Biography

The Pink Spiders stormed onto the Nashville music scene with their eyes on the prize. In a whirlwind of hustle and clatter, the band seemed an instant iconoclastic frame of French New Wave cinema come to life. Striking figures in pink and jet black, they were distant and aloof, itchy and sex-fueled. The first gunshot came in January of 2004 with The Pink Spiders are Taking Over!, a battle y of an EP that served as a frenetic, precocious primer for the band's pop-punk fascination with decadence, obsession and thwarted lovers.

Their major label debut, Teenage Graffiti, is a fevered, luminous record of rock ‘n’ roll escapades. Produced by Cars' front man Ric Ocasek and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, the record inventories the impulsiveness of summer road trips, the apathy of youth and testosterone-fueled fun. It kicks off with a rebel yell, capturing the feeling of a sweaty club with beer bottles clanking on the ferocious “Soft Smoke.” The song “Saturday Nite Riot” is an instantly infectious sing-along with soaring bubblegum harmonies and a climactic beat. Numbers like “Back to the Middle” show the band packing more fist-pumping punch than three-minute pop boundaries usually permit. Standout track "Little Razorblade" -- an ode to the ush-heavy pang -- gives '60s-flavored pop confections a black eye with its cinematic stagger from love-weary pop song to petulant rock wail.

Teenage Graffiti shows the band achieving its former dynamism with a renewed defiance, rebellion and dexterity. Just as the first EP threatened, The Pink Spiders are indeed taking over – with brighter tones and darker sunglasses.