REVIEW: Police Teeth’s self-titled album

A brief story before I get into the review. In August, I posted a track to share for the Seattle band Police Teeth. As a longtime fan and supporter of indie rock, especially from here in the Pacific Northwest, I liked what I heard from this trio so with permission from their publicist, I posted the song by sharing it on Mediafire. A month later, I received an e-mail from Mediafire with a complaint from a company in England which claimed that the MP3 file featured their watermark. A few minutes later, my Mediafire account was deleted. No warning or anything. I contacted the publicist and was told that she prepared the MP3 herself. I had posted a note elsewhere in the hopes someone from the band would get wind of this. It did, and he was shocked that a random company in England would care, especially since that company had nothing to do with them or the song. I filed a complaint with Mediafire and was basically told, without explanation, that my account was suspended. The account only had eight songs, all of which I was given permission to share from publicists or the artist themselves. I thought wow, all of this for a Seattle band? With the stupid actions of Mediafire behind me, I had no issues with the publicist or the band, it was not their fault. But with all of that for one song, I was ready to hear the full album and I will say that I was very satisfied with it.

The band are an aggressive band that like to combine punk and pop in a way that shows a love for composition, playing, singing, and writing that isn’t done in a sloppy manner. You might hear hints of The Clash, Husker Du, The Ramones, Boomtown Rats, Poster Children, Sonic Youth, and many other great bands in their sound, and that simply comes from being influenced by groups that they were drawn to. I feel Police Teeth will be a band many will feel drawn to because of how raw they sound, and within that rawness a bit of honesty and fun, in that they’re willing to rock it out but without throwing in anything extra. Maybe that extra will come on future music, but for now, this is the kind of band you might hear blaring out of a club one night, and you’ll walk in and stay.

If you want to compare them to other bands, I can name everyone from Green River to Gas Huffer, U-Men to The Derelicts, Zipgun to The Gloryholes, all of whom throw things back to great punk from the 70′s but also honor the garage rock of the early to mid-60′s to make a point: youthful rock’n'roll is ageless in the right hands. If it sounds good with an immediate listen, there’s a reason for that. Even if it doesn’t hit you upon first crack, go back to it again, but Police Teeth will eventually get into your bloodstream and find a home. Maybe what they do is already within you, and you’ll want to become a fan for life.