It's inevitable; girls fall for other girls. Whether it be because of their commanding stage presence, their iconic fashion or just because they are so god damn sexy, we love female rockers! And we at The Paper Ship felt the need to share that with all of you. Here are just a few of our faves!
Alison Mosshart - she holds her own against Jack White and Jamie Hince; and we love her for it!
Sharin Foo - one word comes to mind: BOMBSHELL. Enough said.
Regina Spektor - We love this Russian born beauty and her honest and delightful lyrics.
Meg White: Any woman who can play the drums and was once married to Jack White is OK in our book.
Jessie Baylin: Word on the street is she's delightfully sweet and she snagged one of the sexiest drummers in rock 'n' roll. Yes, we're jealous but we love her anyway. Oh and I have yet to see a bad picture of her, some girls have all the luck.
Karen O.: She wears crazy outfits, sounds perfect on stage and can probably kick our ass.
Tristan Prettyman: This girl is IT! She surfs, models, sings, plays guitar and blogs about it all! Her playful tunes and delightful presence is bound to melt your heart.
A boy/girl duo from Denmark took the stage at Neumos in Seattle on Friday, November 6, 2009. Sune Rose Wagner; a towering stage presence mixed with little boy adorableness with just a splash of old fashioned rock star sexy. To his right stood a six-foot-tall, blonde-haired perfection named Sharin Foo; dressed in head-to-toe black, her soft-spoken sexiness exuded off stage. She's enough to make any straight girl question their sexuality, as proven by our concert newbie friend who came with us to the show. They strapped on their guitars and with the first chord of their opening song "Gone Forever", shivers went racing down my spine.
This is a band who tackles heavy songwriting material such as rape, suicide, drugs, and jail time; but they do so in a sweet and soothing way that when the lyrics "my girl is a little animal, she always wants to fuck" or "everytime you overdose, i rush to intensive care" come cooing from your speakers; it's hard not to be surprised at the ingenious of it all.
Lucyfer and I have been turned on to The Raveonettes for some time now and when they had to cancel their Austin City Limits show and artist signing at the last minute due to members of their crew unable to get their passports in time, we were seriously depressed. However, this show in Seattle definitely made up for it. The Raveonettes took the stage at 10:15, after San Diego based opening band 'The Crocodiles', who were very entertaining and not to mention pretty attractive (but that's for another time.) Their set list included a good majority of the new album like "Last Dance", "D.R.U.G.S", and "Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)" which was dedicated to The Gits front-woman Mia Zapata who was brutally raped and murdered in 1993 in Seattle while walking home one night. They didn't forget about their early material either though, playing songs like "Love In a Trashcan' and 'Do You Believe Her' (which had a spectacular light show complete with strobes, which almost sent Lucyfer and I into a seizure.) They even switched up their instruments; picking up the tamborine for a couple songs and Sharin debuting her pretty impressive skills on the drums.
All in all, The Raveonettes did not disappoint. Their new songs sounded amazing live but Lucyfer and I were still in for a treat. While buying our merchandise (a vinyl copy of 'In and Out of Control' and a set of Sune and Sharin mugs for me; and mugs, stickers, and buttons for Lucyfer) we were told that they would be signing merch in an upstairs room at the venue. We headed upstairs with our merch and waited for the meet and greet to start. When Sune and Sharin finally arrived; there were only around 20 people there, which was definitely surprising! Sune and Sharin were charming, gracious, and super-friendly. They made sure everyone got an autograph, picture, or a hug. Even I'm not immune to being star-struck, especially in the presence of musicians that I listen to on a daily basis, so I did miss out on a couple great conversations with Sune when he sat down next to me to sign my vinyl. Lucyfer, on the other hand, had manage to talk with Sune about the ACL cancellation and with Sharin about the fact that this was her first Raveonettes show. Well done, Lucyfer, we don't call her "ballsy" for no reason.
We left Neumos that night on a rock 'n' roll and vodka high, tingling from the pure and unadulterated fun we just had and eager for our next adventure.
