For those of you who aren't from L.A., you might not know that the biggest thing out here right now is She Wants Revenge. Although the album has been on the Billboard charts for a while, I'm not quite sure that the band's popularity in the rest of the U.S. rivals anything like Los Angeles. SWR is big enough right now to book two gigs at the Wiltern, which isn't as huge as say, The Rose Bowl, but it's bigger than the places that most locals headline. At this point, it's pretty much required that DJs drop "Tear You Apart" at some point during the club set and you can't listen to KROQ during the afternoon drive time without hearing at least one song from the band. That sort of rotation is generally reserved for Weezer and Smashing Pumpkins (or the new Blue October song, "Hate Me," which I would love if it weren't for the emo-screams in the chorus, but it's growing on me and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," which I have to turn up way-too-loud every time I hear it).
Anyhow, She Wants Revenge was on KROQ this afternoon for an interview and live set, given that the band is playing the Weenie Roast tomorrow, and the guys were going on about how influential KROQ was to them when they were younger and you know, in this case, it was the most genuine thing you could hear a band like this say. These guys are Vals, like me, and, if there is one thing to say about the Valley, it's that there is nothing to do. If there is a second thing to say about the Valley, it's that it is ridiculously hot and disgusting from May through October. That said, when you are from the Valley, you end up listening to a lot of radio, be it in air conditioned homes or air conditioned cars. Plus, I think the guys are in their early-30s, so chances are, they were getting ready to graduate high school somewhere between 1989 and 1992, which means that they were listening to the station when "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was still in regular rotation (albeit as a flashback), when the Cure's "Fascination Street" was a brand new single and when the station played "Bela Lugosi's Dead" ever freakin' Halloween in between remote broadcasts from the annual Oingo Boingo show. All of those radio moments are on the album.
I know there are a lot of people who will argue that She Wants Revenge is more derivative 1980s retro stuff, but, to me, its the sound of growing up in the suburbs, listening to the radio and wishing you were somewhere else. It's like the imaginary band formed over a shared basket of mozzarella sticks at the old Denny's on Ventura and Sepulveda at half past midnight by a bunch of kids who can't get through a sentence without saying "like, y'know." It's an 818 sort of record, which I think is what I like best about it.