It’s not too common to find a college senior hoping her band will make it in the music industry after she receives a bachelor’s degree in health professions.
Senior Jenny Teator is that girl, and she’s getting ready to perform at the Lunchtime Talent Musical Showcase at the MU Student Center on Oct. 23.
“My band and I are making our album right now in hopes that we can do something in music for our careers,” Teator says. “If I could have a career in music — not be famous, obviously, but playing shows and making money — I would be completely happy with that. So I’m taking any measure to get found.”
Teator started writing songs about two years ago, and her band, Jenny Teator & The Fevers, has been together for about eight months. The band considers its sound very different from other bands in the area, and something that is fresh in the music scene.
“There are six people in our band, and we all come from different musical backgrounds,” Teator says. “When we all bring that together, it makes something so unique. When people ask what genre our music is, it’s kind of hard to say, so I’m just like, ‘rock, funk, blues.’ It’s a little bit of everything, and that’s what I really like about it.”
Teator and her band are set to release their first self-titled CD on Dec. 6. The band has an impressive résumé thus far, including performances at both The Blue Note and Mojo’s.
“It’s awesome to look out at the crowd and everyone is just looking back at you,” Teator says. “When you see people getting into the song and dancing to the music that you’ve created, it means that you’ve succeeded in something. You’ve made them feel what you felt while you were making that song.”
The band’s first single is titled “What I Need.” It was also the first song that the band put out together.
“The song is just so fun,” Teator says. “I love it. There’s a lot of energy in it. It has a strong message. It’s geared more towards women; it’s just about how men need to treat women as they should be treated.”
Jenny Teator & The Fevers formed around Teator’s original songs as she searched for the perfect components to make her music come alive.
“I just started writing originals because I had been doing covers for so long,” Teator says. “I write all the songs and lyrics and make the melody for music. I kind of make the bare bones of it and bring it to the band, and it becomes something different.”
Teator has never performed for Lunchtime Talent and says she is anxious to see what it’s like, since she notices that most of the time people are just minding their own business while in the student center.
“My favorite part of performing is how I (become) almost a different person,” Teator says. “When I’m onstage versus when I’m offstage as someone’s friend, I’m just two different people. I think that’s very important because when you’re onstage, you are entertaining someone. You aren’t just hanging out with them. I just love seeing the crowd’s reaction.”