It’s amazing how many bands there are out there, and how many want to take part in our ongoing BotD feature. I swear we’re never going to run out of new music! Today we have Devils Teeth telling us all about themselves…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Milwaukee, WI.
How did you meet?
Eric brought the band together. He knew Jon through Milwaukee’s film industry, and he met Chuck through a political film project. The guys found Caleb through a want ad in the back pages of a local smut rag.
How long have you been playing as a band?
2016 – our first practice was at Ricco’s Mean Machine in April, and our first show was at Circle A in October.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Jon read a book and thought the name sounded cool. We omitted the apostrophe because it looks more aerodynamic.
What are your influences?
We definitely gathered around surf and fuzzed-out garage rock, but our influences come from all over the place – movie scenes, Italian western film scores, soul, funk, and more. What we’re listening to at any given time might surprise you.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We take catchy-as-shit surf melodies and extrapolate them into sonic psychedelic narratives full of tension and release.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Our songs each set the scene for an out-of-place cinematic oddity. Ask Jon about a specific song and he’ll tell you the narrative scene playing in his head.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We’re the perfect band for your fuck-it-all dystopian beach party.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Opening for Dick Dale is a treat that we get to repeat in about a month. His audience gave us lots of good-natured shit while we played the first time. He’s an amazing entertainer and storyteller too. I wish every show were that fun.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Eric uses a Hallmark swept-wing bass into a BOSS DM-100 that feeds into a Music Man HD-130. The DM-100 is a pre-stomp box analog delay and adds some extra grit and gnarly feedback.
Chuck plays a 1963 Ludwig Super Classic 12/14/22 with a late 70’s Pearl Jupiter COB snare.
Jon plays a Hallmark 60 Custom in a Fender Twin Reverb, he also uses a shitty early 2000’s Digitech effects pedal for extra trashiness.
Caleb uses a rip-off Yanagisawa alto saxophone from China. The real ones cost about five grand, this one he doesn’t have to care about destroying on stage.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We have our debut record Suki Yaki Hot! coming out August 24 and a lot of great shows around it.
What are your plans for the rest of 2018?
We want to play a bunch of shows, try to expand our out of town shows, and also start recording the next album. It’s mostly written already.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
CHUCK: I want to open for personal heroes New Bomb Turks and have The Foamers? open the show. They’re the ideal warm-up-the-crowd kind of band and 100% great dudes as well.
JON: Dream show would be to open for a reunited Mr Bungle and have Man or Astro Man? Open for us (yeah right!).
From previous Band of the Day, Joe Settineri: what was your second-choice band name?
Devils Teeth was actually our first pick for a name, but we tossed around a few other ideas before coming back to it. I think my favourite rejected name idea was The Weird Pink. Our album name was also in consideration (Suki Yahi Hot!) as well as Muscle Beach Party and The Snake Fist Style.
From another BotD, Sons of Alpha Centauri: in order to legalise every other drug you have to make alcohol illegal – would you do it?
CHUCK: Yes, no question.
JON: No, I’m not going back to making moonshine in the mountains anymore.
And from Black Water Chemistry (UK): what do you enjoy the least about playing live?
Load-in / load-out. I’m dying to hire a road crew.
