By Charlotte Raymond
Teen Mortgage really knows how to keep a crowd moving. I had the opportunity to cover their show on April 16 at White Oak Music Hall Upstairs, showcasing their newest album, “Devil Ultrasonic Dream” and many of their most popular songs. Teen Mortgage is a killer punk duo from the DC area, composed of the vocalist/guitarist James Guile and drummer Edward Barakauska. I’ve been listening to their music for a good while now, but it was still fairly shocking to truly witness how much energy these two can bring to a set.
The venue was fairly small but pretty packed, with a headcount somewhere over 300 by some base estimations. I regretted not wearing my spikes because I was getting completely outdone by the battlevests surrounding me. I was kept pretty tightly packed in front of the stage. There wasn’t much to the physical stage set, just a fluffy pink drum set, a guitar, mic, and pedalboard. The show had the same vibes: not much theatrics, not too serious, rockin’ music, great energy.
The duo walked onstage to a backing track of “SHADOWWIZARDMONEYGANG (we love casting spells),” then got straight into “Shangri-La” (Life/Death) with little hesitation. During the set, several pits formed, folks stage dove, I got hit with a couple strays from the pit, but nothing violent. We were granted a little intermission break (likely to let these guys get a hard earned sip of water) and I was pretty surprised but delighted to hear the Mii theme playing in the background throughout the intermission, as we just milled about, a whole lot like Miis, I suppose.
Teen Mortgage is known for their high energy punk rock music, featuring some captivating guitar riffs and scathing lyrics, pulled together with truly solid drumming. Of course, nothing less than and a whole lot more of this was easily found in their concert. I found myself utterly hypnotized by the guitar solo in “Falling Down” (Life/Death) and screaming my lungs out to “Box” (Devil Ultrasonic Dream).
The crowd kept incredibly responsive, singing along to the Life/Death songs and popular singles they’ve had more time to love and jamming along to Devil Ultrasonic Dream, released less than a week before this show.
I fear it would be deeply remiss to not mention the openers, because they were far from terrible. The first opener was Mind Mine, a local post-hardcore band. They started the show strong with some solid headbangers and powerful screams. I kept a notes doc running through this show and my main couple for this band were “damn good” and “very sludgy.” They ran a fast paced set with strong audience engagement, and were very fun to be there for. They also offered free earplugs, so bonus points for good ear health.
The next band was not local, but utterly astonishing. Babehaven walked on stage in full clown makeup, and captivated me. I had not heard their music before this show, but was gifted with growly screams and stunning operatic arias, sometimes in quick succession by the same vocalist. They cathartically displayed true female rage, and addressed current race, gender, and LGBTQ+ problems. The audience engagement was outstanding, with the band tossing bubbles to the audience to blow at them, jumping onto the speakers in front of the stage, and dragging all the women to the front of the audience. Also, they tossed me a Slim Jim. That was really cool.
The openers were truly a part of the concert as a whole, very intentionally aligned with Teen Mortgage and bringing together a cohesive and incredible show. I caught Teen Mortgage’s drummer in the crowd before their set quite a few times just enjoying the bands. And honestly who wouldn’t be, with openers like those. Overall, the show was awesome, the music was great, the vibes were good. My feet kept moving and my head kept swinging. My earplugs stayed firmly in place lest I face irreparable hearing damage. Teen Mortgage stayed hard, strong, fast, and fun, just as an incredible punk show should be.