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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Unmasked 


Some idiot reviewed our recent gig on his web site.
Unfortunately having to play last at the end of a long night was Army of Trees. I had a strange feeling that I was seeing double all night long, come to find out... I was!

Army of Trees is a power-pop band led by Brad, and Chris Teichman. Identical twins. In this day in age, where everyone is in a band and all of them need a gimmick, this one was a no brain-er! Although I did find it funny that their drummer, Steve, looked strikingly similar to the father in the 1985 coming of age film “Teen Wolf.”

When they started playing, my first impression pretty much stuck with me throughout the show. They sound sort of like a tamed, clean cut, Nimrod-era Green Day cover band. It reminded me of an underused genre name from a few years back called “Shoe gazer.” Chalk that up to the fact that the Teichmans bear an obvious resemblance to Rivers Cuomo of Weezer.

Their strengths are easily identifiable. They're crunchy, poppy, happy, and up beat. In between a few songs the twins randomly decide to switch instruments on a handful of occasions. Although when it did happen, they would sound really hokey until they switched back.

The weaknesses sadly, are just as easy to take note of. The entire premise of the band to me seemed a little dated. I’m not a trend worshiper by any standard... but I’ve literally heard hundreds of bands like this. Army of Trees doesn’t really separate themselves from a rat race that was held seven or eight years ago. Sorry guys...
Okay, I know you’re racking your brain to recall what the father in “Teen Wolf” looked like. The actor is James Hampton. Here’s a picture of him.

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