The Pink Spiders are an unlikely Nashville band. Not only are they not country, they are America's answer to the wave of showy, youthful pop-punk resurgent in the U.K. The illustration of a spray-paint can on the back on their CD symbolizes teenage rebellion, like the smoker pictured on the cover of the Arctic Monkeys' debut album. Their pink drums are for hipster types, the kind the Cribs sing about.
The Pink Spiders could be dismissed as a knockoff if only their music wasn't so strong. The album's first single, "Little Razorblade," is alternative rock reminiscent of Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. "Nobody Baby" shifts to soul-infused rock 'n' roll, the kind mastered by the Rolling Stones. Teenage Graffiti ends with a hidden track - a perfectly simple one-minute piano ballad that reveals everything this ambitious new band is about. Great songwriting.
