Ferocious Fucking Teeth

Originally turned on to Ferocious Fucking Teeth with last years EP Hounds, it didn’t take them along to follow that up with this here debut full-length on Safety Meeting Records. Although, it HAS taken me far too long to write about it. Bummer. Never mind that though, this record is pretty damn good. Definitely a bit different than what I originally heard from them on their EP, less straightforward rock/noise stuff being done here and A LOT more riffage going on. Good call, as it gets some pretty good mileage out of the two drummer set up they have going, which by the way is very well done here. It seems on record things can become a mess quick with this type of set up, but these guys have a pretty good understanding of what they are doing and the recording help of Steve Albini probably doesn’t hurt either. With that said, the bands self-titled debut sounds enormous, but in a way that doesn’t seem immediate. It’s slow burner of a record that lets the heaping riffs kind of crackle away in almost a drone fashion, letting the heaviness seep in slowly rather then overpowering quick punches to the gut. It doesn’t forget to rock though, there is a nice balance of both on the record. Reminds me a bit of Bullhead/Houdini era Melvins at times or maybe the less excruciatingly slow moments of Harvey Milk. Cool record, give it a listen.

Ferocious Fucking Teeth – Fuck on a Weeknight (stream)

For those interested in picking up the record, it’s available through Safety Meeting. It comes with a CD as well, for those without turntables. - Built On A Weak Spot

Interview by Corrine Jensen

Ferocious Fucking Teeth is the kind of band you don’t forget. From their name (shortened to FFT for those easily offended), to their ear-ringing, head-pounding sound, to the way they challenge their fans to “come out and face them” at their energetic live shows. This five-man band is led by the vocals of Daniel S. Boroughs with Brian P. Smith on baritone guitar, Joshua M. Houser on guitar and Sgott Mackenzie and Steven K. Buttery on drums. Yes, you read correctly, FFT has two hard-hitting drummers and no bass. It’s hard to put them into a genre but what can be said is that these guys know how to be loud, how to rock, and how to entertain a crowd. Recently, Daniel, Joshua and Steven took some time from touring, preparing for their LP release show (March 3rd at Café Nine) and working on a future full-length album to talk with WailingCity.com.



WC: How did Ferocious Fucking Teeth (FFT) come to be?
DSB: It happened in the winter of 2009.

SKB: We all had bands that were kind of failing on us. We were all friends anyway, we all played music and there was a place at 420 Williams St. where we could play music, like a practice space.

DSB: It was very organic in a way because we didn’t really discuss it. We didn’t say one drummer one day and one another day. We wanted to make a combine force of sound. We just started jammin’.

WC: So, your sound is definitely unique. How would you classify it?
SKB: The sound at the beginning was inspired by everything we had previous done in other bands. Total Bolshevicks was a very minimal type band, they did all improv noise stuff. Brava Spectre was pretty chaotic, noisy, loud, fast-paced. Then Mike Slyne (original FFT member) did A Trillion Gallons of Gas, which was super punk. We knew we wanted to do something of a combination, something straight forward and meaningful with big riffs but we also wanted to have that element of feedback noise and all while making the loudest, heaviest thing around.

DSB: We definitely wanted to use all of the noise elements and chaos of previous bands and find a way to stream it and contain it. Not rein it in but streamline the sound and make it even more powerful. We’re like filthy, sludgy stoner jams.

SKB: It sounds like we’re wearing dirty jeans.

DSB: Yeah, it does sound like we’re wearing dirty jeans! I never wash my jeans by the way. I just wear them all the time and they’re filthy, sludgy stoner jeans.

JMH: Even before I was in the band, I really, really loved the band. And when I go see bands or hear bands play I try to really pay attention to what the band makes me feel, what mood it puts me in, what scene or location the music puts me in. FFT always made me think of being lost in the desert and having absolutely no hope and knowing you are going to die. So for me, I would call FFT ‘desert metal’.

DSB: Desert stoned out blues-rock!

SKB: But we’ve got drone elements and noise elements too.

JMH: I think the most important thing when you’re playing music is to not be able to explain what your music sounds like. I’ve never been in any band that has sounded like another band. I think one of the most important things is to have your own sound and not rip someone else off.

DSB: And that translates with other art forms too. When you do visual art or writing or poetry, you want your own voice, which is like having your own sound in a band. I think that is key with us.

