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I'm sorry, but "supergroup" is not a term you can just nonchalantly throw around. It implies an often short-lived collaboration among high-caliber musicians from other bands, a nexus of sheer awesomeness and asskicking the likes of which the world will never see again. Cream was a supergroup, as is Them Crooked Vultures and Portland's own Wild Flag. Yet, despite my reservations, the term was one of the first mentioned regarding the new power-punk foursome TeenSpot. And it bears merit.
Teenspot—originally featuring Mo Troper of Your Rival, Mayhaw Hoons of Spookies and the Shaky Hands Mike Wroblewski of Paper Brains—is in the midst of a reconfiguration after losing Wroblewski and acquiring Asher McKenzie of Profcal. However, the band still managed to finish up its first six-song EP, Aggressive Inline Skating, complete with cute, dancing bloodhound on the cover.
The opening cut, âThe Hero,â is sloshy piece of punk savoir faire and lo-fi excellence, awash with ringing, distorted guitar and distant high-pitch vocals that straddle the line between wonderful and whiny without making you feel too sorry for the boys. Maybe the four dudes are not a supergroup per say, but that doesnât mean theyâre not on to something pretty damn super. Check out the rest of Aggressive Inline Skating on TeenSpotâs Bandcamp page, and be on the lookout for EPâs vinyl pressing sometime this summer.
WWeek 2015