On this grand day, a multitude of creative endeavors in the form of vinyl, cd's, digital downloads, hell, maybe even cassette tapes, are being released around the world.
In this overload of creativity and body-moving beats, you may ask: "Paper Ship? What's worthy of my pennies? What amazing music should I spend my hard-earned cash on that will not disappoint?"
Well here are the Top 5 albums for Tuesday, November 3, 2009 that you should run out and buy (and for the love of God, buy your music in some tangible form).
Phrazes For the Young - Julian Casablancas
Bleach (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - Nirvana...this one you can get on Vinyl, kids.
Two Suns (Special Edition) - Bat For Lashes
Fantastic Mr. Fox Soundtrack
Today! (Limited Edition Vinyl) - The Beach Boys. A majority of the Beach Boys catalog is out of print in Capitol Record's domestic catalog, so snatch up these rarities while you can!
“In a way we’re sort of an awful live band,” starts Sharin Foo, the girl half of The Raveonettes. “I think the music sounds great but…”
“It’s probably boring to watch us play,” finishes off her bandmate Sune Rose Wanger - owner of not just the boy-shaped side of proceedings, but also of possibly the greatest name in modern music.
With their new ‘pop’ album ‘In And Out Of Control’, the Danish duo have been drastically rethinking their shtick, revamping their fuzzed-up trashy-chic sonics and their stage show. “We came to terms with [the fact] that we’re now officially entertainers,” explains Wagner. “We always thought that we were just artists.” Foo giggles.
Their fourth album sees them handing over the reigns to a producer for the first time, fellow Dane and Junior Senior knob twiddler Thomas Troelson. “We wanted someone to be really different from us, which he is,” says Foo. Their last album, ‘Lust Lust Lust’, might have been, in Foo’s words “very dark and introvert”, but they’ve perked up thanks to Troelson, to whom ‘upbeat’ is far from a dirty word. So, that explains the ‘Out Of Control’ bit of the record title - how about the ‘In Control’ part? Well, that’s simple. After eight years in the industry, The Raveonettes are clearer than they’ve ever been about what they want and what they need. “We were a little burned out at one point just from touring too much and partying too much and now we’re in a good healthy place, we’re very focused on the music,” admits Foo. So, there’s no partying any more? “There’s still parties, but for me, not so much, I have a little daughter. She’s eleven months old."
Partying is also made harder by the fact that The Raveonettes are a bicoastal band. Sharin lives in Los Angeles, while Sune is in New York City. How does that work? “It doesn’t,” laughs Wagner. “We meet each other like this,” he says putting his hands up, “it’s crazy!” Foo is LA based for reasons of romance, and it seems Wanger is having a love affair too, not with a person, but a city. “When I lived in Copenhagen I was extremely restless, I would go out every night and I just couldn’t find peace because I was afraid that I was gonna miss something.” Then, when he moved to his beloved NYC that restless feeling vanished. “All of a sudden I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to miss out on anything because if I didn’t go out tonight it would be the same, or twice as much tomorrow or the day after.”
You’ll never find The Raveonettes living in Las Vegas though, where they recently played a one-off show. One day there, confesses Wagner, is more than enough, recalling the time he spent two weeks in the city, not leaving his hotel once. “That was good inspiration for some evil songs. I really thought I had found Hell on Earth.”
Sonically - if not lyrically - that evil has abated on the new album. Gone are the lurid pulp fiction and monochrome film noir influences. “This is not a cinematic album for us,” laughs Wagner. So, what was the inspiration? “Real life. A lot of stuff that we experience in our personal lives, and, unfortunately, I guess it’s like that when you, er... I don’t like the term ‘get older’, so I’ll say when you ‘progress in life’, you experience more and more tragic things. Life is painful, misery… I guess we have to one day maybe sit down and write a really happy pop song. One day we’ll do it, why not?” Remember to give us a call when you do guys - we’d love to hear it.
