t familiar with your music?
BT: It’s certainly not DJing. It’s a lot closer to a dub sound system from the early days of reggae where the “DJ” was actually effecting and recontextualizing music live. This plus a bunch of proprietary and alpha software I am developing and homemade and exotic controllers. With a punk aesthetic: i.e., it goes off.

OCCG: When you perform live, is there anything you like to do just before hitting the stage? Do you get butterflies or a little nervous?
BT: I’ve been doing piano recitals since I was 4 so I honestly miss getting nervous. 7 sun salutations and I am ready to rock it.

OCCG: I read somewhere that you have a classical music background and that you played in punk bands. What’s the connection? How do they relate?
BT: Well I have a foot firmly planted in both the film composition and EDM worlds so my classical training helps with orchestration, counterpoint, conducting, etc. and my background in bands makes me an expressive performer. I certainly do not look like I am checking email when I perform, lol.

OCCG: Have you learned anything along the way that you can share that might help someone just starting out?
BT: Study your craft, don’t expect anything to be handed to you no matter how talented you are, work hard, have clear intentions and be about something. Being awesome at music is boring. Having a mission statement, a clear goal and using your voice to give people something of substantive value is all that matters.

OCCG: What are you listening to these days?
BT: Indy bands, lots of 80’s music and my new Euro Rack modular.

OCCG: Is there anything you’d like to add?
BT: Flip back to, be about something.

Shaggy Brings His Reggae Style On The Road

November 2, 2013

Coming off a three-week tour of Europe with Sly and Robbie, performing in front of audiences of over 2000 reggae fans, Shaggy will start a stateside tour beginning with The Coach House on Nov. 13.

“It’s almost as if I forgot what fun touring was all about! We haven’t been to some of these places in the neighborhood of 11 maybe 12 years. It’s been awhile,” laughed Orville Richard Burrell, best known by his stage name, Shaggy.

“I am sure I’ve played Orange County but it’s been many, many moons back.”

With the new classic reggae album, “Out of Many, One Music”, produced by Sly and Robbie, Shaggy realized the best way to promote it was to take to the road.

“Obviously you don’t have a lot of reggae radio outlets besides your two hours on any major station on Sundays,” Shaggy explained. “So we’ve gone back to basically getting into the marketplace and playing shows and promoting this record.”

However, with the numerous hits and well-known songs in Shaggy’s catalogue, they will probably only play a couple of the new tracks live. They are well aware that the fans that come to see them will want to hear the earlier songs.

“We got too many big records that people know,” Shaggy said. “We have to do the catalog. We’re talking big songs like ‘Oh Carolina,’ ‘Boombastic,’ ‘Luv Me, Luv Me,’ ‘It Wasn’t Me,’ ‘Angel,’ these are massive, massive records and you have to do these records.”

Many of Shaggy’s songs include samples of other artists such as the single “Angel” from the 6x Platinum album, “Hot Shot.” It included two song samples – Merrilee Rush’s 1968 hit “Angel of the Morning” and The Steve Miller Band’s 1973 hit “The Joker.”

“My producer is Sting International. We have a musical marriage and a very musical relationship. And he’s a DJ,” Shaggy revealed.

“He’s a collector of records so he’s the one who normally comes up with all these crazy, crazy samples. He’ll give me a file of like 20 or 30 samples and when I listen to them, whatever I catch melody on I’ll go, ‘Oh I have an idea for this.’ Once I write the idea, he just puts the bells and whistles around it. It becomes something magical.”

The stage name, “Shaggy” originally referenced his shaggy hair, like a shaggy dog, and he claims it was never a sexy name.

“Until I did ‘Oh Carolina’ which blew up in England, ironically, I found out that ‘shag’ in England meant something else. Then all of a sudden it became a sexy name,” he laughed.

“So, ‘He’s shaggy, why do they call you shaggy? Is that because you’re a good shagger?” And I’m like, ‘uh, yeah, I was good at it!”

