Raveonettes Are In To Fun Tragedy

The Raveonettes love to explore extremes with their music, and they're certainly not about to change that.

"On the new album overall, there's a lot of tragedy when you listen to the lyrics," says the band's guitarist and co-vocalist, Sharin Foo, "but it still has the innocence we're used to. So it's like tragedy in a fun way."

With a penchant for indulging in such emotional extremes, our favourite Jesus And Mary Chain-lovin' Danes have always sung about the symbiotic relationships between love and hate, life and death, and even beauty and ugliness.

New album In And Out Of Control wastes no time in finding this fun in tragedy, as Foo herself put it. Songs like "Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)," "Suicide" and "I Buried You Today" all showcase the band's fearlessness when it comes to writing songs with pointedly darker themes.

"Our music divides people into two groups," continues Foo. "People either really like our lighter, poppier side, and some people prefer the sort of noisier side of The Raveonettes. So I don't know, it seems that people are very divided."

In And Out Of Control warms up and fills out the colder, industrial feel of last year's Lust Lust Lust with a decidedly more upbeat sound and some of the catchiest songs the band have written to date. Without over-polishing to the point of flattening out their sound as they did on their slight misstep sophomore record, 2005's Pretty In Black, The Raveonettes seem to be finding the perfect balance in their music.

"With us, every album seems to be a bit of a reaction to the previous one," admits Foo. "We always feel the need to do the opposite.

"Lust Lust Lust was sort of the dark, introverted, personal album, whereas the new one, at least sonically, it's more upbeat and extroverted and fun and happy. It has the contrast in it as well, which I feel all our albums have — the sort of angelic and diabolic."

Here are The Raveonettes' upcoming tour dates:

Oct. 20 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club & Lounge
Oct. 21 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
Oct. 22 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
Oct. 23 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
Oct. 24 Newport, KY @ Southgate House
Oct. 25 Chicago, IL @ Metro
Oct. 26 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Nov. 5 Vancouver, BC @ WestFair Amphitheater
Nov. 6 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Nov. 7 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Nov. 9 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's
Nov. 10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
Nov. 12 Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
Nov. 13 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Nov. 14 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
Nov. 29 Oslo, Norway @ Oslo John Dee
Nov. 30 Stockholm, Sweden @ Strand
Dec. 1 Aarhux, Denmark @ Vox Hall
Dec. 2 Odensse, Denmark @ Rytmeposten
Dec. 3 Aalborg, Denmark @ Studenterhuset
Dec. 5 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega
Dec. 6 Hamburg, Germany @ Knust
Dec. 7 Berlin, Germany @ Lido
Dec. 10 Leuven, Belgium @ Depot
Dec. 11 Saarbrucken, Germany @ tbd
Dec. 12 Paris, France @ Fleche D'Or
Dec. 14 Manchester, England @ Manchester Ruby Lounge
Dec. 15 Glasgow, Scotland @ Glasglow Oran Mor
Dec. 16 Newcastle Upon Tyne, England @ Newcastle Academy 2
Dec. 17 Birmingham, England @ Birmingham Hare & Hounds
Dec. 18 London, England @ O2 Academy Islington