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The Teenagers

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Who? Guitarist Dorian Dumont and lead singer Quentin Delafon aren’t lying; they actually met as teenagers in the suburbs of Paris. Bored with their day jobs as promotional call centre employees and under-paid waiters, the two friends created the “Fuck Nicole” single in 2005, an ironic plea to the waifish starlet Nicole Richie. Unexpectedly, it took off on MySpace with a shot, launching the two twenty-five year olds to Internet (and scenester) stardom. When Delafon moved to London for business school (he’s since dropped out), Dumont also followed, bringing along fellow adolescent bassist Michael Spziner to complete the teen trifecta. Their debut for XL Recordings, Reality Check, arrives in March.

What’s the Deal? Reality Check is an anthemic ode to American pop (and culture), accented by spiky synthesizers, neon-gold guitars and thick French accents. Single “Homecoming” is a NC-17 take on “Summer Lovin’,” detailing a hipster love affair with “their step-cousin or whatever” that concludes in a flippant MySpace friend request brush-off. “Feeling Better” is a call-to-arms à la the Ramones to “Dance dance dance…’cause we don’t care … just buy our T-shirts.” The sardonic lyrics and catchy guitar riffs compliment the gumball synthesizers and pulsating beats — delivering an insatiable sound that’s not quite Ed Banger, but definitely not vanilla either.

Fun Fact: Sure they’re rock stars now, but Delafon and Dumont paint a very different picture of their adolescence for SPIN.com. “Our music is based on what we wished we were going through as teenagers, but we weren’t total losers,” says Delafon. “Well I was a total loser in junior high,” adds Dumont. “But at least we were smoking pot.”

Now Hear This:
The Teenagers – “Starlett Johansson” DOWNLOAD MP3

On the Web:
The Teenagers at MySpace