The Dr. Teeeth members Rusty Boyer, a junior English major; James Burgess, a senior marketing major; and David Horton, a former Kent State student, performed enthusiastically Tuesday evening at the ECC, which is located on North Water Street.

Credit: Beth Rankin

To quote The Dr. Teeeth’s guitarist, Rusty Boyer: “Punk rock is the lion in the cage, emo is the dead gazelle they feed to it, and Doctor Teeeth is the zoo.”

Make what you want of that, but don’t miss the band’s show tomorrow at Kent’s Club Khameleon.

The band takes its name from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the Muppets’ house band, adding the extra ‘e’ for copyright protection and adding “the” for the sake of monotony. The Dr. Teeeth is comprised of Kent State students Boyer, junior English major, on guitars; James Burgess, a senior marketing major, on bass; and former Kent student David Horton on drums.

“We were all college buddies hanging out, and we decided to get together with our instruments,” Burgess said.

“The whole idea behind the band is to develop and give our audience a unique, entertaining sound,” Boyer added. “We have more of a mission statement than a style: To do it straight up, inspire people to have fun and be a good band that people like to listen to. No bullshit, nothing complicated about it. People enjoy it.”

Burgess furthered Boyer’s statement by adding, “We try to do stuff that’s never been done before and push our limits.”

The band’s sound is a combination of Black Sabbath and Queens of the Stone Age with a hint of Pink Floyd and The Who. It features an emphasis on songwriting with substance. This shows especially true on their song “Pyramids.”

“The kind of music we consider ourselves is classic, or vintage, with a new twist,” Burgess said.

“We are hoping for a new scene where there’s more creativity going on,” Boyer concluded. “Taking the classic element and bringing it to the 2000s.”

The Dr. Teeeth played the Battle of the Bands and took home top honors for their night, only to lose to godot. in the finals.

They will be playing tomorrow at Club Khamelon and on April 30 at the Hi-Fi Club in Lakewood with This Is Exploding. Their Friday gig is part of the All-Day Earth Day Jam featuring Courageous

Minority and others. There are tracks available for download at www.myspace.com/thedoctorteeeth.

Contact Pop Arts reporter Allan Lamb at [email protected].