Music
Press
"The NYC foursome's stellar 2005 debut, 'Ten Songs,' is a playful romp connecting the decade dots with '60's soul nods, '70's 'Big Pink' winks and not-so-yesteryear indie punches. - Boston Metro
"One of the most soulful indie rock outfits to come out of New York in years..."
Steve Reynolds, Trouser Press Magazine - Trouser Press
"An evangelization baptized in the fires of rock and soul... the stuff rock and roll legends are made of..."
Joseph Leo, Good Times Magazine - Good Times Magazine
"The Q-Borough hasn't produced a rock band with this much ramalama since the Young Rascals..."
IRT Magazine - IRT Magazine
"If these guys started their own religion, it would get you to stand up and sing. Trust me. I did it."
-- Rachael Darmanin, Underrated Magazine - Underrated Blog
Bucking the "nostalgia band" trend by being authentically nostalgic, the Teenage Prayers cause you to give blessings to that raw, purely enthusiastic adolescent music fan in all of us.
-- David Banash, Popmatters.com - Popmatters.com
"'Ten Songs' is the sound of a band doing their own wonderful thing. Where the Teenage Prayers defiantly take their own course is by splicing these fragile folky pop ditties with southern soul elegance..."
-- Nadeem Ali, Newnoise.net - New-noise.net
"Their riffs have a sort of visceral simplicity, somewhere between the Rolling Stones and the Presidnents of the United states of America. Add the piano/organ and the juxtaposed guitar parts and a stew thickens. When you pourin the soulful vocals, the mixture becomes too thick to stir, but the Prayers are just going to start a food fight with it, anyway."
-- City Beat Magazine, Cincinnati
- CITY BEAT MAGAZINE
The Teenage Prayers are a New York rock band that remind me of The Hold Steady, the J. Geils Band, Sam & Dave and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels. Sound good? Well, it is. Their new album Everyone Thinks You're The Best is due out on March 4th and is produced by the legendary Steve Wynn. Frontman Tim Adams comes with the drama and energy so lacking in indie-rock these days and his brother Terry is adept at riffing on soul music as he is with the classic rock. The songs on this album promise you a bright future should you indulge. And xtra points for a cool name.
- Bruce Warren - WXPN
"Everyone Thinks You're the Best is a rocking good time, executed with soul and conviction, and ultimately a wonderful endorsement for a band that must be a blast in a live setting." -- Tim DiGravina - All Music Guide
Discography
"Everyone Thinks You're The Best" - Produced by Steve Wynn - released March18, 2008 through MRI Distribution and Sony/Red.
"Ten Songs" - self-released LP (2005) with continuing radio airplay from KEXP, WOXY, Minnesota Public Radio, and KCRW, among many others.
Photos
Bio
The Teenage Prayers have been blowing audiences away with their genre-bending brand of rock and roll for going on ten years, and they continue to gain steam.
Their first album, Ten Songs, featured a track produced by 60s soul legend Solomon Burke, who flew the band cross country to work with them in LA. Their sophomore effort, Everyone Thinks Youre the Best, was produced by Dream Syndicate frontman and indie rock progenitor Steve Wynn, who fell in love with the band after they opened for him at a club gig in New York City.
Along the way, theyve kept up a rigorous touring regiment, developing powerful followings across the Midwest, throughout New England, as far south as Atlanta and as far west as Los Angeles, sharing the stage with the likes of The Hold Steady, Radar Bros., The Detroit Cobras, Nicole Atkins, Eli Reed & The True Loves, Deer Tick, Hymns, multiple appearances at SXSW Music Festival and a coveted recording session with Daytrotter.com.
Currently, The Teenage Prayers are hard at work on their third full-length album, which they are recording at Camp Street Studio with Paul Q. Kolderie (Pixies, Radiohead), and mixing at Tree Fort Studio (Vampire Weekend, MIA) in Brooklyn NY.
SELECTED PRESS
DAYTROTTER.COM: Tim Adams inflects his voice with some of the soul of a Nathan Willett and a Jim James when he sings about sex as well as escape and being lost in the cluster, and his bandmates help to create a sound that is rambunctious in its meaning and energy, giving off sparks and the kind of cleansing, sweaty movement that all good days should have at least a little bit of or theyve been wasted. The Teenage Prayers makes sure that theirs the prayers and all of the things that actually did happen werent in vain.
ALL MUSIC GUIDE: Everyone Thinks You're the Best is a rocking good time, executed with soul and conviction, and ultimately a wonderful endorsement for a band that must be a blast in a live setting.
BOSTON HERALD: A - If youve bounced from Marah to the Hold Steady to Art Brut looking to recapture the high you get from discovering fresh, 24-karat rock n roll, you need to freebase New Yorks Teenage Prayers this Steve Wynn-produced follow-up clobbers cool and catchy with maniacal rock brilliance.
TWANGVILLE: Imagine a soul band playing CBGBs and youll have a sense of the Prayers sound. The Brooklyn-based group serves up a potent blend of soul and hard rock that will get you dancing until you collapse from exhaustion.
BRUCE WARREN WXPN-PHILLY: Frontman Tim Adams comes with the drama and energy so lacking in indie-rock these days and his brother Terry is adept at riffing on soul music as he is with the classic rock. The songs on this album promise you a bright future should you indulge.
POPMATTERS.COM: Bucking the "nostalgia band" trend by being authentically nostalgic, the Teenage Prayers cause you to give blessings to that raw, purely enthusiastic adolescent music fan in all of us.
BROOKLYN ROCKS: The forthcoming sophomore release from The Teenage Prayers hasn't left my CD player for the last week. The band's music is somewhat of a throwback to the 70's but it touches on all points of the spectrum. There are elements of Cheap Trick, New York Dolls, Queen and California funk-rock on this disc.
UNDERRATED MAGAZINE: If these guys started their own religion, it would get you to stand up and sing. Trust me. I did it.
POPMATTERS.COM: Solomon Burke must have sensed that waft of tension in the Teenage Prayers' irony-free delivery -- their calculated smoke signals suggest they're searching for the secrets of the real showmen, not just fanatically aping them.
BOSTON PHOENIX: Frontman Tim Adams sing-shouts are a cross between James Brown and Isaac Brock
TROUSER PRESS: One of the most soulful indie rock outfits to come out of New York in years...
CITY BEAT, CINCINNATI: Their riffs have a sort of visceral simplicity, somewhere between the Rolling Stones and the Presidnents of the United states of America. Add the piano/organ and the juxtaposed guitar parts and a stew thickens. When you pourin the soulful vocals, the mixture becomes too thick to stir, but the Prayers are just going to start a food fight with it, anyway.
The Teenage Prayers Timeline
October 24, 2009 The Teenage Prayers song Time, an unreleased track off of their upcoming third album, is featured in supermodel Cameron Russells Day of Action video campaign for the climate change awareness site 350.org.
October 2009 The Teenage Prayers play two showcases as part of CMJ Music Festival.
October 2009 Mixing work on The Teenage Prayers third album begins at Tree Fort Studio (Vampire Weekend, MIA) in Brooklyn
September 2009 The Teenage Prayers begin work on their third album at Paul Q. Kolderies Camp Street Studio in Cambridge MA.
September 2009 The Teenage Prayers tour the Midwest with Chicagos Brother George
September 3rd, 2009 The Tee
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