TEETH!!!: "What's cool is what's fun. Simple."
TEETH!!! are a London punk band that formed last year and have a single coming on out on Moshi Moshi in a few weeks. Made up of Veronica So (keys and voice), Simon Whybray (drums) and Ximon Tayki (laptops), TEETH!!! are part of the DIY noise/art scene loosely based round Bardens Bourdoir and various East London warehouses. They’ve been putting out homemade recordings over fileshares through their blog for a few months now, and are really perfecting that irresistibly shitty production with strangely swoonsome 21st-century noise that makes you hurt then laugh then dance then press “play” again.
After touring about with “a band that wasn’t a band… an idea of a band, if that makes sense” (Ximon) in 2007, Veronica, a native Californian studying fashion communications at Central St Martins, and Ximon, who came to east London from “gaytown” (a joke) and is also in a band called Prolapse who play with Annie Lennox (not a joke), decided to set up TEETH!!!. After scratching out a few tracks and touring with a desktop Pentium PC (“We use old, shitty equipment because we’re broke – not because it’s romantic”), they recruiting Simon, then studying Graphic Design at Falmouth in Cornwall, through a myspace bulletin.
Last year they played The Smell, and in a lot of ways this resolutely anti-corporate LA art space (home to No Age, Health and Mika Miko) lies close to TEETH!!!‘s heart – in particular their idealistic vision of a DIY haven of free ideas, open expression and affordable shows. Ximon is organising this really cool benefit thing to buy a shared PA system, so that bands of all types around east London can get to play whatever shows they want. “Everyone in the scene is so supportive, but there isn’t this focal point. Hopefully, this PA could be that like of place to meet up, and congregate around. Not just punk bands or whatever – all musicians, of all different types of music. It would make it easier to put on house shows, and people of all ages can get to see bands and meet up without having to pay £3.60 for a beer – or have the gig sponsored by a fucking beer brand or whatever,” says Ximon. “You see some corporate gigs and it’s like a load of people telling each other what they think the kids think is cool,” says Veronica. “But it’s so dumb. What’s cool is what’s fun. Simple. People know that.”
When I called they were recording a single for Moshi Moshi in some studio in Haringey. With a decent booth, they should be able to fully capture the wonderful, dancey experience of TEETH!!! live – most songs put out so far are “jams, freestyle, totally. More “vibez-with-a-z” than songs.” The releases will probably make us flip out. This week, Ximon is in LA DJing at The Smell itself, and there’s a few tours coming up, the Moshi Moshi single, as well a load of tapes (with Thee Fair Ohs and a band called Fortuning) on the way, and an album next year. Until then, try to get down to one of their shows. I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but it’s small decisions like this – to focus on providing an awesome, un-assigned way to make music happen, or helping other musicians out, that can totally change how music in a city works forever. They may be laughing, but they’re no joke. Do not turn your back on TEETH!!! I mean that, good people.
