San Fernando Valley, CA · post-punk · darkwave

She Wants Revenge

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Deadpan Valley post-punk that wore its Joy Division debt openly and got a genuinely great single out of it — 'Tear You Apart' endures.

Justin Warfield had previously recorded as a rapper, reaching the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart with "Season of the Vic" in 1991 and appearing on Bomb the Bass's UK hit "Bug Powder Dust." Adam Bravin worked as a DJ under the name DJ Adam 12 and played with Crazy Town in the mid-1990s before the two formed She Wants Revenge together in the San Fernando Valley.

The pair caught the attention of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who signed them to his label, Flawless Records, in 2005. Warfield delivers his lyrics in a flat, spoken-sung baritone over programmed drums and clean, chorused guitar, a sound openly indebted to Joy Division, Interpol and early-1980s darkwave.

Their self-titled debut, released in 2006, produced "Tear You Apart," directed as a video by Joaquin Phoenix and later the band's biggest hit, reaching number six on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart. "These Things," featuring Shirley Manson in its video, and "Out of Control" followed as further singles. The band toured that year alongside Depeche Mode and Placebo.

This Is Forever appeared in 2007 and Valleyheart in 2011, before the band split in 2012. They have since reunited twice, in 2015 and 2022. "Tear You Apart" kept finding new audiences through use in film and television, including a season premiere of American Horror Story: Hotel, chosen at the request of Lady Gaga.

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post-punkdarkwave