Interview with Justin Warfield – She Wants Revenge

SHE WANTS REVENGE

BY Leslie Terhorst
PHOTO BY Michael Muller

Every person has those particular songs, and musical styles that shape their lives. But for Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin (aka Adam 12), their influences not only became their passion and reality, it literally became their lives. Growing up in the valley just outside of LA, and after years of following each other’s DJ careers, the two finally came together at a friend’s BBQ. She Wants Revenge was born, and they’ve been creating incredible songs ever since. With the upcoming release of their new self-produced album Valleyheart at the end of May, She Wants Revenge has converged on a wicked tour, which started at SXSW and is ending at Coachella. Talk about starting and ending with a bang. They are out promoting their new single “Take the World.” With a sound style very reminiscent of a modern 80’s English post-punk rock band, they have definitely caught my ear. I had to find out a little more about their style of music, and where the sound came from, so I got Justin on the phone in hopes of him answering some of those questions. He did.

RIS: Can you explain to me how a guy from San Fernando Valley, has the vocal sound of someone that came from England?

JW: Is that what you hear? I think the short answer to your question, I feel like this album Valleyheart is the most original piece of music that we’ve done. That is truly indicative of who we are as songwriters and musicians. As far as the style of music that we make, even if we shed the influences, and get to the core of whom we are. Every band starts making music, if not with a blueprint, but with a style in mind. Whether you’re going to be a hardrock band, or singer songwriter, or dance music, at the end of the day there are only so many types of rock n roll. There are generations of bands who grew up on Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and the Stones. We just so happened to be of a certain age, that while we did grow up on all those bands, the things that impacted us during our teens, and our most impressionable time, when we chose for ourselves, just happen to be bands like Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs, and The Cure. In the beginning we started making songs, just two guys writing, it just started coming out that way. We embraced it, we didn’t fight it, but as time grew and we played shows on the road as a live band, we definitely started to flex our muscles on our own, and find out a little more about who we were, which we found out, that was more than the sum of our influences. I would say there is always going to be strains of influences that one can hear through out the album. There’s no getting around the fact. Some people grew up listing to Robert Plant and now they’re a hardrock singer. I grew up listening to David Bowie; he’s one of my biggest influences. But for me personally as well as for Adam, we’re not interested in exploring the past, so much as we are trying to find ourselves in the future, and grow as musicians.

RIS: Speaking of your idols like Depeche Mode, and the Psychedelic Furs. You got to tour with them. Who and what did you learn touring with the bands you grew up listening to?

JW: Yeah, totally grew with. Of all the tours I’ve been on I would have to say the two bands I learned the most from would be Placebo and Depeche Mode. I’ve known Placebo for a really long time. I’ve played on a lot of show dates with them. Their level of professionalism, and how seriously they take it, and how much they bring. They’re like a total killing machine of a live band. They’re just a pleasure to watch. Their commitment to it is really deep. When we toured with Depeche Mode. That was really like the biggest learning experience ever for us. I mean, touring with Depeche Mode was like going to Grad-School, and going “Ok, this is how it’s done!” There’s just no better band, at least in the vein of the type of stuff that we like, he’s the best front man in the business. So for me as a front man, and watching Dave Gahan every night, standing on the side of the stage while they played the songs that completely informed our lives, it doesn’t get much better than that. Dave would get off stage and wipe down with a towel, give me a big hug and say, “great show tonight, you guys were great tonight.” It was really inspiring. Every night that we would watch them, it would make us push our game further. The Furs was really less about learning, but more about enjoying them as a fan. It’s not the entire live band; their line-up has changed over the years. Fundamentally it still has Richard and his brother, who’s a great sax and keyboard player. For me it was more about Richard and the band, and going, wow, that’s the voice I sang along to for all those years. I think there’s an opportunity to learn from everyone we tour with, but to open for your heroes and legends is a whole other story than your average band. Not everyone gets to do that.

RIS: It is very rare that you actually get the chance to play with the groups you grew up with.

JW: It’s pretty surreal. I mean there is definitely a point where it becomes normal, that’s when you have to step back and go, “this isn’t normal, this is amazing.” We are very fortunate.

RIS: I’m glad you appreciate it, and that you don’t take it for granted that this is the way it is, because it’s not, it is a pretty damn special thing.

JW: Well some people are larger than life. So you can’t take it for granted. Dave, Martin, and Andre are the nicest guys on the planet. I mean, it’s Depeche Mode, they are an institution. They pretty much are the Rolling Stones of my generation.

RIS: How was SXSW this year?

JW: South by was fun, it was really good. It’s and insane amount of people converging on a city not set up for it. Every year it gets bigger, and bigger, it’s pretty crowded, it’s getting pretty ridiculous, you can’t even drive around, the traffic is like Moscow now. This year it’s been co-opted by the big rappers, and the big pop stars. I sort of think as more outlets for promoting ones music become fewer and far between; more major artists are reaching out however they can, just to get noticed. So you’re going to get a Kanye West or a Puff Daddy going, “I want to go to SXSW, I want to get some attention like those young buzz bands.” Anyway, we had 3 great shows, it’s nice after 6 or 7 years to be able to go there and play to a completely packed house. This was a great warm up for our tour, and to help promote the new single.

RIS: Coachella is coming up. Have you ever played there before?

JW: Yeah, right after we came off the Depeche Mode tour, we immediately went and played Coachella. Depeche Mode headlined the main stage, we headlined the outdoor theater, and it was crazy. Our first real heavy year 2006-07 as a band, playing Coachella was the cherry on top. We haven’t play there since, so this will be fun. The whole reason we’re on the road right now is to warm up for that, and since we have so much new music to play. We’re really excited.

Be sure to catch up with She Wants Revenge August 18th @ FLUXX