The Teeth

Last updated
The Teeth
Origin Philadelphia, United States
Genres Rock, experimental rock, indie rock
Years active2001–2008, 2024-
Labels Park the Van
MembersAaron MoDavis
Peter MoDavis
Brian Ashby
Jonas Oesterle

The Teeth is an indie rock band from Philadelphia consisting of twin brothers Aaron MoDavis on rhythm guitar and Peter MoDavis on bass guitar. Other members include Brian Ashby on lead guitar and Jonas Oesterle on drums. They were created in 2001 when the MoDavis brothers moved to Philadelphia, and they have since risen to prominence in the Philadelphia area and have reached a cult status throughout the rest of the United States.

Contents

Aaron, Peter, and Brian first played together while they were students at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, PA. Initially, Brian, Peter, and their drummer friend Greg Kulik briefly were part of a band called "The Salty Dogs." Later, these same three, along with Brian's brother Doug Ashby, formed the blues band Hurry Down Sunshine, which cut two CDs, the best of which, "Raw in Memphis" (recorded at Sun Studios and still available from Amazon), didn't feature Peter or Greg but did include some guitar solos by Brian Ashby.

Often appearing at Open-Mike Nights sponsored by Freedom High's literary-and-arts magazine PEN AND INK, Brian, Peter, and Aaron performed together in various combinations, sometimes covering Bowie tunes and sometimes (as "The Pants") featuring original songs often heavily influenced by Brian Wilson, Talking Heads, Bowie, and the Beatles. (In these early days, Mark Cunningham, their eighth-grade English teacher at East Hills Middle School, helped initiate their love of the above masters.)

In 2005, the band performed at North East Sticks Together.

As of March 2008, The Teeth disbanded after their last tour with The Dead Trees, just after their performance at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Later musical projects created by the band members include The Purples and Squawk Brothers. [1]

January 2024 marks the reunion of the band through a series of live performances in the Philadelphia venue Johnny Brendas, followed by a March performance in the First Unitarian Church.

Critical reception

A number of sources have praised the Teeth, including Rolling Stone , [2] Paste magazine, [3] RJD2 in XLR8R magazine, [4] and Jon Pareles in The New York Times . [5]

In media

In 2005, Moonrock Films created a documentary called Bones Grow: An Introduction to the Teeth [6] that contains a series of live performances and practice sessions of the band.

Discography

Reunion

On January 12th, 2024 The Teeth reunited for a show at Johnny Brendas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This reunion follows a 16 year disbandment. Today the band is still active and has been performing shows since their reunion.

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References

  1. ↑ Weinberg, April (9 July 2019). "Spotify's Discover Weekly Algorithm Sent Millions of Listeners to this Small, Broken Up Band". Hard Noise. The Hard Times. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  2. ↑ "Rolling Stone : Breaking Artist: The Teeth Fight Their Way to Indie-Rock Success". www.rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "Paste Magazine: Your Guide to the Best Music, Movies & TV Shows".
  4. ↑ "So emotional" (PDF). www.parkthevan.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  5. ↑ "MUSIC: PLAYLIST; From Folk to Soul, Old School's In for Summer". Archived from the original on 2012-09-25.
  6. ↑ "The Teeth "Bones Grow" documentary". YouTube . 16 September 2015.
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