Every once in a while, a poor kid kicking around the city, hopping from gig to gig, discovers The Holy Grail on one of his outings. It"s the official music lover"s pastime: setting off on an almost desperate trek across the five borough"s of New York City (or wherever he may dwell) in order to discover the undiscovered.

To claim ownership of the previously unclaimed. To put up on a pedestal their Gods of Rock so that when these underdogs; these Messiahs of Musical A@! Kick-ery, finally do hit the ears of the unsuspecting mass public, they can point their devil horns to the heavens and say "I told you so!” and "I got here first!"

Some people want to smack that kid and tell him to shut the hell up. Its just a band. Its just music. Some people can’t stand that kind of snobbery. But we sympathize with him because we kind of...sorta... feel that way about The Teeth. Yes, ladies and gents, it's time to fess up. We're in love. Let us explain: The Teeth are to live music what a flowering plant is to the sun. And, if you missed the point of that corny analogy, we’ll tell you in plain English: these boys flourish on the stage. They bloom. They blossom. They shine. We are, consequently, blinded by their genius.

The Teeth are made up of four skinny young guys from Philly who’ve been bumming around with one another making music together for four years. Well officially four. “Me, Pete and Brian have been together for about seven years, actually. Since about 2000.” Aaron corrects quietly. So, unofficially the majority of the group have been together for much longer. They are twin brothers Aaron (vocals, guitar, keys), Peter (vocals, bass), and their good friend Brian (guitar, keys, vocals). Jonas (drums) joined the band a couple of years ago. They all seem to mesh well together, at any rate.

Brian is afraid of clowns and sports an impeccably groomed handlebar mustache with pride. Everyone calls Jonas ‘Turtle’. Aaron wears a bow tie, likes to kick off his shoes while he’s performing (literally)... and Peter...well his Mohawk, skinny jeans and jet black Chucks give him away in a crowd.

Aaron and Pete pretty much get along, though there is the occasional sibling rivalry thing going on. “ Sometimes we squabble. Sometimes I’m the asshole, sometimes Pete is. If there is an asshole (in the group) it’s usually one of us.” It’s not hard to look and tell that Jonas and Brian are the quiet, easy going ones. Aaron and Pete are the most colorful of the group, though they are all monsters on stage, and consummate musicians.

"My favorite Ninja Turtle is Donatello,” Aaron adds, after we prompt him. We felt it was important information. Also interesting to us is the fact that they still work in a pizza shop in the heart of Philadelphia and go home after every gig in New York, no matter what.

“Yeah, me, Pete and Brian worked at the same one for a while. Right now we kind of don’t have to work there as much because we’re starting to make money playing. A friend owns it. We have a really good relationship with him and he let’s us take off whenever we need to.”

It must be weird to walk in for a slice and find members of one of Philly’s biggest indie bands rolling dough behind the counter. But, semi-famous though they may be, they still need to supplement their fast-paced lives as poor musicians somehow. Why not keep their day jobs? “The pay is shitty. But he let’s us get a few little hours and come back, so it works out.” Who can argue with that? It’s quite cool actually. Keeps them grounded.

Of course, down to earth or not, they are a group of guys who are well aware of the buzz that surrounds them. They pride themselves on being rolled into a hybrid form of some Talking Head/Bowie/Beatle conglomerate in critique of their sound and musical abilities. Praise they deserve (from the likes of Rolling Stone Magazine, Filter Magazine and The New York Times) and that they more than amply back up on each one of their releases from their label Park The Van Records.

Aaron tells ACED that it has the band pumped for bigger and better things. “I’d like to take it a lot further. We’re working on doing that, but it seems to be moving along okay. The album is doing really well.” Their most recent offering, You’re My Lover Now is, we feel, their best.

Aaron agrees, giving it the top spot on the list when we asked him to rank their releases according to his favorites. “I’d put it at the top. It’s my favorite.” When it’s mentioned that we’re in love with it he goes all shy on us and simply comments: “Well thank you, we like it too.” No no, this goes beyond ‘like’ my friend.

