11 April 2-8, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Great Danes The Raveonettes break down the secret to their minimalist noise. BY DAVID ROLLAND W hen you hear the beauti- ful wall of sound of The Raveonettes, complete with fuzzy guitars and driving bass, you don’t immediately think of the rolling hills of Ten- nessee, but that’s exactly where singer/guitar- ist Sune Rose Wagner now calls home. When he called New Times on a Monday morning, he said the small town outside Nashville, where he currently resides, couldn’t be more differ- ent from the isolated part of Denmark where he first got into music. “I started playing guitar and writing songs at 14. I borrowed books from the library to learn to play and started a local band to play music with friends.” Those early bands included Western Front and Psyched Up Janis. In 1998, he had a vision for a different type of musical group. “I wanted a band that if I had to go out and see a concert, this is what I would want to see. I thought about Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, The Shan- gri-Las, the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth. It seemed simple to me. Get the songwriting of the ‘60s girl groups, take the noise and weird- ness of Sonic Youth, and add vocal harmonies.” With the help of bassist and singer Sharin Foo, the duo of The Raveonettes was born. In no time at all, but with a lot of initiative, Wag- ner said he and Foo knew they had a success- ful formula. “We wrote a tremendous amount of songs to test if the vision worked.” Nowhere to this critic’s ear does the vision work as unforgettably as their 2003 debut LP Chain Gang of Love. They advertise on the cover one of the conditions the band foisted on itself, as all 13 songs are written and re- corded in the key of B flat minor. “Working with limitations is good for a writer. It chal- lenges you to be creative.” Other limitations they put on the re- cord were no hi-hat drums, only cymbals, and that they could only use three chords. “How with all that can you make it inter- esting?” Wagner says this disciplined structure was influenced by an- other artistic movement that emerged from Denmark around the same time as The Ra- veonettes, Dogme 95. Danish filmmakers like Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg put out a manifesto where shooting of movies must take place on location rather than a stu- dio, the camera must be handheld, and music can only be heard if it’s part of the scene. The resulting Dogme 95 movies, like The Idi- ots and Mifune’s Last Song, really influenced The Raveonettes and still influence Wagner greatly. “Most Danish artists are inspired by it. How can it not? All the Dogme movies are classics.” That excitement over creativity helped spur The Raveonettes to release nine more records over the last couple of decades. It can be over- whelming for new listeners to know where to start. Wagner gives a quick primer. “If you like garage rock and do-it-yourself sound, go to the first two albums (Chain Gang of Love and Pretty in Black). If you like more introverted shoegaze and dreamy sounds, try Raven in the Grave. If you want something really monumental and huge, try the two Pe’ahi albums.” There will soon be more Raveonettes mu- sic as well, although the sound and restric- tions placed on the new music were still being formed at the time of the interview. But the most exciting news for South Flor- ida Raveonettes fans is that the current three- piece iteration of the band will be playing their first local show in 20 years on April 1 at Culture Room, followed by a performance at the Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise on April 6. “It’ll be a loud, noisy, inti- mate experience. You should have your mind blown,” Wagner says. The Raveonettes.With Astari Nite. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale; cultureroom. net. Tickets cost $40.85 via ticketmaster.com. The Raveonettes. With the Sonics, Low Cut Connie, the Dollyrots, and others. Monday, April 6, at Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise; undergroundgaragecruise.com. Tickets from $1,525 via sixthman.net. [email protected] ▼ Music Music The Raveonettes return to South Florida after 20 years. Ashlie and Amber Chavez “IT’LL BE A LOUD, NOISY, INTIMATE EXPERIENCE. YOU SHOULD HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN.” No Place Like Home The Wynwood Design Review Committee approved a plan to house Pitbull’s music HQ at the site of his childhood home. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN L ast month, the Wynwood Design Re- view Committee unanimously approved Pitbull’s proposed office building for his music label’s headquarters at the site of his childhood home. The music star and developer Rilea Group proposed an eight-story, 11,200-square-foot building to house Pitbull’s Mr. 305 music label at 25 NE 28th St. The development would re- place his former two-bedroom, one-bathroom 720-square-foot home, which was built in 1927, according to Miami-Dade County property re- cords. It is currently owned by Un Melon en Wynwood LLC, an affiliate of the music label. The Brickell-based Rilea Group has devel- oped several office and residential buildings in South Florida. The firm is currently in the pro- cess of developing a 300-unit, 12-story mixed- use project, right next to Pitbull’s proposed headquarters, called Mohawk at Wynwood. “Given the personal significance of the site, we are approaching the opportunity and look forward to thoughtfully bringing new life to the property as part of Wynwood’s continued evolu- tion,” Rilea said in a statement to The Real Deal. The developer’s plans submitted to the city’s zoning administrator reveal that the building will draw inspiration from Wynwood’s industrial heritage, using materials such as reclaimed brick, glass, and decorative metal accents. There will also be a “prominent mural inte- grated into the brick facade.” The 11,200-square-foot building with 9,700 square feet of office space will be designed by De- forma Studio. The proposed plans were approved on Tuesday, March 10, by the city of Miami’s Wyn- wood Design Review Committee. It will be up to the Urban Development Review Board to OK the project next. Mr.Worldwide, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, has never forgotten his Miami roots. He founded his independent record label in Miami in 2009. He is also the co-founder of SLAM (Sports Leadership Arts Management) Academy, a public charter school that opened in Little Havana in 2012. Last September, the City of Miami Commissioner approved the sale of the historic Olympia Theater to the school despite the opposition of preservationists and local cultural groups. In August 2024, Pitbull bought the naming rights to Florida International University’s (FIU) football stadium. As part of the five-year deal, he is paying the school $1.2 million a year for “Pitbull Stadium.” [email protected] | CROSSFADE |
