Teeth is a band from Wellington, New Zealand, comprising Lukasz Buda (guitars, vocals, The Phoenix Foundation), Tom Callwood (bass, vocals, The Phoenix Foundation), David Long (guitars, Mutton Birds) and "legendary drummer" Anthony Donaldson.

The group's genesis came when Donaldson tried out for the then-vacant Phoenix Foundation drummer's stool - standing out as by far the most unique auditionee, he began jamming with Buda, who was excited by the idea of playing with Donaldson, as it would counter his own natural inclination to buff everything to an ELO-type-sheen.

The band proper formed in 2014 as a vehicle for noisy, melodic, pleasingly psychedelic rock music, with weaving, intricate, harmonised guitars and a crunchy, rock-solid rhythmic core. They have swiftly found favour with local audiences; supporting Pavement-guy Stephen Malkmus, performing a month long weekly residency at Meow, a flying Auckland trip, and through popular radio singles "Something Has Gone Wrong In My Brain" and "Gangrene".

And now they are releasing their self-titled debut album. From nagging pop hooks, to hefty swathes of beautiful noise and insistent rhythms, 'Teeth' is an album to lose yourself in. With shades of Krautrock, tongue-in-cheek indie/ grunge, and a deceptively gentle and melodic core, it is a slow burn that reveals itself over the fullness of time.

Self-produced and recorded at The Phoenix Foundation's much loved Car Club Studios in Island Bay (the band takes taking just three days), mixed by audio whiz Lee Prebble at his new Surgery Studios (again, in just three days), and mastered by the clever ears of Mike Gibson, it represents an audacious opening gambit from the self-styled "pan-generational Wellington supergroup".

2017 April