DJ Adam Bravin and musician Justin Warfield had no concrete plans to reunite their band, She Wants Revenge. However, the inclusion of the band's hit track "Tear You Apart" on the premiere of "American Horror Story: Hotel" changed all that.
"That started a momentum that led to this tour," Bravin says. The pair of musicians decided that late 2015 was an apt time to celebrate the upcoming 10-year anniversary of their 2006 debut album. And then the frenzy began.
After the band's initial reunion show at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles sold out within minutes, Bravin and Warfield added additional dates, which also sold out quickly. She Wants Revenge expanded their bookings in 2016, including markets like Alaska, which led to the group's upcoming gig at Williwaw.
The inclusion of "Tear You Apart" in the "American Horror Story" series showcases what She Wants Revenge does best: create dark, drum-driven music that still retains its pop appeal.
She Wants Revenge began in the mid-2000s as the unexpected byproduct of a hip-hop project. Bravin and Warfield had known each other for years and shared an interest in hip-hop, so working together on a project just made sense.
"Justin and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and we met at the first party I ever DJed," Bravin says. "We both have a hip-hop background — I started DJing, and he became an MC in the early '90s."
Although they ran in the same circles, it was 2004 before they found time to begin working on some beats. "It turned out we liked a lot of the same things as far as Depeche (Mode), The Cure, things like that," Bravin says. "While we were making hip-hop, we were listening to a lot of late '70s, early '80s soundtracks. There was definitely something in the air."
After Warfield sang over a track composed by Bravin, the pair realized they were on to something good — and different — and they began to record more songs together and gave the project a name. By 2006, the band released its wildly popular self-titled debut album.
Warfield and Bravin took their detour into the post-punk or "darkwave" genre at the right time. The mid-2000s was rife with teenagers and young adults eager for something introspective but danceable. Listeners wanted something that harkened back to classic bands like The Cure or Bauhaus, but still retained some modern edge. The band delivered on all counts, even if Bravin's hip-hop background made for unconventional songwriting.
"I was more of a beatmaker than a songwriter," Bravin says. The first two full-length albums released by the band, in 2006 and 2007, featured tracks that were built layer by layer, in a true hip-hop production approach.
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She Wants Revenge soon found themselves touring with big names like Depeche Mode and Placebo — an unexpected dream come true for Bravin and Warfield.
"We never thought we'd play a show, let alone tour," Bravin says. Touring also helped the pair field some of the flak they were receiving in the press, including accusations they were simply ripping off the bands of the '70s and '80s that had influenced them.
"You know what? We weren't ripping anything off. Those bands are just part of who we are," Bravin says. "The best part about touring with those bands was, that they were basically saying that it's OK — that they liked what we were doing."
Detractors be damned, She Wants Revenge kept doing their thing. The group released two EPs in 2008 and 2009, and a third full-length album, "Valleyheart," was released in 2011. By 2011, Bravin had expanded his songwriting repertoire with the help of Warfield, so the band's approach was more traditional and less based around piecing the material together.
"We just evolved not only as musicians but as human beings and as a band," Bravin says. "It was a natural progression to sit down and write songs in that way."
She Wants Revenge split in 2012 as both Warfield and Bravin went on to pursue other projects. In the wake of the reunion tour, She Wants Revenge — previously on "indefinite hiatus" — may soon find themselves back in the studio.
"We definitely don't have plans to make an album, but we do have plans, at a certain point, when we have time," Bravin clarifies, "to go into the studio and record some new music."
She Wants Revenge
With support from Raw Fabrics and Dutchess
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4
Where: Williwaw, 609 F St.
Tickets: $25 in advance at williwawsocial.com, $28 day of.