The basement of Psychic School is, at least for the time being, off limits. After an unusually rowdy weeknight concert for the Teenage Moods, the house's lower level is a mess. There are holes punched in the ceiling; a bass amp leans sadly on only three wheels; and even the Christmas lights don't work, leaving the room in darkness and virtually impassable. "It was a different crowd than normal. Usually if it's all our friends, no one's punching holes in the ceiling," says drummer Taylor Motari, without any hint of malice. "It was just because there were a bunch of other bands that brought their friends that hadn't been here before and maybe thought that was okay because it looks like a meth house."

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Indeed, a cursory look from the outside could give the wrong impression: The front porch is strewn with couches, an old barber's chair, and even a row of leather airplane seats, recovered from Lord knows where. But inside the house (where bassist Jillian Schroeder lives) is quainter fare, the living room filled with secondhand furniture, a mixture of various homemade art, and a wall of old VHS tapes. There's even a house mascot, Geo the Cat, who sits himself down on the living room floor. "Usually I think house shows are more fun," Motari continues, slouching slightly in an arm chair. He has a slicked-back mullet and tucks his hands into a bright green jacket. "The audience is dancing and stuff like that, as opposed to standing and looking at the stage."

Gordon Byrd, curled up in another chair in the corner, agrees. "I think it fits what we do, probably more naturally than being on a stage... There's no separation between you and the crowd, your friends, so it feels less like, 'I'm up here and you're down there.'" Teenage Moods have only been together for a couple years (they earned a berth in our Picked to Click poll in 2009), but everything the trio has done in that time points to a band preoccupied with keeping things simple and having fun, right down to such lighthearted song titles as "No Place for a Tiger" and "Heavy Bunny." They've self-released one CD to date, distributed in used jewel cases that the band spray painted themselves, as well as a cassette. [Jeff Gage, City Pages Feb 2011]