Q&A with Crafty Bastards Silver Spring Welcome Mat Performer Sweet Teeth

Started by Chris DeWitt in 2005, Sweet Teeth began as a minimal folk outfit, and has since grown into its own more electrified sound. Check them out online at www.myspace.com/bearclawtx and at Crafty Bastards Silver Spring June 28 on the Welcome Mat stage at 4:00 pm!

Explain your band/stage name and define your sound.
My main hobby in high school was coming up with band names. My friends and I would sit in chemistry class crafting massive lists of band names, swapping them, honing our skills. Evidently that exercise didn’t do much good. It does the job, though.

Our sound started off lush and folky, with strings and woodwinds, the occasional trumpet, and also guitar and banjo. Sometime last year, after a brief hiatus during which I was out of the country and then out to sea, I caught what you might call the rock bug, the illness that makes the afflicted want to play music real loud. So we had a lineup change (there was never really a set lineup before anyway)– now we’re two guitars and drums (both other members are from the DC band Black and White Jacksons). Our songs are still tinged with Americana, though I’m not sure exactly how. Tim, the other guitarist, is a wunderkind, bona fide. He really helped rearrange and reimagine all the old songs in this new context, which was a fun experience. This incarnation is, I think, a lot more fun than the other lineups.

What are your influences and worst equipment experiences?
Influences include Townes van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie “Prince” Billy (and I guess all Will Oldham projects), The Spinanes, Spencer E. Dobbs… Ask me again later and they’ll all be different, but that’s the way of things. I find I write a lot of songs about the weather and about the seasons, so I suppose I should list those as well.

Worst equipment experiences: We were playing a show at American University once and I knocked over my banjo before we started. The bridge flopped over and I almost cried, I thought I’d destroyed the poor thing. Luckily, I did not.

What’s your favorite local hangout and best stage you’ve played?
My front porch in Mt Pleasant is quite, um, pleasant. We had a mint julep party there once, in honor of the Kentucky Derby. It was a lovely affair. But there are rad hangouts too numerous to name littered all over this fine city.

The best stage, eh? I don’t know. The best show we had in this lineup was at the Red and the Black with this band called Twin Tigers from Athens, Ga. They’re awesome. The stage isn’t THAT great, but the memories are, I suppose. I’m in some other bands in town (myspace.com/wildfictions, myspace.com/fffever), and I think the Velvet Lounge space is the best. Take that, everyone else.

How do you feel about being a Crafty Bastard?

I feel great! It’ll be really fun to play all minstrel-esque out on the street, untethered by wires and whatnot. We’ll get back to our roots, as it were.

Where can the adoring public see you next?
Well. Many opportunities, for both those who live in DC and those less fortunate: July 19th in Manassas, Va, at El Taco (probably just as awesome as it sounds), July 26th at DC9 w/ FEVER and Kitty Hawk and Hot Lava, and July 28th down in Fredericksburg, Va at an acoustic house show. Also I’ll be featured at an Open Mic at Dahlak down on 18th and Florida on August 14th if you prefer the solo thing. See you there.