The Pre-Teens

The Pre-Teens are Bert, Cristina & Laura. Queer-friendly emo / indie rock / pop punk trio from Berkeley area of CA. Biography ——————– The Pre-Teens broke up years ago. Cristina now plays in The Heated (www.theheated.com). Bert plays in Last Of The Blacksmiths (www.lastoftheblacksmiths.com). Laura moved and changed her name. ——————– Okay, for all intents and purposes, the initial rush of adrenaline the riot grrls gave the punk scene is long gone. Everyone knows it, right down to the riot grrls themselves. Sure, it’s still around, but the days of youthful idealism, raw spunk and fiery idealism are as far away as the days when the world "grrl" would still get picked up by rock journalists’ spell-check programs. That doesn’t mean every bit of rock’n’roll girlie action’s been swept into the "no rock’n’roll fun" bin. The Pre-Teens show that on Why Don’t You Marry It. While the overtly political themes and roughshod rock has been more or less left behind, it’s clear the Pre-Teens aren’t going to let the lessons learned from the loud and angry ladies of yesteryear fall totally by the wayside. More than a shadow of riot grrl styles creeps around in the Pre-Teens’ style. Riled up power-pop, the band’s fare features the same tinny guitars and shoot-from the hip rhythms as acts like Bikini Kill, though there’s a much more conscious respect for by-the-book songwriting. With a bass to help prop up the band’s low end, as well as deliciously entrancing ear candy, the Pre-Teens take a pop sledgehammer to conventional Olympia chick-rock. Whether it rolls through slow cascades of guitars in pure pop frenzy ("Pretty Song"), or lays down a searing wall of hyperactively distorted guitar over a warm bass melody ("Sierra"), the band finds a sound that falls somewhere between the Bangs’ power punk and Bratmobile’s sonic fury. Lyrically, however, the Pre-Teens could use a bit more of the fighting punk rock spirit. Never letting loose with empty drivel, some of the band’s lyrics don’t quite hit with the power their honesty would like them to. "Can’t you just pretend I’m there?/Because I pretend I’m here everywhere I go," howls singer/bassist Cristina Espinosa in "Los Gatos," in a furious moment when her identity crisis can be articulated into the format of the band’s simple lyrics. It’s a rare moment, though, as songs like "Skatepark" and "Save Me" come off too transparent and simple to really convey the urgency conveyed in Espinosa’s voice. When touching on sexual politics, however, the band goes over the top, with "Fashionably Queer" and "Red Rover" prove too heavy-handed with their gay themes to even win over an Indigo Girls crowd. Rough spots aside, the Pre-Teens do offer a compelling listen. With little middle ground between the more cerebral survivors of riot grrl like Sleater Kinney and the post-riot pop of girl bands like the Bangs, the Pre-Teens find a spot in the indie world that generously affords them the room to grow Why Don’t You Marry It promises the trio can come through with in time. - Matt Schild Pre-Teens "I think people automatically assume that if you have a record out, you’re automatically making money on it. That’s ridiculous," complains Pre-Teens singer/bassist Cristina Espinosa. "I don’t think people realize how much money goes into it." It’s a common enough complaint in the world of rock’n’roll. Espinosa and her fellow Pre-Teens, singer/guitarist Laura Davis and drummer Bert Garibay, may be experts in living in the financial pinch rockers find themselves in when they chase down their muse, however. Without a label, an agent, a lawyer or, most of all, a cushy bank account, the trio faces an uphill battle when it chooses to take on the industry on its own. Though for a nearly broke, almost unknown act, the Pre-Teens have made the kind of inroads over the past two years that would make any struggling band, rich or poor, very comfortable with their achievements. This summer the trio released its commercial debut, Why Don’t You Marry It, on its own Sassy Wench Records imprint (copies of an early demo circulated around the band’s San Francisco scene for more than a year), hit the road on a self-booked tour, and scored the attention of media outlets, from a multi-page spread in the underground rag Maximum Rock’n’Roll all the way up to ink in Bay area weeklies. The bands successes haven’t come without their cost, however. The trio have moved from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz to San Francisco, bouncing around in an attempt to stay together in the wake of Espinosa’s decision to return to school in Santa Cruz. Now the trio share a one-room studio apartment in San Francisco in an attempt to keep its costs down. Neither the band’s cozy living situation nor its struggle with finances isn’t the kind of thing that immediately springs to mind when the idea of the rock lifestyle spring to mind. "You need to pay to practice and you obviously need to pay to record," Espinosa says. "You need to pay to live at the same time. Sometimes it’s like am I going to eat or are we going to practice?" The band’s financial situation isn’t the ball and chain it could be, however. Though the trio could have conceivably spent some time shopping its demo tape from label to label to find a company willing to alleviate some of the economic burdens that come with being a truly independent band, the ‘Teens chose to keep things on the indie level. Only a handful of indies ever received a copy of Why Don’t You Marry It in the hope they’d pick up the band. When none did, it wasn’t a devastating blow, but rather an opportunity for the act to stick to the indie freedoms that had already nurtured it. "We recorded it with the intention of releasing it ourselves," Garibay