SKB: No matter what style of music you play one of the most important factors is make it believable and make it worth your time. I’m not going to be in a band that is playing half ass. You have to be believable and really appreciate what you’re doing. Playing music is supposed to be about doing it as well as you can, playing your heart out.



WC: How did you each get involved in the New London music scene?
SKB: I played a lot of shows as a teenager in Norwich and Willimantic area. My first show in New London was with Brava - www.wailingcity.com

New London’s own Ferocious Fucking Teeth are releasing their long awaited, self titled, Steve Albini recorded, LP on Saftey Meeting Records Tuesday February 28 with a celebratory release party at Cafe Nine in New Haven on March 3. This doom/sludge quintet has been garnering a lot of attention lately and with good reason. Not only did they record with one of the most respected names in the industry but with their unorthedox lineup, (2 drummers, guitar, baritone guitar and vocals). Making enough noise to be heard easily within a 4 state radius and playing music that runs the gammot from slow melodic drone of Earth to the breakneck speed and big riffs of Buzzo*ven this is a band to watch for sure.

FFT’s instrumentation makes for a very polarized sound on record. With each drummer and each guitar hard panned to a specific side, the only thing heard in both headphones is Danny’s voice screaming out from what sounds like the 4th demension. It’s a crushing feeling being in the middle of that sound but it’s a feeling most coinesuers of heavy music have grown accostomed to. The tonality of the guitars isn’t all that different being that it’s usually a big distorted chord but they are distinguishable. When they’re playing different things the polarized nature of the recording comes back into full view. This technique makes FFT sound almost like 2 bands that are playing off each other. Neither side is leading this dance and without one side the sound would be thin.

Another striking thing about the songwriting is changes in speed throughout the album and even in single songs. A song like "Don’t Go" seems like it would be building to a breakneck almost grindcore pace but instead after 2 big buildups breaks down to a mid tempo stomp. The opening track "One Bright Light" has the almost the oposite effect going from very quick but distant guitar hits to a rocket powered noise fest with an ending that almost crawls to the completion of the song. My personal favorite track on the album "Daytona" is a semi melodic dirge from beginning to end but grows in and shrinks in volume rather than speed.

Despite the noisey nature of the members previous bands (Brava Spectre, Total Bolshevicks, Trillion Gallons of Gas) the noise on this record is much more of a texture rather than a selling point. This causes FFT to be far heavier than all of the other projects. While noise is good for grabbing attention and abrasiveness it doesn’t give you the thud and bang required to bring home a heavy sludgey riff. FFT’s self titled LP is well worth listening to if you’re a true fan of heavy music or casual fan of the big riff. There is more there then a cursary listen will allow you to hear so strap on your headphones turn it up and brace yourself. - www.wailingcity.com

Lots of neglected emails came in during several weeks of chaos. At the top of all the shitty press releases was a message from Ferocious Fucking Teeth. Sick ass heaviness. Thank you for giving me some solid stoner-core to enjoy this morning. There's something old school in their sound too, like those Thrasher Skate Rock compilations from whenever that was. They get into time changes that go beyond half-time stomp, but still reserve their right to leave a boot print in your face, they squawk with effected vocals, and use whatever recorded whacked out mumbles that appear on Hounds, the last track on their eponymous 7". The band is nice and raw. Their last.fm page reads: 5 Piece heavy jams, detuned guitar, low ass baritone, two sets of huge drums and cymbals, and torn up throat cords. New London CT. Guess they have a full length on the way. Between that, the new Oiltanker and a new Iron Hand, 2011 may just shape up to be an alright year. - ctindie.com

I love when a CT band that I dig puts out a new record. I love it even more when that record is one of the better records I've heard over the last year or so. So is the case with Ferocious Fucking Teeth.

I had the pleasure of seeing New London's Ferocious Fucking Teeth open a show at Daniel Street in Milford (R.I.P.) last year. I remember watching this collective of artists rip through a scathing set of doom infused noise rock and being completely blown away. But I also thought to myself afterward, 'how in the hell is this band going to get that live energy to translate on a full length record?' I mean really there might only be one guy in the whole world who knows what to do with a band of this ilk and that would be Steve Albini, right? So what did they do? They just went to Chicago and recorded with Steve Albini of course (yes, THAT Steve Albini who's worked with The Pixies, PJ Harvey, Neurosis, etc., etc., etc.)

