TheModernAge.org Interviews The Teenage Prayers

After The Jump's first act this Saturday at Studio B is New York City's very own, Teenage Prayers. The band will start promptly at 2pm on The Main Stage. Earlier this week, Laura @ The Modern Age sat down with the boys for a heart-to-heart. View a teaser of the Q&A below. Head here to read Laura's full interview with The Teenage Prayers.

What is the origin of your band name?

Our band name comes from a Bob Dylan song that’s on the Basement Tapes (the so-called “genuine” basement tapes) called “I Am Your Teenage Prayer”. I don’t think the song has ever been legitimately released anywhere. Currently the only place in New York City where you can hear that song on a jukebox is at the Lakeside Lounge.

Your bio states that the band has been influenced by a number of great rock bands like the Kinks and The Band, but surprisingly, you’ve also been influenced by the cast soundtrack to Cabaret. Did you have a deep awe-inspiring moment courtesy of Liza Minnelli when you were growing up?

That line about sounding like the cast soundtrack to Cabaret comes from our friend Andrea Kremer up in Boston, who threw it at us when we were trying to come up with a one-liner on how we sound. I think what she meant was that our songs lean toward the theatrical - which is a direction I’m always looking to develop. But as anyone can tell you, self-description is a blue nightmare anyway; “the Jesus and Mary Chain meets Paul Anka”; “Hank Williams Jr. meets Smog”. “Otis Redding meets the Band and the Kinks and the cast soundtrack of Cabaret”. What they do after they all meet each other is anyone’s guess. Probably all get together and make fun of me.

Who are some of your favorite contemporary artists? Do you have favorite NYC-based bands as well?

Our favorite rock and roller, hands down, is Mr. Steve Wynn, who is both contemporary And a New Yorker. We were blessed to have him produce our upcoming album, “Everyone Thinks You’re the Best” - without him at the helm, i know the record wouldn’t have come out Nearly as good. While we’re shouting out our all-time faves, we’d be remiss to not mention Solomon Burke, the Godfather of the Teenage Prayers, who flew us to LA when we were just starting out on this road to help us finish our first record “Ten Songs”. No one will ever have a more profound impact on us than He did. In terms of contemporary acts that we enjoy, well, there’s too many to list. Between the core four of us, we cover an awful lot of ground. But I'd say that Eli “Paperboy” Reed is one we all love, and the Dansettes, who sat in with us when we played Celebrate Brooklyn recently.

MP3: The Teenage Prayers - I'm In Love Again