June 19, 2007
Something to Smile About
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Meet the Teeth, the latest in a long line of great new bands calling Philly home
The Teeth are like Philadelphia's musical version of Sybil. Well, minus the debilitating flashbacks to an incredibly painful childhood that is. Of course, the Teeth don't project an air of heartbreaking tragedy to an inherently sympathetic television-obsessed nation. Not one of the four band members even remotely resembles Sally Field or Joanne Woodward and I'm fairly certain that none of the Teeth have Emmy Awards lining their mantels.
So maybe the Teeth are nothing like the 1976 miniseries, but they certainly run the gamut of emotion, genre and overall musical personalities. Whereas Sybil's, um, versatile personalities were considered a major disorder, the tendency toward dissociative identities displayed by the Teeth has rocketed the local quartet to the forefront of the Philly pop scene and provided the perfect platform for launching their national campaign.
After traversing the union for the past few months in support of their latest release, You're My Lover Now [Park the Van], the Teeth are chillin' at the old homestead for a few days this week, playing South Philly's Jefferson Square Park Wednesday evening and hitting the hipster haven Johnny Brenda's Saturday night as part of a double bill with fellow local luminaries Illinois.
The road to the Teeth's recent success was a long and arduous one - but one that seems to be slowly transforming into a flat straightaway.
"When we started touring outside of the local area, we were barely making enough to get by," explains guitarist Aaron Modavis. "When we played Pittsburgh a while back, [drummer] Jonas and I were eating baked beans and tuna fish straight from a can inside a tent at some random campground."
The band has taken their touring lumps in stride and at least Modavis even manages to keep a healthy sense of humor about life on the road.
"We played in Texas recently during Austin's South by Southwest Festival and were fairly well received," notes Modavis. "It seemed like we drew better crowds in San Antonio, though. I call it San Antonio now but give me two more tours as a rock and roller and I'll surely be comfortable with just 'San Antone.'"
Adopting a more cavalier attitude to the cities and towns they play may not fit the friendly style of the band members' individual personalities, but the swagger of their music screams pure rock and roll.
From the carnivalesque experimental rock of Lover's opener, Molly Make Him Pay to the stop-on-a-dime tempo shifts that are strewn about within the earnest title track, the Teeth's latest effort paints a picture of a band in the throes of a creative orgasm.
While Lover certainly has a more produced air about itself than their previous Carry the Wood EP, neither comes close to sounding overly "slick."
"Sure, the new disc is a bit more hi-fi than Wood, admits bassist (and Aaron's twin brother) Peter Modavis. "However, Wood was mixed and recorded using 16 tracks in a warehouse with a dirt floor. The main difference in production this time around is really what was available to us. Honestly, what we had at our disposal for Lover was more than we could have ever needed. It's still a lo-fi record because that's what we wanted."
Lo-fi or not, it's damn near impossible to listen to certain tracks on Lover and ignore the painstaking attention to certain details. It's almost as if the band had access to a world-renowned DJ/production artist during the final mix-down process.
"Yeah, RJD2 was in the studio for the entire mix-down," explains Modavis. "He was great and was really open and forthcoming with his opinions on certain tracks, instrumentals and overall placement. He seems to really dig our sound and we're all huge fans of his work so we were truly honored to have him participate in the process in any way."
For the uninitiated, RJD2 is a Philly-by-way-of-Columbus, Ohio DJ and precision production maestro who has worked with El-P and Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Diplo and just about anyone with a loose affiliation with the legendary underground hip-hop label Definitive Juxtaposition or, more succinctly, Def Jux.
World-class production assistance aside, the band knows that every night in the young touring life of a budding national act is a crapshoot. Touring the West Coast with the slightly more established local act Dr. Dog certainly helps put the asses in the seats, so to speak.
"Playing shows with the Dog has been an awesome experience," spouts bassist Modavis. "We've known those guys for years, going back to when they were in a band called Raccoon. Running into them as often as we did while we were both playing in town slowly drove home the fact that it would only be logical for us to share the stage. Both bands seem to revel in the bizarre and both have similar approaches to the creative process. Basically, we're all pretty fuckin' weird so we figured we might as well be weird together, you know?"
I think some of us know all too well, Peter. Unfortunately, there are still a few yahoos scattered throughout this great land of ours who either didn't get the memo or - more likely - got the memo but couldn't read it.
"Sometimes you find yourself playing to an empty room save a fat dude with a beard giving you the finger," muses Modavis. "Other times, the crowd is dancing, singing along and generally having a great time."
Saturday night's gig is in the heart of Fishtown so there are sure to be beards a-plenty on hand and hipsters love to display their angst so bird flips are certainly not out of the question. If the Teeth come to play, however - and they ALWAYS - - the dancing and drunken singalongs will almost definitely outnumber bearded rankling by the droves.
The Teeth
When & Where:
Wed., June 20, 8pm. Free.
