She Wants Revenge announce they are breaking up

on
2
Adam Bravin and Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge

Less than three months after saying they were making a fourth album, L.A. post-punk band She Wants Revenge have announced they are calling it quits.

In a statement from co-founders Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin posted to the She Want Revenge website, the duo said: “It’s a story you’ve heard many times. About two B-boys who met at a party in the Valley, then years later reconnected and started a band. And while it’s been an incredible one to be a part of, all stories must come to an end. So it’s with a bit of sadness, yet crystal clear certainty, that we say to you our friends, She Wants Revenge has run its course. To some it may be unexpected, but as the world changes, so do we. In truth, it’s been coming for some time. The trick is being able to see it and having the courage to say it.”

The dissolution of the band comes amid controversy surrounding Bravin and the club night Cloak & Dagger, which he co-founded and hosted with music producer Michael Patterson. Both have faced a barrage of online allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination from patrons of the members-only club that attracted attendees from L.A.’s goth scene. (In 2017, Cloak & Dagger spawned a one-day music festival, and She Wants Revenge performed at the fest both years.)

In late June, Bravin took to the club’s Instagram to apologize for “inappropriate and unacceptable” behavior.

How much, if at all, did the Cloak & Dagger controversy affect the decision to end She Wants Revenge? Bravin has not yet responded to an email asking for comment.

In a phone interview, Warfield (who had no formal association with the club night) said, “Surprisingly little. And to people who do not believe that, I will say that the statement we issued about the end of the band [below, in full] was a heartfelt statement.

“I can’t speak for Adam and his half of the band,” Warfield added. “I can say this: When we started the band, I was a 31-year-old single guy living in an apartment in Valley Village, and now I’m a 47-year-old husband and father, in the middle of a pandemic — and in the middle of a civil rights revolution the likes of which we have never seen. I’m thinking about Amaud (Arbery), George (Floyd) and Breonna (Taylor). I’m thinking about what’s happening across America. I’m thinking about the effects of the pandemic. I’m also sitting in my house wondering whether a lot of the rooms I’ve performed in are gonna be there anymore.

“So when you ask me how much the Cloak & Dagger thing affected the decision to end She Wants Revenge, I’ll just say that there’s enough going on to make everybody question everything in their life. Ending She Wants Revenge was an easy decision to make when there’s so much at stake in the world.”

She Wants Revenge, which formed in 2004 and took off behind their first two singles “Tear You Apart” and “These Things,” released three albums between 2006 and ’11 before going on an “indefinite hiatus” in 2012.

“In 2012, when we broke up, I no longer wanted to be in a band,” Warfield says. “I wanted to do other things, so I went on to producing, developing artists, doing A&R and doing [a new band] Dream Club. Then in 2016, we got back together and it stuck. But it doesn’t mean that those underlying urges to do things outside of She Wants Revenge went away.”

Asked about the new music the band had in the works, Warfield said, “There won’t be any more She Wants Revenge albums, or posthumous releases.”