teamAWESOME!

Team Awesome! knows what fun is all about. Like grownups attempting to recapture their youthful exuberance, the Awesome! ones approach their celebratory indie pop like an adolescent-minded PBS program. The group's jaunty, lighthearted songs are all about love, crushes, rocket ships, dogs, board games, robots -- the sorts of things that make up being a kid. On stage, the bandmembers (due at the Larimer Lounge this Saturday, February 3) encourage a sense of childlike innocence and playfulness in the audience by embodying those traits themselves. Urging listeners to dance and sing along, the Team mates -- part of the same lineage that begat the Beat Happening, the Maybellines, Bad Weather California and Transistor Radio Sound -- even provide their own charmingly decorated cue cards. Feeling a little world-weary lately? Look no further than Team Awesome! to lift your spirits. - Denver Westword

By Brian Clark

I want to say something outlandish about TeamAWESOME!, like they’re my new favorite band, or that they’re the greatest thing to happen to music since cavemen evolved past grunting, but I’m refraining (and I certainly wouldn’t find a surreptitious way to bestow such ridiculous accolades).

Whatever else you want to say (or not say) about the band, they are undeniably a breath of fresh air. Sounding a lot like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! or Architecture in Helsinki, the numerous performers they cram on stage jokingly refer to themselves as a “retro band from the future,” and somehow that distinction encapsulates their sound almost perfectly.

Wielding a medley of instruments from the traditional guitar, bass and highly rhythmic drumming to the synth, flute, glockenspiel, bells and a variety of programmed electronic noises, TeamAWESOME! finishes off their highly unique sound with a singing style that can’t really even be called singing – it’s more akin to kindergartners trying to outyell each other during a nursery rhyme-off at recess.

But that’s appropriate, as odd as it may seem, since this is a band that celebrates everything that’s wonderful about life when you’re still coloring outside the lines. They sing about everything from fort building to robots to missing the family pet to being stranded on the moon (and how it might be a good idea to call NASA in such a situation). All their song titles end in exclamation points, and they claim to be inspired by playgrounds, hi-fives and hugs.

If you don’t smile listening to this infectious and unassuming Colorado band, then you certainly don’t have a sense of humor, and probably don’t have a soul. They’re one of the most fun bands we’ve heard in a long time. In fact, this is a show that easily could have been our Pick of the Issue (and undoubtedly would have been, had we not found out about it a scant few hours before we went to print).

Check out their first ever Spokane concert; we definitely will be. TeamAWESOME! can be seen at
The Spread, 230 W. Riverside in downtown Spokane, on Thursday, January 4th at 9 p.m., for 21+ only. For more
information, log onto www.myspace.com/weareteamawesome and listen to the songs they’ve posted (and watch their completely awesome music video for “Robots” while you’re at it). Otherwise, www.spokanesidekick.com will keep you updated on other bands performing, and any additional information that comes to our attention.
- Spokane Sidekick