TEENANGER at Sneaky Dee’s, Thursday, March 1 Rating: NNNN
Teenanger aren’t strangers to Toronto stages, but the local garage/punks have resolved to focus on other markets in promotion of their just-released album, Frights.
Last night’s release show was one of just two shows the band plan to play in the city this year, so they had to make it count.
And they did, playing most of the songs off the album, plus a few non-album tracks and a cover of a Discharge song. That the set barely surpassed a half hour just reinforced the quicker, punkier disposition the band is in on this new record.
Songs were faster and louder. Nasally, plaid-shirted lead singer Chris Swimmings spent much of the show either spitting out beer or jumping into the crowd while guitarist Jon Schouten and bassist Melissa Ball kept up a rapid, consistent groove. That’s the perfect mode for the claustrophobic Sneaky Dee’s show space, made even more so by the inconceivable fact that the street-looking windows have been painted black.
For some reason the band replaced its drummer and guitarist for a firebrand version of album highlight Bank Account, but otherwise they worked as a well-oiled, house-rocking unit.
Read an interview with the band here.