Teenage Millionaire are an up and coming angst-ridden teen band that, I have a feeling, will be sweeping venues across the nation in 2009 following the release of there first EP. Luckily I am going to New York City this week so I will get to witness their performance at the Bowery Poetry Club before they are super popular rock stars. Check out their myspace and the interview they sent me. See you at the show!
ME: How long have you been doing music and what have you done with it? What instruments can you play? You obviously have training, what has that been and who with?
JORDAN: Well, we’ve both dabbled in music along with other art forms for most of our lives. As we matured it became apparent music was the easiest of the arts for us, and probably the best way to get attention. So we formed the band last May [2008]. We can play most instruments. We’re mostly self-taught, but I took guitar lessons for while with a great guitarist named Bill Wright, and Jamie trained with a highly acclaimed jazz drummer named Karl Latham.
ME: Where do you live and where have you lived? What do you value about the community or scene in your area? Do you wish that somethings would change? What scenes happening in the world are you interested in and why?
JORDAN: We’ve lived in a small Jersey town called Sparta most of our lives. From what I understand the music scene was once as abundant and exciting as a scene could be in a small well-to-do town. But parents and cops eventually lead to it’s demise, bands broke up or went to college and the environment for an aspiring band is pretty much abysmal. As for other scenes, I’ve been in love with the whole Ed Banger thing for a while, and Williamsburg obviously has some cool bands.
ME: Are you apart of any sort of music collective and are collaborating with some people. If yes, what is the project and what is your hope to do with it? Who have been the most enriching artists you’ve worked with and why? Who did you connect with most on a personal level? Do you have any major influences?
JORDAN: For all the crap bands that Suburbia seems to thrive on, there’s some truly great bands from north Jersey, unfortunately we’ve yet to collaborate with them. Our influences are wide, but we mostly listen to pop music. Artists that work in the pop format, but constantly challenge it and push the boundaries. Kanye, Radiohead and Gnarls Barkley among many others are doing innovative things in their production and with their image while keeping great music and great hooks in mind. That’s what we want.
ME: What can we expect from you in the future?
JORDAN: You can expect a 6-7 song EP somewhere in early 2009, and a show on the 26th at the Bowery Poetry club.
ME: Do you have any personal, political, spiritual, emotional or other views you specifically like to get across with your music? How do you plan to translate that to your audience, and how do you feel about their responses so far?
JORDAN: There’s always a particular point I’d like to get across in my lyrics. The majority songs are written at the peak of my loneliness at 3am in my bedroom. This is a point of view that all the songs thus-far contain lyrically and that I feel is absent right now in modern day pop music, the music teenagers listen to today hardly delve into all that potent and pure unbridled emotion. Everyone’s singing about the club or whatever, no one’s representing the fucked up, teenage world that I see.
ME: Where have you been on tour that you would like to visit again? Where would you like to visit? Where have you played that you like? Where would you like to play? Do you like touring or would you like to? What is the biggest obstacle you have when putting a tour together? Booking information?
JORDAN: We’ve never been on a tour but from what I’ve seen on television and read in books, it sounds like a blast. We got a chance to play at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park once, which was a really great experience. We like to play at any place with a good stage, sound guy and/or sound system, which was probably the best thing about that venue. We’ve both always had a dream of playing a set on “Later… with Jools Holland”, a live music show from the UK.
If you’d like to book us some place just email jlawlor@mohawk-productions.com.
TOUR SCHEDULE:
Dec 26 2008 7:15P Bowery Poetry Club New York, New York
Dec 27 2008 7:15P The Gristmill Cafe Andover, New Jersey
Jan 24 2009 7:00P TBA w/ The Sparta Philharmonic, Tiny People and The Big Big Bucks TBA, New Jersey
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