says. "We didn’t really shop it around. We don’t have agents or lawyers or anything like that. Given the kind of music we like, which is independent music mostly, we basically realized that most of the freedoms come if you do it yourself. We thought if we could to it ourselves, then that’s the right way to go." The ‘Teens aren’t going it entirely alone, however. Though the recording sessions and CD pressing costs were funded by the band members themselves, they did pick up a seasoned mentor quickly following relocating to San Francisco. Bay area scenster, record store owner and on-again-off-again punk bassist for Tilt and Screw 32, Jimi Cheetah took a liking to the trio after meeting Davis at her job as a clerk in another music store. The band’s spunk, live show and promise quickly won Cheetah over, which led to his funding of a vinyl pressing of their album, advertising, and most of all, a wealth of knowledge and contacts the fledgling trio could call upon when in doubt. Though Cheetah’s involvement in the band’s doings is limited, he is the first outsider to have a stake in its workings. Such a groundbreaking position wasn’t achieved simply because of his connections, however. Once again, the Pre-Teens rely upon their sense of indie business ethics to guide it. "It all came from the fact that we trusted him," Garibay says, discussing his band’s work with Cheetah. "Everyone that has worked with him, and everyone who has worked with him in the past said he’s a good guy. We got a real good vibe from him. I think that was the most important thing." Keeping the band’s dealings open and friendly has been a hallmark for the trio since its earliest days. Espinosa proudly refers to her band mates as her best friends, a statement the trio’s close-quarters living can only prove. It’s that foundation of friendship that not only helps the act to weather the storms that inevitably arise along the way, but also helps to form the band’s sound. "Once we all became friends and started a good rapport with one another, then Christina started to introduce her stuff," Garibay says. "We began to realize that there is a whole lot more to this. It’s not me and Laura with a bass player, it’s a new band." The ability to come together as friends before band mates has certainly been an asset when it comes to the band’s long-term survival. While the band struggles financially, its look-out-for-each other has helped to keep the wolves away from the band’s door, at least for the moment. Things may not be rosy forever, however. Hailing from San Francisco, the trio finds itself working a hometown that is increasingly becoming more and more inhospitable toward the artists and bohemians that have traditionally given the area its remarkable character. With upstart Dotcoms thriving in the city, San Francisco now faces an economy and real estate market that threatens to drive out the traditionally hard-up artistic faction of its populace. Climbing rents, closing venues and, most notably, the closure of uber practice space Downtown Rehearsals, are quickly closing down many of the linchpins in the Bay’s music scene. For the most part, it’s been a silent killer. Though the exodus of artists away from San Francisco dates back for years, it wasn’t until recently the situation received any attention from anyone outside the city’s artistic community. With Green Day headlining a free show at the Take Back San Francisco rally on Nov. 5, the issue was finally brought to national light. It’s a major factor in the Pre-Teens’ life, one Garibay hopes will receive the kind of attention it deserves. "It is a big issue. It’s really kind of fucked things up a lot, to the point where people are starting to wonder if they should stay here or not," he says. "People are starting to see the extent of the damage from big, corporate money, because it’s making the city very inaccessible to artists, period. By that I mean artists and creative people don’t usually have high-paying jobs." Though nobody dwells on it, the irony that a booming economy could spell disaster for the city’s artists is as fathomable as the outrageous rent payments the city’s bohemians make each month. With a corporate boom that lined the pockets of landlords, realtors and investors alike, it’s the creative types who have shouldered much of the burden of the city’s urban renewal. The Bay area may not be the Mecca for artistic types that it once was due to its recent economic boom, but that isn’t going to drive the Pre-Teens away just yet. Though Garibay and Espinosa click off examples of a quickly withering music scene full of closed clubs and departed friends, the ‘Teens have found a home in San Francisco, one based on more than just its music scene. From the natural beauty to the history of the area, there’s many reasons the trio hopes to stick out the tough times that face it. Relief may be a long time coming, however. "I look at it like every big city goes through cycles," Espinosa says. "There’s going to be a time when everyone’s really successful, and other times when it’s hard. It seems like it’s hard right now." The down and dirty effects of their hometown’s booming economy coupled with the burden of operating completely independently in a music industry set up to deal with bands working the label system aren’t about to grant the ‘Teens any favors in the near future. It’s a harsh reality the band lives in, though realism has helped the act to keep its feet during hard times. "It’s not like we got into it expecting that we’re going to live like kings, so it’s not a big disappointment," Espinosa says. It may not be a disappointment to the band, but to a society that supposedly cherishes the fruits of its artistic community, shouldn’t it be an embarrassment?