Teenage Love 13

Bio:

Teenage Love started out in late ’84, playing at Vick and Bill’s deli on the Cumberland Av. strip. The stuff remains some of the absolutely meanest hardest hardcore punk rock to come out of Knoxvile. And that’s sayin something. We got to play with great locals like WH-WH, Beyond John, Smokin Dave, Red, HyperTribe and about a fuckload more. Partly due to my booking the shows at the deli, Love got to open for some very cool bands from that era, including Dead Kennedys, Suicidal Tendencies, Flaming Lips (in Atlanta) and The Descendents. The band disintegrated around ’91 because we were seriously crazy motherfuckers and had to be stopped.

Then came this crazy book about Knoxvile rock called Cumberland Avenue Revisited, refereed by the esteemed Jack Rentfro. It was like he was calling us out. There had to be a response. So Teenage Love offered to reunite for Metrofest in 2004, a concert to celebrate the release of the book. The band had about 13 alumni, many of which survived pretty well intact, so John and I got Joey McPeak to spin his sticks again and Chick Graning to reprieve his guitar part. The show went great. It was a real honor to be on the bill with all those cool freaks. Even funnier, I got arrested for indecency for mooning an appreciative crowd.

Well... After all that, Teenage Love couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could we? The band went on to play 2 shows at Blue Cat’s in Knoxvile with such freaks as our old friends Scull Soup and younguns like Matgo Primo and Senryu. Kicked ass. At this point we appointed our last line-up, Jeff Cregger on guitar and J Martin on the drums, because they were available, willing and able. (Joey and Chick are rock Gods, by the way.) We also played a show at the immortal Knoxvile dive, The Corner Lounge. Ed Cortz is cool. That’s all there is to it.

Which brings this to the current situation. Teenage Love has recorded a 10 song CD with the sound master Seva. We went out to Jay’s basement at Normandy Crossing in Oak Ridge, TN. Spent a couple of days honing the set and then just went at it all night. I think we succeeded. Seva blames our playing. I think he’s the lord of capturing the music. This thing should be out in February ’09. If you’re real unlucky. ..

Member Since:

July 20, 2006

Members:

Rus Harper-Screecher
John Sewell-Bass
Joey McPeak, J Martin-Drums
Dale Ashe, Chick Graning, Bill Irwin and Jeff Cregger (various eras)-guitar

Influences:

Sounds Like:

pain

Record Label:

169 Recordings