Although Sly and Robbie will not be joining him on this leg of the tour, he has the whole crew including Rayvon and Jimmy Coziet.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everybody in Orange County,” Shaggy said. “I’m psyched about going out there. I’m psyched about rockin’ it. I’m psyched about people coming to see us. It’s been awhile.”

Foxygen Side-Project Comes To The Constellation Room

October 26, 2013

Shaun Fleming (Foxygen) will be bringing his side-project, Diane Coffee, to The Constellation Room Nov. 8. The band is currently on tour with Those Darlins.

Diane Coffee’s debut album, “My Friend Fish,” has been described as “60s-slumming-round-the-West Coast gospel-pop” and was recorded in Fleming’s New York apartment over two weeks. He had just moved cross country from Agoura Hills, CA so he improvised by using a pseudo drum kit consisting of a snare, one broken cymbal, and a metal pot, recording parts with an iPhone’s voice memo app, and playing a detuned guitar rather than a real bass.

According to his website, the album was “shaped by an adolescence spent hunched over records by the Beatles. Beach Boys, Bowie and Bill Withers (“the four B’s” as Fleming calls them) as well as modern troubadours Sufjan Stevens, Feist, St. Vincent and Bon Iver.”

Foxygen band members, Sam France and Jon Rado also lent a hand. “I grew up with those guys. They were writing way before I ever was,” Fleming said. “I remember thinking, ‘wow, these kids are so young, I really need to get my shit together’.”

From the age of 6, Fleming has voiced characters in Kim Possible, the Lion King and other kids’ cartoons. “What can I say, it was an amazing time in my life,” he laughs now. “Eventually I just really started to fall in love with music and fell out of the acting thing.”

Performing live with Fleming (drums), will be Jared Walker (guitar), Emily Panic (vocals), Joey Lefitz (bass), and Steve Okonski (keyboards).

On The Road With Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band

October 18, 2013

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band likes to play live. So much so that they play nearly 250 gigs a year and they’ve been doing this for a while. They will be playing their country blues at The Slidebar in Fullerton on Nov. 6.

While playing around the country, lead singer, Josh “The Reverend” Peyton, also likes to get in a little fishing. They travel with fishing poles and go fishing almost everywhere they go.”

“I play guitar and fish. That’s what I do. Especially when I’m on tour. I’m always working on the shows and looking for the next place to wet a line,” Peyton said.

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a trio from South Indiana best known as a live band, although they have released several albums, too.

“Southern Indiana culture kind of permeates everything,” Peyton explained. “It’s a very unique subculture. It’s like Appalachian foothills people have a way of talking, a way of doing things. I’m always mining the southern Indiana roots for songs.”

Peyton’s favorite guitar to play is a 1935 National Trojan, wooden body, that he calls, “Brown”. It goes with him everywhere and he’s had it longer than any of his other guitars.

“It’s been with me on every show we’ve ever done on the road. It looks like it’s been through the ringer, because it has,” Peyton said.

“People aren’t really fond of the wooden body Nationals, they like the metal body Nationals. I’ve got some of them, too. But the wooden body Nationals are my favorite. I just love the way they sound, love the feel of them, and the weight and everything.”

“Washboard” Breezy Peyton plays the washboard and a little harmonica. “The way she’s able to break apart rhythm can not be taught,” Peyton emphasized. “She was simply born with it.”

Ben “Bird Dog” Bussell plays drums and a five-pound bucket. “Ben is fairly new with us,” Peyton said. “He is so awesome and so much fun to play with. It’s reignited the excitement over playing and touring again.”

While The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band may be generalized as country blues Peyton says it’s basically rural blues.

“At its heart that’s what it really is. But I try to take it different places, places it’s never been before. A lot of people that play ‘Country Blues’ they’re not really writing songs. That’s one thing that I’m always doing is writing songs.”

“Between the Ditches” is their most recent album and was produced by Peyton and Paul Mahern (John Mellencamp, Iggy Pop). The previous six albums and EP were recorded live.

