Dance music. That's what She Wants Revenge singer/guitarist Justin Warfield says when asked to describe what his band plays.
There's nothing wrong with studying up on Sisters of Mercy and wearing Joy Division on your sleeve, so long as you're not aping the greats. And despite a few cranky critics' commentaries to the contrary, SWR is not aping anybody just scouring the bins and then coming up with a sound that's as informed by yesterday as it is torn by the long, dark night of tomorrow's soul.
In other words, the band makes groovy mood music for people intent on having another triumphantly sad day. Yes, they know what it's taken to make people move. And yes, sometimes they've taken it, broken it in two, and placed it back on the turntable. But they've also read The Anatomy of Melancholy. And the one legacy they mine is that of despair.
The best thing, though, is they let the chicks get the last word. And any man who has enough guts to stand up and let a dame give it to him straight knows a whole lot more than the chord structure for New Order's "Confusion."
So shut up and dance this Wednesday when She Wants Revenge hits the stage at Revolution Live for a 6:30 p.m. show. Tickets cost $16.
Wed., Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m., 2009