My Teenage Stride

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC

My Teenage Stride is not just another pop band. For one, they’re not from Sweden, which, as of late, is an oddity. If only they were from DC; that city hasn’t heard pop in years. Alas, they reside in Brooklyn. And just as many of the current crop of pop purveyors have found success in the Scandinavian hook-filled fortress of Sweden, they have staked out a position for themselves in the local pop scene stateside.

Existing in name since 2003, My Teenage Stride is built around a working unit of songwriter Jedediah Smith. Since then, they have played consistently around New York, with occasional stints on the West Coast and in the South. They were also part of both NYC’s (this year’s at Cake Shop and  2008’s at Music Hall of Williamsburg) and San Francisco’s Popfest, and have played shows with bands like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Palomar. It’s their song writing skills, however, that send listeners reeling well after they leave the dance floor. Take, for instance,  “Theme From Teenage Suicide”, their faux theme song, which would be the perfect soundtrack to gothic versions of Can’t Hardly Wait or 10 Things I Hate About You; it’s what happens at a high school dance party gone wrong, in that great sardonic twist of fate when the anti-hero realizes he’s gone too far. Other songs draw from lighthearted fictional situations.

Despite lineup changes over the past years (they were now just a duo, Smith and drummer Brett Whitmoyer, are now a foursome sans Whitmoyer), and the always competitive, and often debilitating, band environment in New York, My Teenage Stride continues to put out quality music that has always been appreciated by their supporters. They seem poised to soon gain a lot of new ones.

Look for their digital EP Lesser Demons featuring “Theme from Teenage Suicide” on iTunes.

by Gordon Sharp