Folk Bands and Artists
Itchy Teeth
https://itchyteeth.bandcamp.com
Margate based band built around the songwriting duo Xav Clarke and Charlie Hannah, and drummer Oli Booker – they write hyper-melodic, witty and harmony-layered pop that boldly tiptoes the line between sincerity and irony – if it’s possible to be heart-on-sleeve and tongue-in-cheek at the same time, they’re it.
They sing about philosophy, pop culture, death and technology, challenging and critiquing it all through pastiche, humour and fun – their work has brought comparisons to artists like 10CC and Supertramp, The Flaming Lips and Weezer.
Popularity Contest is their latest 5-song EP, being released through Gare Du Nord Records in January, closely followed by a remix swap single with Papernut Cambridge.
Itchy Teeth don’t sit still much. Over the last decade they’ve released four self produced albums and crunched countless kilometres on the road, DIY touring around Europe in a hatchback. Back home they are the half-time band at their local football club where they regularly perform classic soccer-pop hits, and in 2019 they were the backing band for Himesh Patel (in the soundtrack and on screen) in Danny Boyle’s film Yesterday. Xav Clarke has also soundtracked numerous cartoons on Cartoon Network, Sky and Apple TV.
Perhaps not surprisingly, they were also snapped up recently by Lawrence (Felt/Denim/Go-Kart Mozart) to be core members of Mozart Estate, his latest vivid pop incarnation.
Four out of the five songs on Popularity Contest were written by Charlie and Xav on a songwriting retreat in Folkestone. ‘Magic’ is a reimagining of an old Itchy Teeth classic, and its lyrics deal with finding hope in times of life crisis. ‘The Old Gang’ is a story of friendship, FOMO and growing up. ‘She Believes in Everything’ takes the case of a crystal healing hippie girl from Bristol, whose open-mindedness even extends to ‘believing in’ the dropout protagonist. ‘Adelaide and Butterby’ is a faux country and western yarn about a female teacher who has an affair with one of her pupils. ‘Mongolia’ is a cheeky afterthought, sounding like Harry Nilsson in charge of a 90s alt/twee band.
