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 Sleeping on floors, arriving at venues minutes before performing; Sydney electro rockers TEENAGERSINTOKYO have already crossed off a number of things on the ‘rock & roll to do list’. Chirpy guitarist SOPHIE MCGINN delves into a few more tales with MITCH ALEXANDER.
It seems only fitting that, in discussing Teenagersintokyo’s upcoming show at the final WolfGang, Sophie pulls out a charming anecdote of the first time these four girls and one boy from Sydney were introduced to the monthly party. It’s not particularly sophisticated or enchanting, but it definitely reveals that this quintet is no strangers to slummin’ it.
"We’re quite good mates with the WolfGang guys now, Ash and Adam, the first time we played there we crashed on their loungeroom floor," she explains. "Ash, we used to hang out with him all the time in Sydney, and Adam did our Very Vampyr filmclip because we loved his visual style in an I Heart Hiroshima video. So being able to play their at the final WolfGang is going to be great, it’s just going to be such a big party".
The ease with which Sophie divulges these details makes me think she must already be a seasoned pro at doing interviews, playing in a band that started showing up on the international indie radar soon after the release of their debut EP in 2007. Playing sold out shows during trips to Europe and supporting the likes of !!!, The Gossip and CSS in Australia, has Sophie mastered the fine art of politely humouring interviewers?
"I don’t have to do them very often, so when I do it’s kind of a novelty," she says with a giggle. "Sometimes I say something and think ‘oh, that’s a little bit too easily the stupid quote that’s going to be right in the middle of the page’," she continues, laughing again. When I suggest making that the entire headline, her lightning fast response is "we’ll see, I might come up with something more stupid". Touche, McGinn.
Transition from WolfGang to saying stupid things, the next obvious point of conversation is what the band are like when they’re in party mode, particularly when they are helped along the way by six or seven ethanol-based beverages. Booze to you or me. Do these hip and happening young rock & roll rebels manage to control themselves, or are nights punctuated by televisions thrown out of hotel windows and random appearances by farm animals? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
"Umm, there’s usually some pretty violent dancing," she replies, uncharacteristically stoic. "There was one night – I think it was the last few shows at the Gold Coast – and we’d had a couple of drinks and us girls just started fight dancing! I don’t even know what we were doing, but we were almost bashing each other up, we were dancing so hard!"
Such sweet children, such debaucherous tales. Oh yeah, they’re from Sydney, the Sodom & Gomorrah of the southern hemisphere. But if theatrical punch-ups set to pulsing tunes sounds like your idea of a good Thursday night, Alhambra will deliver the goods for one more night.
TEENAGERSINTOKYO headline the final (EVER!) Wolfgang Show this Thursday Aug 14 at Alhambra with Stature::Statue, TimTim (Damn Arms) and of course those lovable WolfGang DJs. Their self-titled EP is out now through Pavement Entertainment/Inertia.
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