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Concert reviews Music

Teenanger at the Silver Dollar

TEENANGER at the Silver Dollar, Saturday, September 14. Rating: NNNN


Teenanger describe themselves on their twitter bio as a “Toronto band aspiring to one day become a gang of aging criminals who need one last score to retire on a tropical island.” If that’s the case, then their latest album Singles Don’t $ell is more The Godfather than Ocean’s Eleven. With a title and lyrics that indicate they’d rather be respected than rich, it’s 22 minutes of snarling, brutish punk rock that leaves an effect like a stallion’s severed head in someone’s bed.

Aligned with their anti-consumerism outlook, Saturday night’s record release show at the Silver Dollar was free, and the venue quickly filled up with friends, family members and other bands. They’ve cut their teeth playing live shows with some of the city’s best acts for years, and it shows: lead singer Chris Swimmings leered and lithely danced while guitarist Jon Schouten, bassist Melissa Ball, and drummer Steve Sidoli remained locked into their instruments. Their set clocked in at under an hour, but they rounded out the new, more tightly coiled material with songs from their 2012 album, Frights. Swimmings’ rallying cries of “I’ve got teen anger” inspired a mosh pit that divided the room in half.

Because no good heist is pulled off without a little accompaniment, they invited local acts Cellphone and Milk Lines to round out the bill, guaranteeing the crowd got more good music than what they (didn’t) pay for.

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