Teen Cthulhu

Teen Cthulhu were an American hardcore / Black Metal band from Seattle, Washington state. After Peel mentioned on 12 February 2003 that they hadn't been able to discover much about the band, frontman Brandon Nakamura emailed the show and provided the following biographical detail:

"'We are a five piece from the Seattle, Washington area. We've been playing together since 1998. We really started this band to try and create a revival in basement shows and to resuscitate the ailing hardcore scene in the NW. Most of us have never been in bands. We felt we'd just missed the boat for a great time in music on the west coast, so we started from scratch, learned to play instruments slowly and painfully and started to put out our own records.'"

The group released their debut LP, "Simple Elegance" in 1999. Over the following four years they issued a number of singles and EPs, often split with like-minded artists. The group's second, and as it turned out, final LP "Ride The Blade" came out in 2003 before the band split up.

Links with Peel
"'Teen Cthulhu, a great name for a band and an excellent band, too' (12 February 2003)"

Peel first heard Teen Cthulhu when he picked up a copy of their second LP "Ride The Blade" on 16 January 2003. He mentioned on that evening's show that he had gone out record shopping that afternoon in search of some "Norwegian Black Metal" for an unspecified Radio 4 programme. As a self-confessed fan of the writer HP Lovecraft, the band name had caught his eye. Peel was impressed with the LP, playing six of its thirteen tracks during the first three months of 2003.

Having made contact with the band the following month, Peel received a package of records from the group, some of which were subsequently played on air.

On 17 July 2003, after again expressing his desire to get Teen Cthulhu in to record a session, Peel was understandably dismayed to be informed by regular correspondent Gary Roberts of Escondido, California, that the group had announced that they would be splitting up after playing a farewell show in September. This appears to have ended his interest in the group's recordings.

Shows Played

 * 2003
 * 16 January 2003: 120 Days Of Sodom (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 21 January 2003: The Aquaducts Will Run Red With The Blood Of The Caesar (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 23 January 2003: I'm Going to Fucking Kill Myself (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 28 January 2003: Fantastic Wound (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 12 February 2003: Fucking With Death (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 06 March 2003: Bloodhorse (LP - Ride The Blade) Rage Of Achilles
 * 09 April 2003: Knife Hits (Split-EP With Iron Lung: Tentacled Breathing) Rock & Roleplay Records/Satans Pimp
 * 17 July 2003: Violent World (Comp. LP - The Necessary Effect) Xeroid


 * Others
 * January 2003 (Peel's Record Box): Ride The Blade (LP) Rage Of Achilles
 * March 2003 (Peel's Record Box): Ride The Blade (LP) Rage Of Achilles