The music is striking in its seeming simplicity, yet deceptively complicated. A representation of raw recording with so many things going on in the different layers of each song populating the disc, its worth two or three listens up front. It swivels so fast into a happily frenzied roller coaster ride - taking you up and up on a high incline peaked with amazing harmonies, ripping guitar licks and those damn damn drums that slam into you...then crashes you down, plummeting into serene territory. All of it, all together, all at once makes your head spin and you can’t believe what you’ve just heard. You’re My Lover Now literally sneaks up on you, taps you on your unsuspecting shoulder and then smacks you in the face when you turn around.

Reading all of these nicely descriptive ways of putting things must make you wonder, dear reader; “Yes, but is it really that good?” Well, we think so, as do a host of other noted reviewers. The album has been getting nothing but praise since its June release. In fact, we boldly dare you to put on “Molly Make Him Pay”, “The Trumpets Blared”, “Walk Like A Clown” or "Your Feelings On Life” (our personal favorite and we’ll explain why) and resist the urge to find yourself boisterously ushered into your place of insane happy. This is just the music we’re talking about. We haven’t gotten into the performance quite just yet.

Lover’s serenity comes from the beautifully crafted and endearing tracks “A Fight In the Dark”, “Yellow”, “Ball Of The Dead Rat”, “The Light Always Goes” and the title “You’re My Lover Now”. The Teeth show off their sensitive sides here—artistic craftsmen of clever lyrics and melodies that blend together like complimenting colors on a palate. But this is not sad or boring serenity, most of it is nostalgic and lightheartedly serene. Some of it is angrily mocking—sardonic even. Some of it is sweet and heart wrenching. All of it is good. We asked Aaron to describe the band's writing process behind this. “Me and Pete pretty much split the duty right down the middle. I write my stuff, he writes his; so it’s pretty much 50/50 in that respect. There’s more collaboration in the arrangement of music, but the actual writing is done by me and Pete.”

“You’re My Lover Now” is his favorite track off the album. But most of the tracks on Lover can be anyone’s ‘top five’ fodder. And they make for a good time in a cramped performance space in the back of some bar on the Lower East Side come tour time. The Teeth have shared the stage with players who’ve gone on to bigger things numerous times. Bands the likes of We Are Scientists, Spinto Band and Dr. Dog, to name a few. Indie darlings celebrated in the UK and spreading to mass consciousness here in the States. They graduated quickly from playing small gigs in Philly to relatively sizable ones in some of New York City’s more prominent underground venues, touring around the country with label mates Bishop Allen.

Aaron is modest in the face of his band’s reputation for putting on a good show, though. “It wasn’t why I started doing it. When we started it was mostly about writing and the music. Then once we started playing, it just kind of came out that way. Very energetic. We have a good time.”

From gig to gig, it’s obvious that they have a good time, as do all. This is clearly evidenced by the gaggle of panting, exhausted fans they leave in their wake. The Teeth are nothing short of genius on stage. Any band that sweats that much (so much it looks like they got caught in the rain) while working so hard even for just a hand full of gawkers deserves a freaking medal. They kick off their shoes! They jump around on and off stage! They swing their guitars in your faces and fling their sweat at you like dogs on a mission.

Aaron and Brian play the tag team switch on the keys, Peter hops from one mic to the other and Jonas always keeps up. Nothing special, you say? Well, we say, if by sets end you haven’t gotten muscle cramps in your arms and legs, and a hoarse throat...you’ll have to squeal with glee (like a little girl) when “Your Feelings On Life” bursts its way into your ear drums. This song is You're My Lover Now's "I Love You" (that catchy crowd favorite off their previous LP, Carry The Wood). You’ll recognize it instantly as soon as Jonas starts to play it, and if you still feel like resisting, Peter will get you when he abandons his mic and calls out as raw and mighty as you please “Going home?! Yeah yeah! Going home?! Yeah yeah! Going home!!”

Yeah we’re going home. But don’t expect us not to say “I told you so” when these guys, who rank among the best secrets the east coast has kept from the masses, are no longer a secret. We’re no snobs, but we know you’ll thank us later.

• Web Dwellings: MySpace and Official
  
• Photos by Irvin A Kelly
  

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Nick   |2007-10-03 10:19:50 Nice Reply 0   0

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