Teenagersintokyo are quickly becoming one of the most addictive bands on London’s new music scene… and they’re not even English. Neither are they Japanese, despite what the name would suggest – they’re from Tangent’s very own Australia. They’ve already been championed by Zane Lowe and NME, and their track End It Tonight has set the blogosphere alight – But why did they decide to move to England, what’s it like trying to live off your music in an age where CD’s are nearly redundant, and what embarrassing reminders from home did they bring to help them cope with the move? We met up with Miska, Linda and Sophie from Teenagersintokyo in Shoreditch to find out.

You’re currently touring to promote your debut album Sacrifice, how would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music before?

 

M: It’s pop, but I guess it’s not your usual taste of pop, it’s a bit darker.

Have you bought any reminders from home to help you with the move from Australia to England?

 

L: Miska bought a toy
M: What toy?

L: That toy that’s sitting on your bed
M: Ah, yeah I did bring a little toy. My mum gave me a little bunny a few years ago… that’s embarrassing!

Everyone laughs

 

M: Thanks Linda!

L:  I bought a hot water bottle. I never used one until I came here – it had its debut here! It’s quite cosy, it’s a turquoise and purple knit.

Your track End It Tonight is getting a lot of attention, especially online and with the Night School remix’s. What do you think it is about this song that appeals to people?

 

L: I guess there’s a sentiment about it that you can relate to – that kind of tough love that’s kind of universal.

M: I’m always surprised about End It Tonight, because to me it seems like such a low, under the radar sort of song.

S: It builds in different layers, I think that’s why people get into it, because it just builds along the whole process of the song.

What’s been your biggest challenge as a band?

 

M: Moving to London!

L: Yeah, the understatement…

M: Moving to London has been very necessary, and very good for our band, but at the same time it has been a challenge for all the obvious reasons. Uprooting all of us, leaving everything behind in Sydney – it’s been a positive step in the right direction, but it’s been a challenge.

 

 

A lot of the industry is split when it comes to downloads – Metallica got quite angry about people downloading their stuff, whereas Radiohead actively put their albums online as a free download – How do you feel about the ‘download generation’?

 

S: That’s a really tough one
M: Speaking personally I understand it from both perspectives. On the one hand, are they downloading something that I made for free – I value it, they should value it too, but as a consumer I know that I’ve discovered a lot of bands that I love through downloading their music – then I go to their gigs. These things people are making are valuable – they’re valuable to society, and they’re valuable to people.

S: If you get a free track from a blog or whatever, and really grow to like that band and really value them you should go buy their CD or you should go see them live or go buy a tee shirt

M: Support them somewhere, tell your friends about it
L: Yeah at least!
S: You can’t keep taking it for free if you love it.
M: I don’t think there’s any point in taking fifteen year olds to court that have downloaded music off the internet.

Mike goes off on a tangent about his passions against taking music videos off youtube, the girls and I laugh

 

L: We should interview you Mike, tell us what you think!

In a couple of weeks time we’ll be interviewing a design agency that did a talk on the correlation between music and fashion – do you think there’s a link?

 

S: There’s been so many subcultures where it’s gone hand in hand, and in both cases you keep getting cycles where the same things come back. Punk will come back in music and it will come back in a different time in fashion, with girls walking around thinking they’re punk because they’re wearing whatever top from H&M. They are so tied, music is incredibly visual – when you see people on stage you are so conscious of what they’re wearing, they’re part of what you want to be a part of too. They’re completely linked. Mike, what’s your thoughts?!

Everyone laughs

 

You’ve all got incredibly good style – where do you get your inspiration from?

 

S: We were all on tour once somewhere, and we were walking back to the van and I was like, when did we make the decision to all wear black? Miska said ‘I think it was around the time all the other bands started wearing bright colours’ At that time in Sydney everyone was wearing fluorescent colours

L: (Laughing) and somewhere along the line we just turned into this monochrome

M: I think we just naturally wear monochrome or black or softer pallets, we’re not really a colourful band.

It quite suits your music

 

M: It’s funny that people keep talking about how we’re so dark or moody in our music because I constantly find in our writing that we’re struggling to make things darker. When I hear our music – like Peter Pan I’m like, ‘Oh god it’s such a happy song!’
L: And then you see a review of it
S:I think we always think it’s a lot happier
M: And then people are like, ‘oh it’s so dark’
S: It’s very melancholy, and we’re like
M: Peter pan!
S: Come on, it’s a pop song!

L: and we’re like, End It Tonight? Oh my god, it’s so cheesy! And someone will go ‘oh it’s so dark, tell us about it’
M: We’re like, ‘really, it’s dark?!’

S: ‘Yeah it’s a bit suicidal’
M: I was really happy that day!

So we’ve established your music isn’t suicidal – but tell us a secret about Teenagersintokyo?

 

L: Well secrets aren’t supposed to be told
M: Maybe we should talk about this before we say the wrong thing!
L: Yeah I think we should huddle
S: I can’t even think of any secrets
M: That’s our secret! We’re very open with each other
L: Almost too open…

What was the last lie you told then?

 

M: That we don’t have any secrets!

 

What are your fashion pet hates?

 

S: I think that the biggest mistake is people dressing as though they have a completely different body. I mean there are certain things that I would never in a million years try and wear that would look amazing on someone else, but I know that I don’t have the body to pull it off

M: You know what is a huge fashion mistake?
S: What?
M: You can wear a really skimpy tight skirt if you wear a big top, but-

S: You don’t want to give the whole game away!
M:I would never go out wearing a boob tube and a tight skirt
L: Really?!
M: (Laughing) some people can just go too far
L: You choose boobs or legs
M: Just pick one!

L: My thing is more about the skin and the amount of make up

 

When their face isn’t the same colour as their neck?

 

S: And you could scrape it off
L: and it’s young girls that have perfect skin covering it up with the biggest layer of cake in the darkest shade of orange

When it goes on their shirt that’s when you know it’s bad

S: When it’s actually dripping off you
L: I hate the ring around the neck of their tee shirt!

How has your music evolved since you first started playing together?

 

S: We’re a lot more conscious of what we want to do now, whereas when we first started it was five different tastes of music coming together, and what came out was just this explosion of what happened. Now when we go into the studio we’re very specific about what we want

L: The more you practice anything the better you get, as you become a better writer, a better musician, a better visual artist you’re constantly trying to challenge yourself with what the next project is. For us it’s the next song, and once that’s done it’s another song, each time we try and push ourselves in a different way that’s a reaction to the last thing we’ve done. That way it’s always fresh, and that’s what the most enjoyable thing about it is.

 

Teenagersintokyo might not have been willing to let anything slip, but we did figure out one secret…. The Night School remix of End It Tonight was done by none other than The Gossip’s Nathan Howdeshell…. but you didn’t hear that from us.

 

The debut album Sacrifice is out on the 24^th of May on iTunes, or buy a hardcopy here. Watch out for Teenagersintokyo, as you certainly haven’t heard the last from them…

 

Written by Bee Pahnke, photography by Mike McAdam