Teengenerate

One of the most ferocious Japanese rock bands of the '90s, Tokyo's Teengenerate delivered high-octane garage punk, lean and mean but burning with energy and lo-fi guitar thunder. Named for a song by the Dictators, Teengenerate were comprised of four rabid fans of American punk, garage rock, and power pop who went by the stage names Fifi (guitar and vocals), Fink (guitar and vocals), Sammy (bass), and Suck (drums). The group came together in Tokyo in 1993, and soon they began issuing a flood of singles through various labels in the United States, Europe, and Australia (eight 7" releases and split singles), as well as playing notoriously frantic shows in Japan. A handful of tracks from their early singles were issued as the album Audio Recordings in 1994, and an EP, Savage!, appeared months later. In 1994, Teengenerate toured the United States (with their new drummer, Shoe) and recorded an album's worth of material at Seattle's Egg Studio for a proposed album on Crypt Records. Eventually, the Egg sessions were scrapped, and the band re-recorded most of the songs using their own studio in Tokyo; the results were released by Crypt as Get Action! Another collection of singles and compilation tracks was issued by Estrus in 1995, Smash Hits!! Teengenerate toured Europe and United States in tandem with the New Bomb Turks, but they began having trouble keeping up with their own schedule, and broke up in 1996; a recording of one of their final shows, Live at Shelter, was belatedly released in 2001. All four members of the second lineup of Teengenerate would later tour and record with the short-lived American Soul Spiders, while Fink, Fifi, and Sammy went on to form the longer-running Firestarter. Fink and Sammy also worked with the power pop band the Raydios, and Fifi formed the Tweezers with members of like-minded group Supersnazz. In 2013, Crypt Records released a newly remixed and remastered version of the Egg Studio sessions under the title Get More Action!, and a reunited version of Teengenerate (with Greg from Supersnazz on drums) played a handful of shows in Europe and Japan in support.