“It’s kind of funny to say but I think I’ve got making records figured out. I think I’m going to be all right now,” Peyton laughed. “Finally, I think we made a record that stands on its own.”

The Big Damn Band has previously played in Orange County, including a stop in Fullerton.

“People that come out to the show will see real, from the heart music played by people that are good at it,” Peyton promised. “Every time we play a show we get better. Even if people have seen us before, they’ve never seen us this good because we’re going to be better tomorrow than we are today.”

Ladies Of Electro-Pop Play The Constellation Room

October 15, 2013

The Blow will erupt The Constellation Room on Oct. 27 with a set of electronic pop music from the New York duo, Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne.

“We love old Madonna, and stuff like that,” confessed Maricich.

Their live show features Maricich alone on stage and Dyne on her own stage at the back of the room playing electronic instruments. The performance takes on a sort of call and response thing between them.

“We kind of hug the crowd in between us,” Maricich joked. “We try not to make them do anything. We don’t make them form a human pyramid, or wave signs or anything like that.”

At one time, Maricich had a solo project in Portland called, “Get the Hell Out Of the Way Of the Volcano.”

“That seemed like an awfully long band name so I shortened it to ‘The Blow’, which seemed like a similar concept of a volcano erupting but, an easier way to say it,” Maricich said.

Her solo project transformed into a duo when she began to work with Jona Bechtol, releasing two albums in Portland.

“Melissa and I didn’t start making music together until we got to New York,” Maricich recalled. “We met in Portland in 2004, started being friends and making stuff together, then we got involved and moved to New York in 2008.”

“Working in a little place (Portland) is different from working in a big place (New York) where people are busy. In Portland you can just sit around and people have time to help you do things. But in New York everyone’s kind of in a hurry and got their own thing going on so it’s a different kind of challenge. It’s actually harder but in other ways it’s really exciting to be in a city.”

Their self-titled album was just released on Kanine Records and was written and recorded while the two travelled around New England.

“We spent a lot of time in weird off-season ski resorts and stuff because they were cheap places to be and we worked on composing and recording,” Maricich said. “Melissa had a portable rig that she could take with her and do the engineering herself so we didn’t have to be in a recording studio.

“It was really cool. It was an adventure. It was definitely in the spirit of me and her being out there and trying something we had never tried. It became a real odyssey of experimenting and not really knowing how it would turn out. But it turned out ok!

“I wrote the words and lyrics then Melissa and I composed the songs together. I would hammer out brief melodies on a keyboard and then she’d make it really refined and layered and beautiful. But we produced it together and composed it all together.”

Currently The Blow are doing a lot of touring and they’re looking forward to coming to Orange County especially after being big fans of the former television show, “The OC”.

“We’re excited to come out and be in the OC. The album that I made in 2006 came out just after they finished wrapping all the TV episodes for The OC,” Maricich recalled.

“I really wanted to have music on that show so bad. My friend was actually a music supervisor for that show and I talked to her and she said, ‘Aw, we just wrapped the last episode’.

“We have some OC fantasies that’s for sure. We were big fans of that show. It put you guys on the map!”

After the current tour is completed, the duo will head to Los Angeles during December and January to do more recording.

“It’ll be a nice change from New York and I have family in Seal Beach,” said Maricich. “That’s in the OC, right?”

Resonant Sounds Of Surfer Blood Fill The Constellation Room

October 8, 2013

Surfer Blood will display their melodic rock at The Constellation Room on Oct. 23. They have previously played in both The Constellation Room and The Observatory.

“It’s always a really enthusiastic crowd in the OC, we’re looking forward to it,” lead singer, John Paul Pitts said.

Their sophomore release, “Pythons” came out earlier this year and was produced by Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters).

“It’s a much fuller sounding record because of Gil,” Pitts said. “Gil is a really enthusiastic and also a really intense guy. He’s really opinionated and lets you know what he thinks. He’s definitely not the most laid back guy but it’s really good because he’ll push you to do more than you would usually do.“

During pre-production for the album, Norton met the band while they were running through the songs in a really dark, poorly lit rehearsal studio.

