A Free Man

My search for the best Antipodean bands continues today with Sydney’s teenagersintokyo. Like most of my gender, A Free Man is a sucker for girls with guitars, or bass, or keys. The Sydney quintet offers a little bit of each plus a lanky lad on drums. They are sexy and sassy, but in this era of girl groups unfortunately doubling as footballers’ wives, teenagersintokyo stand refreshingly apart. Their debut self-titled EP was released this week in the UK. It hearkens back to the great girl bands of the 80’s but with enough ferocity to remind the listener of their place in time. They’ve started to get some attention from the music bloggers and are poised to take the old world by storm when they head over next month.

The lovely Sam Lim - teenagersintokyo vocalist - joined A Free Man on the virtual couch for a chat about her group’s imminent conquest of Europe…

AFM: Can you describe to me the origins of teenagersintokyo? Is there a story to tell behind the name?

SL: The four of us girls met on the first day of high school. We spent years playing lacrosse, lunch times in drama club and doing vocal jams in art class before we picked up actual instruments. Somewhere down the path we made a wish on a shooting star and sure enough Rudy turned up to make us a gang of five. The name was a combination of trying to have one that people couldn’t insert “the” in front of and something in a magazine.

AFM: You guys have a great sound - it’s like you’re channeling some of those great girl groups of the 80’s, grrrrrrl groups of the 90’s and bringing in your own original thing. Who are your musical muses?

SL: We love the 80s, especially all the ballads you hear on Love Song Dedications! It’s really hard to pin point a handful of artists or even a genre/sound that we are influenced by. Every one listens to a lot of different stuff and it’s always changing, so when you stir it all together in the pot who can explain what you end up with.

AFM: Seems like the only Australian bands that we hear about in Europe are the ones that make it huge and come blasting out of the Southern hemisphere like a rocket. Who are we missing out on?

SF: Lost Valentinos are really good friends of ours and they’ve just finished their debut album, which sounds luscious. The Knife Machine are also cutting up shit that is off the chain. We’re also partial to our lovers 123 Amazing who’ve played some really great shows. I’m also really getting into this Parades track “Shut Up and Be Young” as well as Mission Control, Kirin J. Callinan and Magic Happens.

AFM: You guys are headed for Europe next month. Is it your first trip over? What are your expectations?

SL: Yeah we’re losing our overseas tour virginity so it’s kinda scary! We’re looking forward to making new friends, playing in new places, making lists of stuff we saw on the internet that we want to buy, eating a lot of food and coming home broke, but with the “just had sex for the first time” glow.

AFM: You’ve opened for some big name acts – CSS and The Gossip in particular. What’s been your favorite show to play? Why?

SL: Playing with CSS, The Gossip and also The Slits is just such a cool experience because you learn a lot from watching those bands. The best shows though are the ones where everyone just has fun with it. NYE 2007 was a particularly jovial night playing alongside Van She, Lost Valentinos and 123 Amazing. Other super happy fun times are at Wolf Gang in Brisbane (the maddest party) and our sprint around Australia with Cut Off Your Hands which was a crazy little adventure involving cars breaking down and sleeping on the floor of vans.

AFM: Speaking of opening acts, with what bands or artists (living or dead) would you most like to share a bill?

SL: Aaaah! My brain just exploded and is melting into the keyboard! Kraftwerk, Erlend Øye, Joy Divison, ESG, Liquid Liquid, Patrick Wolf, M83, Neu!, Justin Timberlake, !!!, Tears For Fears, Bush Tetras, Sonic Youth, The Cure, The Knife…thought processes overloading! Too many ideas!

AFM:In the immortal words of His Purple Majesty, “U Got The Look”. Chan Marshall of Cat Power made it as a fashion plate for Chanel last year. Whose fashion would you be proud to pimp for?

SL: Fashions! This is probably the worst question you could ask me. I have such a passion for fashion. At the moment I would have to say Alber Elbaz’s designs for Lanvin are some of my favourites because they are so stunning. Balenciaga constantly set the bar for pushing everything forward. Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2008 collection was incredibly moving. Christopher Kane, Luella and Karen Walker are all amazing. Locally Alpha60, TV and Elke Kramer are consistently interesting. And who could resist Kaiser Karl? If Chanel came knocking, I wouldn’t say no!

AFM: Describe to me, in three words or less, your fellow bandmates:
Sophie - tells dad jokes
Linda - extremely modest
Rudy - rather tall chap
Miska - eurovision superstar

AFM: You recently signed with Back Yard – great label – when can we expect to see your first record with them?
SL: Our self-titled debut EP is out now and we’re working on new stuff at the moment so hopefully more new stuff at the end of the year or next year.

Bonus: The Supremes, Blondie or The Go Go’s?
The Supremes!

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Thanks Sam! teenagersintokyo have the following European dates booked:

Their debut EP is available from Amazon.

MP3: teenagers in tokyo - “End It Tonight”

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