So when the blanket of fuzzed out Albini production is pulled back, what do you have? You have a band completely at the top of their game. Their influences are varied and sometimes obvious - Melvins, Big Business, Unsane, Big Black, etc. - but knowing well in advance what musical tree you are picking this fruit from doesn't diminish its impact on you as a listener. This record absolutely pummels the listener with an unrelenting assault of heaviness. Tracks like "Fuck On A Weeknight", for example, will get fans of bands like Electric Wizard and EyeHateGod excited. There's a lot to love about this album from the songwriting to the production to the artwork. Highly recommended for fans of any of the aforementioned bands and then some.
- ct.com

Country: USA
Genre: Noise Rock, Post Punk
Label: Safety Meeting Records
Tracks: 11

Let me start off by saying that I was absolutely honored and psyched to have this request land in my email inbox earlier this week. I have a soft spot for reviewing bands from my neck of the woods. Ferocious Fucking Teeth are a New London, CT based quintet. FFT play an incredibly dense style of music that incorporates noise rock, post punk, and stoner rock/metal into their sound. So let's see what we have here for people keeping score. Baritone guitar. Check. Drums. Check. Actually there's two of those. Bass. Che-, wait no bass? How can a band make such a wonderful style of noise, you ask, without a bass player? Simple. These guys call themselves Ferocious Fucking Teeth for a reason. FFT feature Brian T. Smith on baritone guitar/vocals, Daniel S. Boroughs on vocals, 2nd guitarist/vocalist Michael K. Slyne, and count 'em two drummers Steven K. Buttery and Scott D. Mackenzie. FFT play a blown out, distortion heavy style of music complete with thunderous stoner-esque style guitar lines. Oppressive to say the least. Add dual drumming and frantically yelled vocals and the package is complete. Picture an unholy trinity of Jesus Lizard, Nirvana, and Melvins with a dash of Lightening Bolt thrown in for good measure, and you begin to see what the band is trying to accomplish with their sound. FFT pay homage to the noise rock Gods on their debut LP and do so without sounding contrived or rehashed. FFT's debut LP was given the Steve Albini treatment and the production on this album is incredible. So if you liked the band's debut EP Hounds, read no further. This album completely blows the EP out of the water. Overall, FFT is a force to be respected and possibly feared. (my cat was scared shitless at least when I blasted the album) FFT's new LP deserves to be played at high volume. Highly recommended! Enjoy! - The Elementary Revolt

We’ve never been over to visit and the tourist information website was fucking useless, but we’d like to think that New London, Connecticut is just the sort of place where parents just vacate their family homes en masse for months at a time, and leave their surly offspring to mulch around in unwashed jeans and dirty Vans. In their parents’ absence offspring will grow their hair, conduct all-night/all-day jams, blasting out the Jesus Lizard, Melvins and Pussy Galore, and God knows what else, and take on menial afternoon shift-work to pay for new instruments. That’d at least be a suitable a backstory for Ferocious Fucking Teeth. We’d dearly love it to be true.

The New London quintet kinda sound like they’re oscillating between last night’s high and this morning’s bugged out low, and scrape up just enough alt and stoner riffs to piece their jams together. They have two drummers, so there’s just gotta be an absence of authority, parental or otherwise, in their day-to-day band business. Is it stoner rock, stoner metal, noise/post rock? Ferocious Fucking Teeth are probably more of the latter and just the sort of band that’d be hardcore or metal if they’d only gotten enough sleep. Whatever. The press bio named Steve Albini as the only “authority figure” per se, but only in the sense that he produced their album.

Anyway, fresh from a lock-in at Electrical Audio Studios, Chicago, where under the mindful (and revered) gaze of Albini they managed to put together their self-titled debut LP. Courtesy of the good folks at Safety Meeting Records, we’ve got a track from this forthcoming album to stream/download. The track is called “Hinkley”.
Gnarly, huh? All the essential particulars to follow-up, hear more, order something, complain, et cetera can be found below.

Ferocious Fucking Teeth are:

Brian P. Smith (baritone guitar/vocals)
Daniel S. Boroughs (vocals)
Michael K. Slyne (guitar/vocals)
Steven K. Buttery (drums)
Sgott D. Mackenzie (drums)

This shit drops on 28th Feb. You can pre-order the vinyl here
You can poke them on Facebook here.
And go totally fucking nuts and stream their EP Hounds at their Bandcamp page here. Wowzers. - jonathon.horsley @ Decibel Magazine