Imperial Teen

Midway through the 1990s, Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum teamed with Bay Area alternative punk veteran Lynn Perko to launch Imperial Teen, whose output centered on direct pop structures and melodic sweetness from players previously identified with harder-edged approaches. The group maintained steady activity across the late 1990s and early 2000s, achieving modest chart success in 1998 via the sultry “Yoo Hoo,” their contribution to the Jawbreaker soundtrack. Subsequent albums appeared on the independent Merge label roughly every five years, with the material growing more layered while retaining its boy/girl vocal interplay, as heard on the 2012 release Feel the Sound.

Imperial Teen took shape in San Francisco during alternative rock’s commercial peak in the mid- to late-1990s. At the moment of the new band’s formation, Bottum remained active with Faith No More, while Perko’s résumé already included drumming stints with the Dicks and Sister Double Happiness. Former Wrecks bassist Jone Stebbings and vocalist Will Schwartz completed the lineup. The major-label debut Seasick arrived in 1996, followed by the 1998 sophomore album What Is Not to Love. Around the same period Faith No More disbanded, freeing Bottum to devote full attention to Imperial Teen. The band maintained a busy touring schedule that included support slots for Hole and headlining performances at smaller venues. Their 2002 album On marked the first release on Merge Records and continued their playful pop approach; a live album followed that autumn, accompanied by further road dates. Former Hole drummer Patty Schemel handled live drumming while Lynn Perko took a break. After the On tour cycle the group entered hiatus, during which Schwartz concentrated on his side project Hey Willpower, Bottum scored television series such as Help Me Help You, Stebbings trained as a hairstylist, and Perko gave birth. The reasons behind the lengthy separation supplied the title of their 2007 album The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band. Five more years elapsed before the fifth album, the more seasoned yet consistently melodic Feel the Sound, surfaced in early 2012. Their sixth album, Now We Are Timeless, appeared in 2019.