Teen Suicide, now a fully Orlando band, play an intimate show at Will's Pub this week
Curtains open the night Teen Suicide, a band originally formed by Sam Ray and Kitty Ray, is set to perform at Will's Pub in Orlando, Florida, after completing their first U.S. tour as a full band since 2016. The band, which started as a solo vehicle for Sam Ray in 2009, has since evolved into a duo and then a collective of musicians before solidifying into the quartet. The group's sound is eclectic, taking in everything from heart-on-sleeve indie-pop to electro-noise explosions. The new album, "Honeybee Table at the Butterfly Feast," is expected to be released in 2022 and they are working on new songs. The music they make is influenced by various pop culture references, including Heathers and Suicide, as well as a song from 1989 cult classic Heathers.
Опубликовано : 2 недели назад от Houda Eletr в Entertainment
Indie-pop (and so much more) band Teen Suicide have just finished their first U.S. tour as a full band since 2016. It's a triumphant comeback, after several years of relative silence. But there's one final piece of business from that trek for the Orlando-via-Baltimore band: a rescheduled headlining show at Will's Pub this week, formerly set for the Beacham, along with openers Curtains Thursday, June 13.
Teen Suicide's creative nucleus, frontperson Sam Ray and synth player Kitty Ray, are excited for this Orlando show on Will's intimate stage.
"It makes me feel very satisfied, because when I was younger I used to always go to Will's. I remember specifically seeing Loma Prieta," reflects Kitty. "It was the day before I started making music and I thought to myself, 'I'm gonna play here one day'— and now I get to, it's very exciting."
"I love the place, it might actually be my favorite place to play in town," says Sam. "I was so happy when I found out we could play at Will's, everyone in the band, all four of us were just so happy."
It's a hometown show for every single member of Teen Suicide as well, with personnel from dreamy post-punk band the Synthetics — drummer Nathan Munizzi and bassist Sean LaBree — now part of Teen Suicide.
It's a creatively satisfying end to the Rays' seemingly endless struggle to find permanent bandmates. All the band members now live in the same city — "like a real band," says Sam.
Teen Suicide started as a solo vehicle for Sam Ray around 2009, over the years multiplying into a duo and then an ever-shifting collective of musicians, before finally solidifying into the quartet you (will soon) see before you. The band's sound is eclectic — taking in everything from heart-on-sleeve indie-pop to electro-noise explosions — exemplified by 2022's expansive comeback album, Honeybee Table at the Butterfly Feast, and the new songs they're excitedly working on.
The creatively restless band are always eager to change things up and organically try out new sounds, techniques and methodologies.
"No matter how DIY we get with it, we've still learned new things and absorbed a lot. So I think that any difference in how the band sounds is mostly just us 'growing' in the most basic sense of the word," Kitty says. "Rather than saying, 'We went and studied on purpose,' this is just us becoming adults."
"We don't aspire to just make the music we make. I think when we get considered one genre it's cool, instead of [us] trying to say, you know, 'We are punk,'" Sam ponders.
"It's like a collage of all things, like upcycling everyone's ideas," Kitty adds.
"Yeah, very much like dumpster-diving," says Sam.
Musical and artistic inspiration for the band is, indeed, all over the map: a song from the 1989 cult classic Heathers, titled "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" was brought up, as well as seminal 1970s synthpunk duo Suicide, for their band's moniker — to just name two.
"You know how the Muppet Babies are the baby version of the Muppets?" Kitty asks. "I like to think of Teen Suicide as the teen version of the band Suicide, and that defers the blame of the name on them and not us."
Influence for Teen Suicide's music also comes from other unconventional places: hazy memories and Mandela Effect-style pop culture fragments.
"Almost like a visual abstract thing; it's like a dream," Sam explains. "Maybe you get an image stuck in your head, or misremember something from a film, or even someone's stupid post on a Tumblr blog where they make weird pixel art and you feel some way about it."
As mentioned, new music is on the way; the band has many songs written and practiced but they have yet to hide away in an incense-lit studio, stoned out of their minds, to record. Kitty says they'll be playing new songs at the Orlando show and have already been playing a few throughout their recent tour. Vibes to expect for the new album will be much more "chaotic," Kitty says. (Good, we need more chaos.)
Setting the mood for listening to Teen Suicide's music, past and present, is essential and Sam and Kitty have different takes on the proper setting for listening to their records.
"I think if I heard Teen Suicide at Ikea I'd think I was having like psychosis," Kitty says. "It depends on the album but I think when you're laying face-down on your bed getting very stoned having FOMO."
"See, I've never looked at the band the way I heard a lot of people we talk to at shows see it — like, depressing or something — but to me it's always been the music that you listen to riding around in a car late at night really high, just chilling," Sam opposes.
As the band preps for a night of melancholic gazing at pedals and we bring our conversation to a close, Kitty adds two final thoughts.
"Free Palestine," she says. "Oh, and my dad's gonna be there. If you add this he has to come."
See you there, Kitty's dad.
Темы: Music