Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Teini-Pää came through Zebulon on Monday night. Looking at the spelling of the band name, one might just assume they aren’t an U.S. based band. That assumption would be correct. The band hails from Helsinki, Finland and they’re on a quick 11 stop-11 day tour along the West Coast.
Yes, the band isn’t even taking a break to enjoy the cities they are playing, which includes such major cities as Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. The band joked that the only part of Los Angeles that they had explored was Zebulon and they hadn’t even made it to the cafe yet.
Does the band have a strong fan base in the United States? I would say that they do after this tour. One such fan would be The Linda Lindas, who were in attendance. The band mentioned that they already sold out of all their albums and only had 7 inches left for sale.
This is a band that sings perhaps 99 percent of their lyrics in Finnish and the remaining 1 percent are likely just random English words that have made it into the Finnish language. Even their song “Downtown,” which they played as an encore, only inserts the English word downtown in the lyrics. The band even translates their cover songs into Finnish. Their music is so bright and vibrant that one can only smile throughout the set and dance along.
Their lead singer came out in a white party dress and sunglasses, winning over the crowd immediately. It was mentioned by the band that she looked like a prom princess or maybe more like a punk princess. The band launched into “Ydintytto” that highlights their pop melodies that has one head bobbing to catchy lyrics that roll off the tongue in a foreign language.
The band mentioned that they’d never played a Monday night before. This from a band that has been around since at least 2019. Pre-2020, Monday nights used to be the hottest nights in the Los Angeles music scene with The Echo, Bootleg Theatre, The Hi Hat, and The Silverlake Lounge all competing for residency bands. A perhaps interesting (and greatly missed) contrast with the Helsinki music scene — the residency scene may be gone for now, but we at least still have Monday night music.
The band played a trio of cover songs. Two from a band named Cub, which will be discussed shortly. They also did an Abba cover. And when their set came to a close, the crowd just wouldn’t let the band stop playing. They added two additional songs to their set, mentioning that this was the longest set they’ve ever played.
What had to be noticed. When the lead singer felt that the band was not starting a song correctly, she’d turn around and just motion that the music needed to stop so that they could get themselves better organized.
Back to the band Cub. For Teini-Pää’s night at Zebulon, they boldly asked Lisa Marr of Cub to join the night. The band mentioned that they did not even know Marr, but decided to ask anyway. And she said yes. Marr’s set was billed as a sing-along with the crowd though she carried the set with minor help from the crowd. For each song, lyrics were written on heavy duty construction paper for the crowd. It was a relaxed experience with Marr providing tidbits and stories behind a number of the songs.
“Motel 6” was the song she most hated, but was a fan favorite. “Ticket to Spain” was named as such, because the band thought for sure that this song would be such a hit that they’d get asked to do an European tour. That did not happen and she mentioned that she had yet to do a European tour.
The song “New York City” was dedicated to her mother who is no longer on this earth. After “New York City” was “Sidewalks,” which was another song dedicated to someone who has passed on from this world. The song is from a band called The Beards.
Members of that band included both Marr and Kim Shattuck. Shattuck is best known for co-founding the band The Muffs who passed away in 2019 due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Joining Marr for that song was the Muffs roadie, Ames Flames. The set was closed out with “Magic 8 Ball,” which is a Cub song that Teini-Pää covered.
Also opening up the night was Situations. They called their song “Cheating Hearts” their love song. The band rocked out the Zebulon with an ever so short, 6-song set. Their garage punk rock was emphasized with arm air pumps to emphasize the beats. Teini-Pää had an amusing encounter with the band. For some reason, the lead singer thought the Situations had already played their set so when she ran into the band after “seeing their set” she thanked them for having played the night. The response back was that they hadn’t hit the stage yet. Let’s put that error up to jet lag and a non-stop tour.
Teini-Pää Setlist: Ydintyttö, Ote lipsuu, Näin sen unessa, Sattumalta, Kassajonossa,
Kissat ja koirat, Mietin minne meet, 4567, Hattaraa, Silmät kiinni, Viime aikoina,
Heartbreaker, Tähdet tähdet, Downtown
Lisa Marr: Secret Nothing, Motel 6, My Chinchilla, Backwoods, Your Bed, Ticket to Spain, So Far Apart, New York City, Sidewalks, Magic 8 Ball
Situations: Too Late, Leave Home, Cheating Heart, Down the Line, Ain’t Got You, Top Heavy
Check out the music of Teini-Pää here:
