Berlin’s Teen Prime is a band one could describe in many ways – prolific, singular, dedicated. The noise they make is a veritable vacuum of sound born from free jazz and prog, landing them somewhere near the extreme outskirts of math rock.
They’ve come up a few times here now in the Release-O-Meter and the Tuesday Music Dumps, but we’ve never had a chance to really focus on the duo until now, which seems fitting as the band just put out a brand new pair of records.
Both No. 11 and No. 6 (Split w/ Disonancia Expansiva) explode with their trademark lawless musical fusion, and honestly at this point you’ve got to hand it to them for being able to keep things exciting after all these years. “This One’s For You And You Know It” is oddly sweet for duo, and “He Was Last Seen Climbing Mount Ego” almost sounds like a stripped down, strung out tribute to King Crimson.
What’s crazy is that somehow now we’re hearing some of the sounds of their first very first time recording together at the same place and time on No. 6. How? Why? We’d say we’re not sure, but thankfully we’ve finally convinced Sebastian and Jörg of Teen Prime to explain a bit of the illusion below without spoiling the magic.
Turns out, it’s not all chaotic guts and giggles, and our theories of wizardry are for the most part vindicated. It may be absurdist, but it’s still very much art, and there’s more than enough form to ponder below with Teen Prime. Enjoy!
FB: How does a teen prime song begin?
JS: 90% of the time it’s Sebastian on his own. Only when we do group sessions it’s the both of us.
SF: It either starts with a loop and builds from there, or we get into something by chance and accident or, on rare occasions, I actually have something ready and developed beforehand. It’s all very loose and we enjoy being open and curious on what comes our way. It’s way more fun than writing and tinkering with a song beforehand and then just rehearsing it to death.
FB: Has the writing process changed over the years?
JS: I think it’s the same, only when we decided to start our side project »let’s just werewolf them«, to have an outlet for quieter tunes, it was different.
SF: Not really. The first two records, I basically sent Jörg the guitar tracks with him adding the drums. From then on, live sessions became a bigger part as well. I think with no. 10, I tried to have less or no overdubs to force myself not to rely on that too much. That changed again already in recent months.
FB: Is there a writing process?
JS: I think for Sebastian yes, for me it’s drumming.
SF: As mentioned above, writing with us is either recording together live or me recording on my own first. Most of the time, I go to the rehearsal space and play for several hours, recording everything, focussing on something and building it on the spot or trying ideas from home. At the end of the year, I have a couple of sessions I listen through and either have finished tracks or build from fragments and add some overdubs. It´s exiting to me because sometimes I can’t remember what I played half a year ago, so the interaction with the song is different and you get to know each other again, haha.
From there, getting a song playable and live-worthy is a different animal though, but tons of fun. It is a great gift to play with a versatile drummer who has this very strong language. I can throw anything at him at any time – that gives me a lot of range to work with. Don’t tell him I said that.
FB: The band has a free jazz feel but also feels distinctly math rock at times, how would you describe the bands sound?
JS: Free jazz and math rock are more like general ways you could describe it, I think what makes it really special is the kind of free form playing that’s really hard to describe, there are patterns but they are constantly changing, some of our stuff is improvised, but we try to reproduce it playing live. I think the whole concept is pretty unique.
SF: This might be (once again) a boring stock-answer, but I honestly have a hard time and zero interest in using any descriptions. Although one might find loads of references and influences/quotes in our music, the end goal would always be that it kinda sounds like us, no? I see our albums as mix tapes of stuff we come up with over a certain period of time, which will always be influenced by what we listened to, watched, experienced – a bit like a diary of sorts. The song titles have a very, very huge part in this as well. In the end, I want to believe that our little personal idiosyncrasies bring it all into the same realm.
FB: Is there a song or album that was particularly difficult to create, or better question, was there a particular easy one?
JS: I think with Sebastian sending me the pre-recorded guitar stuff right from the beginning, it was nearly always really easy to record, most of the stuff is first take drumming, I remember only one track, »she said boo», where i did probably 30 takes hehehehe.
SF: Also with »thingies«, as far as I remember. Jörg had to work for that one, hahaha. Poor guy. Awesome results though. Super happy with these two. I think every album came together rather quickly and easily. We always have more than we can fit, so usually it´s the pain of letting stuff go. I also remember that I did an additional session for no. 11, because the first batch was too soft-mathy and whimsical, so I focused a bit more on rougher and more atonal stuff. The easiest might have been no. 6, as we had lots of material from our first-ever live session in 2023 and all 5 songs are from the first day.
FB: Are there any notable influences on teen prime?
JS: It’s just a result of 40 years of drumming for me. From early noise rock, Peter Brötzmann, free jazz, U.S. Maple, Storm and Stress, for example.
SF: On a creative level, U.S. Maple, Laddio Bolocko, pretty much all Ian Williams bands, Gastr Del Sol, Joan of Arc, Bill Orcutt, Daniel Lanois, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Shipping News & Co., John Wiese, God Is My Co-Pilot, DNA, Jeff Parker, Christopher Trull, etc. etc. etc. etc. The approach to re-think cliches, patterns, chords, and structures with an added principle of chance through improvisation in the initial writing process is very intriguing to me. The fluid way themes and tunes are re-thought, re-shaped, and are often in constant flux, I love that a lot when I look to some freer »Jazz« stuff. Let´s not forget: who doesn’t love the Beatles? On an operational level, I like how for instance the Melvins and Thee Oh Sees etc. seem to constantly work and put out stuff, not being afraid to sound different and try new things. As mentioned above, I like our albums to be mixtapes, like »The White Album«, »A Night at the Opera« or old library records (which is reflected in the album layouts as well).
FB: Can you talk about the writing process of the recent albums no. 6 and no. 11?
JS: no. 11 I would describe as classic teen prime recordings, Sebastian recording first, me playing drums over it. No. 6 was the first day we ever played together in Jan 2023 in the same room, and created this record within three hours with lots of beer, hehehehe.
SF: That was a magical (beer) day. »kind heart, kid« and »devil found me« from no. 8 are from that same session, too. I think the rest was answered elsewhere above.
FB: How did you guys decide to do a split with Disonancia Expansiva?
JS: I have been friends with them and their former band KLS for 15 years. I think they are one of the best, most unique bands in Europe, I did a tour with them last year with my other project Schneider N, we came up with the idea then.
FB: You also did a tour with them, did you make any special memories?
JS: The tour was really cool, Spain had always been one of my favorite countries for touring beside the USA, great music, friends, beer!!!
SF: The tour was a delight on different levels. First and foremost, spending 24 hours a day with people you really, really like and respect on a personal AND artistic level was great. We had so much fun and got really close very fast. Victor and Edgar are friends now. Also, seeing them play every night was just awesome. What a band. Listen to Disonancia Expansiva, NOW: disonanciaexpansiva.bandcamp.com. Experiencing the DIY scene in Spain was wonderful as well. There seems to be a strong community aspect which I am not used to any more. The audience seems very aware and respectful, listens, takes part in the show itself. Absolutely wonderful people. Did I mention the coffee …?
FB: Music isn’t always easy with so many distractions in life, do you have any advice for musicians that feel burnt out to the point that it gets in the way of your creativity?
JS: Making music has always been a struggle, but it’s an amazing journey. If you stay true to yourself, nothing can stop you. I had a bad hand injury for 9 years that stopped my touring life, but I changed to doing collaborations with friends from all over the globe and used the time for something different, check it at schneidercollaboration.bandcamp.com. This kind of underground music is what separates us from 99 % of all humans and it is something that no one can take away from us, which is just a wonderful gift.
SF: I think there are as many answers to that question as there are creative people doing art and music facing these problems. For me personally, because I have a stressful day job and my dear daughter that is with me every other week, I have a limited amount of time and mental capacity to do music and art. Basically, it´s the late evenings after work when you are stressed out and done anyway or every other weekend when I have time to spend a day in the rehearsal room. So, what really helped me is simply accepting to not be able to create all the time. I can´t expect full-force creativity after 8-10 hours at my job, homework stuff, and housework. And that’s okay. Relax. Instead, my MO during work weeks is when I want to play the guitar or do art, I do. If I don’t, I don’t. Period. If you truly want/need to create, you will eventually. If you don’t have a studio to paint in, you will do it with a pen and a notepad. Sometimes not creating for a longer stretch even helps me. Batteries load up, and at one point ideas come to me again. Having said that, it is equally helpful to force myself to go to the studio every other Saturday if possible and just record and play. Like the Lynch allegory of catching fish. All you can do is to show up on a lake with your boat. Let´s see what’s in the net today. Also: if you collaborate and not work on your own, surround yourself with people you really, really like and that inspire and relax you. If you don’t have to worry about what they will say when you come up with an idea or do a »mistake«, if you are able to create in a trusty environment and can have a good chat and a beer (or 12) together, that goes a long way.
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