About
THE TEENAGE HEAD is . . .
an idea
a production company.
an art collective.
an aesthetic.
a point of view.
Some keywords, phrases and names that might be used to describe THE TEENAGE HEAD are:
Girls
Guns
Girls with guns
Elvis
Denim
Cigarettes
Spit
Grain
Reverb
Paul Newman
Postcards of old motels
Postcards of dead cowboys
Postcards of old blues musicians
Cheeseburgers
Indian war paint
The open road
Hank Williams
Grass stains
Redheads
Muhammad Ali
The Pacific Ocean
Bob Dylan
Jesco White
Tan-lines
White kids trying to dance like black kids
White kids trying to make black music
Black music in general
Gasoline
Eggleston
Signage in the San Fernando Valley
Hopper (e.g. Edward; Dennis)
The Fender Stratocaster
Car tires on wet cement
Coca-Cola
Humidity
Bo Diddley
Some adjectives:
Weird
Young
Haunted
Electric
Primitive
Some thematic intersections where THE TEENAGE HEAD can be found:
violence x sexuality
love x death
violence x nostalgia
wanderlust x home
youth x melancholy
dreams x reality
youth x death
The idea of America x America
Some highly abstract, highly particular feelings and scenarios that one experiences throughout their life that relate in some ways (or not) to THE TEENAGE HEAD’s voice:
a. When you see an old picture in a text book of ancient art and you realize that nothing you ever do will last that long or be that beautiful and at first you’re kind of sad about it, but then ultimately you’re strangely comforted by this fact.
b. When you’re walking somewhere and the weather is brisk and the sun is low and you feel like you could maybe just walk forever and be alone and then a car passes you and they’re playing one of your favorite songs and you just listen as it drives away and the melody fades.
c. When you can wear a t-shirt at night in the summer and all is still and the crickets are going and all the lights in the houses glow orange and warm.
d. The realization that there is no further west to explore and that all the land on Earth has been uncovered and mapped and that true freedom — the kind you experience only tangentially on long road trips or during the first few months of a new love — does not really exist.
e. The way a neon sign looks against dusk-light when you’re driving down a highway past a small town in the middle of nowhere.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a season, it would last from July until October; kicking off with Independence Day (firecrackers, lake houses, sunscreen) and culminating with Halloween (VHS horror movies, sweater weather, burning leaves).
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a sound-bite it would be the first three-seconds of Link Wray’s “Rumble” or the kick drum that ignites “Like A Rolling Stone.” Or perhaps it would be the cry of a home run as heard via a radio broadcast (the crack of the bat; the cheers; the glory).
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a scene from a movie, it would most likely be the pistol whipping scene from Goodfellas.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a year, it would be 1965.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a member of the Rat Pack, it would be Dean Martin.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a martini it would be a beer.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were a color it would be yellow. But yellow as represented by an old Polaroid. A Polaroid sitting in a shoebox in some kid’s closet in a room that hasn’t changed since 1979. A room that hasn’t changed because the boy who lived in it died on prom night when he went too fast around dead man’s curve in his Plymouth and smacked into a tree (and now he and his teen-bride haunt that stretch of road looking for redemption. Or a ride home. And the boy’s parents never bothered to change his room. They just left it like it was and haven’t entered it in thirty years. And now it’s just a closed door that they walk past every day of their lives. His dirty laundry, waiting to be washed; his bed, waiting to be made.) That kind of yellow.
If THE TEENAGE HEAD were to write a traditional mission statement, they might say that:
a. They were born out of a desire to showcase and create interesting and singular work with a cohesive visual style and attitude.
b. One day in the future they hope to grow into something along the lines of an art collective; the 21st Century answer to the Eames studio.
c. In the immediate future their goal is to release a consistent stream of short films, branded content, music videos, live band performance videos, screen tests, photography, poetry, prose and sponsored parties/concerts.
d. In the not so distant future, they hope to expand the above list to include feature films, television shows, published material, art gallery showcases and much, much more.
e. As they grow, they hope to find more like-minded artists with big ideas.
f. They hope to help these said artists get these said ideas off the ground.
g. They hope to foster an artistic scene and use their clout to showcase smart, hip and strange art, film, writing, music and design.
They hope to impress upon the masses an offbeat, original and lasting point of view.
i. To be electric.
j. To cut through the noise of the Internet.
k. To stick.
They know this will take time. They are hungry. They are young. They will never die.
If you were compelled to contact THE TEENAGE HEAD for whatever reason, you could do so by typing eddie.okeefe@theteenagehead [dot] com into the ‘to’ section of your email communication.