“Tom (Fekete) was playing this guitar part and he (Norton) would walk around us while we were playing, circling us, like a vulture kind of,” Pitts recalled. “And he came up to Tom and said ‘Hey mate, you have to make that part fly’. We had no idea what he meant but he kept saying, ‘No, no, make it fly, make it fly’. So I think Tom played it every possible way then finally he did one thing where Gil was like, ‘Yes, that’s it. You made it fly.’ We’re still not exactly sure what he meant. Maybe that’s his whole strategy to get you to try new things.”

Although the album is titled, “Pythons”, none of the band members actually own any snakes.

“They’re not the most loving animals to have as pets,” Pitts laughed. “Maybe that’s why so many people got rid of them in Florida and that’s why they’re over-populating the Everglades. That’s kind of what pushed us over the edge when it came to coming up with a name.

“We liked the name a lot and it was one of our forerunners. Then we saw something about a python hunt in Florida. They had an open hunt and you just go and shoot as many pythons as you can. Which, we didn’t participate in because that’s really creepy. But we were like, that’s just too weird. We have to pick this name for the record. It’s a crazy world.”

Surfer Blood are currently in the middle of a large US tour through November, and will be working on writing material for the next album over the winter.

Danish Duo Makes It Back For A Night In The OC

October 5, 2013

The Raveonettes will perform their dreamy, ethereal, guitar-driven music at The Observatory on Oct. 11 and headlining the Culture Collide Festival at the Echoplex on Oct. 12. Sune Rose Wagner (guitar, vocals) and Sharin Foo (vocals, bass) comprise the Danish duo.

Their debut album, “Chain Gang of Love” was released in 2003 on Columbia Records followed by “Pretty in Black” in 2005. “Lust, Lust, Lust,” “In and Out of Control,” “Raven in the Grave,” and the 2012 album, “Observator” were released on Vice Records.

OC Concert Guide recently caught up with Wagner.

OCCG: Have you previously played in Orange County, California and if so, what do you remember/like about it?
SRW: Yes, many times. Always a good time and now that both Sharin and I live in LA, it feels like home almost. I go to OC quite a lot to watch the surfers.

OCCG: Are you currently performing as a duo or are there other musicians joining you live?
SRW: We’re three people in the band these days ( Adrian Aurelius, drums).

OCCG: What sort of set can fans look forward to – will you be playing a lot of songs from “Observator?”
SRW: We’ll mix it up, there are so many songs from so many different albums people wanna hear so we try to please to everyone.

OCCG: The Raveonettes formed in Copenhagen, which is where the two of you met. What affect or influence did this have on the music you created?
SRW: I think we saw RnR from the outside, if that makes sense. Growing up in a country where RnR is pretty much non-existing forced us to create our own branch of RnR. I kinda like that.

OCCG: Was there a specific moment when you realized you wanted to do music?
SRW: I got a drum kit for Christmas when I was 5 years old but I didn’t really decide upon music till I was about 15 or 16.

OCCG: What’s your favorite Doors song and why?
SRW: The End. So epic and incredibly beautiful, we just did a cover version of it, it’s amazing!

OCCG: I read somewhere that the album “Chain Gang of Love” was written in the key B-flat major, which must have been an interesting challenge. What unexpected obstacles did you run into and how did you get around them?
SRW: I try to be very creative when it comes to songwriting and sometimes you have to limit yourself in order to fully flourish. We didn’t use any hi-hats either☺☺

OCCG: It must have been pretty special to work with Ronnie Spector. What was it like?
SWR: Amazing singer and performer, she nailed that song within a few takes. She’s quite the diva but hey, she was in The Ronettes so she has every right to be. Love her.

OCCG: How would you describe The Raveonettes to someone who isn’t familiar with your music?
SWR: RnR with a twist. Someone once said “surfing in the rain”. I kinda like that.

OCCG: What’s next on the horizon?
SWR: We’re working on 2 new albums and we’re still touring, so basically a lot of fun!