Jefferson Square Park, Fourth St. and Washington Ave.
myspace.com/teeth
When & Where:
Sat., June 23, 9:30pm. $10. With Illinois + Peasant. Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. www.johnnybrendas.com
So maybe the Teeth are nothing like the 1976 miniseries, but they certainly run the gamut of emotion, genre and overall musical personalities. Whereas Sybil's, um, versatile personalities were considered a major disorder, the tendency toward dissociative identities displayed by the Teeth has rocketed the local quartet to the forefront of the Philly pop scene and provided the perfect platform for launching their national campaign.
After traversing the union for the past few months in support of their latest release, You're My Lover Now [Park the Van], the Teeth are chillin' at the old homestead for a few days this week, playing South Philly's Jefferson Square Park Wednesday evening and hitting the hipster haven Johnny Brenda's Saturday night as part of a double bill with fellow local luminaries Illinois.
The road to the Teeth's recent success was a long and arduous one - but one that seems to be slowly transforming into a flat straightaway.
"When we started touring outside of the local area, we were barely making enough to get by," explains guitarist Aaron Modavis. "When we played Pittsburgh a while back, [drummer] Jonas and I were eating baked beans and tuna fish straight from a can inside a tent at some random campground."
The band has taken their touring lumps in stride and at least Modavis even manages to keep a healthy sense of humor about life on the road.
"We played in Texas recently during Austin's South by Southwest Festival and were fairly well received," notes Modavis. "It seemed like we drew better crowds in San Antonio, though. I call it San Antonio now but give me two more tours as a rock and roller and I'll surely be comfortable with just 'San Antone.'"
Adopting a more cavalier attitude to the cities and towns they play may not fit the friendly style of the band members' individual personalities, but the swagger of their music screams pure rock and roll.
From the carnivalesque experimental rock of Lover's opener, Molly Make Him Pay to the stop-on-a-dime tempo shifts that are strewn about within the earnest title track, the Teeth's latest effort paints a picture of a band in the throes of a creative orgasm.
While Lover certainly has a more produced air about itself than their previous Carry the Wood EP, neither comes close to sounding overly "slick."
"Sure, the new disc is a bit more hi-fi than Wood, admits bassist (and Aaron's twin brother) Peter Modavis. "However, Wood was mixed and recorded using 16 tracks in a warehouse with a dirt floor. The main difference in production this time around is really what was available to us. Honestly, what we had at our disposal for Lover was more than we could have ever needed. It's still a lo-fi record because that's what we wanted."
Lo-fi or not, it's damn near impossible to listen to certain tracks on Lover and ignore the painstaking attention to certain details. It's almost as if the band had access to a world-renowned DJ/production artist during the final mix-down process.
"Yeah, RJD2 was in the studio for the entire mix-down," explains Modavis. "He was great and was really open and forthcoming with his opinions on certain tracks, instrumentals and overall placement. He seems to really dig our sound and we're all huge fans of his work so we were truly honored to have him participate in the process in any way."
For the uninitiated, RJD2 is a Philly-by-way-of-Columbus, Ohio DJ and precision production maestro who has worked with El-P and Company Flow, Cannibal Ox, Diplo and just about anyone with a loose affiliation with the legendary underground hip-hop label Definitive Juxtaposition or, more succinctly, Def Jux.
World-class production assistance aside, the band knows that every night in the young touring life of a budding national act is a crapshoot. Touring the West Coast with the slightly more established local act Dr. Dog certainly helps put the asses in the seats, so to speak.
"Playing shows with the Dog has been an awesome experience," spouts bassist Modavis. "We've known those guys for years, going back to when they were in a band called Raccoon. Running into them as often as we did while we were both playing in town slowly drove home the fact that it would only be logical for us to share the stage. Both bands seem to revel in the bizarre and both have similar approaches to the creative process. Basically, we're all pretty fuckin' weird so we figured we might as well be weird together, you know?"
I think some of us know all too well, Peter. Unfortunately, there are still a few yahoos scattered throughout this great land of ours who either didn't get the memo or - more likely - got the memo but couldn't read it.
"Sometimes you find yourself playing to an empty room save a fat dude with a beard giving you the finger," muses Modavis. "Other times, the crowd is dancing, singing along and generally having a great time."
Saturday night's gig is in the heart of Fishtown so there are sure to be beards a-plenty on hand and hipsters love to display their angst so bird flips are certainly not out of the question. If the Teeth come to play, however - and they ALWAYS - - the dancing and drunken singalongs will almost definitely outnumber bearded rankling by the droves.
The Teeth
When & Where:
Wed., June 20, 8pm. Free.
Jefferson Square Park, Fourth St. and Washington Ave.
myspace.com/teeth
When & Where:
Sat., June 23, 9:30pm. $10. With Illinois + Peasant. Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. www.johnnybrendas.com
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