Revisiting Teenage Halloween (Print)
One year later, seeing where the New Jersey punk band is now
Approximately a year ago, I interviewed Teenage Halloween (TH) outside Gasa Gasa. Now they’re back in New Orleans, touring off their new album “Till You Return” and I was able to catch up with the band at the same venue (As of publishing this the venue is now closed due to what I will only describe as unclear reasons but likely finances).
I don’t know where the term “emerging adult” comes from and I don’t really care but I think it’s an apt summary of most people’s early ‘20s. You’re emerging. You’re still fumbling through life finding your place, who you are and what you need.
An interview can only reveal so much about a person or a band. It’s less than one hour out of 8,760 that are in a single year. But after listening back to the interview I had with TH last year, to today, it seems as though they’ve gone through immense growth over the course of those 8,759 hours, give or take.
Especially Luk Henderiks (vocals/guitar), the primary lyricist for the band. Last year they were joking about having a lot of “slurricanes” (otherwise known as a Hurricane, a popular cocktail in NOLA) while spending time in here, to this year talking about jump rope as means to stay active during tour. TH isn’t sleeping in a RV bathroom anymore like in their earliest years. Now, they’re occasionally sleeping in hotel rooms (wild concept I know).
I don’t bring this up to disparage the band’s history or drinking or anything like that. I write this to point out that an interview is only a moment. Maybe there's no marketable change or progress to point out here. However, the art they create, the new album they released, and the noticeable change in attitude towards touring does seem to mark definite “emerging.”
Out of everything mentioned from political action to folk punk to Beethoven’s 5th, the thing we talk about most is collaboration. That’s where the time goes.
Edited for clarity and concision. For audio unedited version, click here.
The biggest thing that's obviously happened since the last time we talked was you put out a new album.
Luk Henderiks (vocals, guitar): Yeah. October 20th. We dropped our second record “Till You Return.”
Y'all recorded it with somebody pretty special, right?
Luk: Our friend Joe Reinhardt, who works at The Headroom. He is in Algernon Cadwallader and Hop Along. He is a ripper, like he recorded some great albums, so we saw his name on credits for records that we love and we became friends with him through shows and stuff. We were like, “Alright, this, this guy's the move.” He's legit. He’s got great ideas and it ended up working out like, I love this new record, so I'm really, really happy about it.
I was listening to it a lot today and it sounds awesome. What do you think Joe added to the sound that maybe wasn't there in the last record?
L: Joe helped produce the record. We would come forward with parts and Joe would give us suggestions and ideas on how to work with those parts and stuff. So Joe was very helpful in the writing process 'cause we were able to shoot ideas to him. We were doing like a demoing day where we just kind of played through the songs, yelled them, just saw how they went. Joe would write notes and we would just talk about them. It was a very collaborative process and Joe was very helpful in that regard.
It seems like y’all have really found your sound on this new record and with the four piece you are super tight and bringing in new ideas. Is everybody writing?
L: We're all writing together. Eli came up with half of the songs on the record, actually. Tricia wrote a bunch of songs. I wrote a bunch of songs. I do the lyrics. Everyone worries about their own instrumental parts. We just kind of come forward with little stems and work from there. Water the plants.
One of the things we talked about last time was some of y'all's influences and Nana Grizol came up. So I wanted to ask, what's your relationship like with the bands on the bill?
L: Well we played with Nana Grizzol a bunch of times in New Jersey and New York and I think Philly once maybe. We got to know Theo and the rest of the band through shows over the years every time they would come through the East Coast on tour.
Theo's like an old head in the DIY scene.
L: Totally and lives in New Orleans, so we were coming down and we thought that a great idea would be to ask Theo to play because Theo's songs are awesome. It would be great to hear them after like a week and a half on the road. It's a good little speck of Hope.
It's super cool. And then like Dollar Signs, another big DIY touring band that's back at it with a new album and everything.
L: Totally. We wanted this to be like a co-release tour. We wanted to make it a special thing for both of our bands. We've always fluctuated in the same scenes and stuff.
[Note: Check out this sweet tour diary Dollar Signs did!]
How long have you known Erik and Dollar Signs?
L: Easily seven, eight years. I've known them since when they went to New Brunswick to play. They've always been really supportive of me and the scene in Jersey. We always loved each other as bands.
Yeah. Just the whole East Coast run. They would come down to Georgia a lot to play house shows.
L: You gotta do it. You gotta really connect with people by doing that.
I think it's funny too because I feel like all of y'all both have some history with folk punk.
L: Oh, absolutely. Most people on this bill have. We all have been on those like folk-o-rama boards and stuff like that over time. Just little mentions. And we've always been playing with a lot of folk punk artists. It's just something we all share.
What do you think of folk punk in the year 2023?
L: Apes of the State are single-handedly keeping it alive, in my opinion. They're absolutely killing it. Them and Pigeon Pit are my two favorite folk punk bands right now. Pigeon Pit's a Seattle-Olympia band And Apes of the State are absolutely crushing it right now. They're what folk punk needed most in the year 2023. Keeping it relevant, keeping it brilliant with new ideas.
I wanted to mention everything going on in Gaza right now and I saw that y’all had a relief fund on your Instagram bio. Last time we talked a little bit about politics and how it's hard sometimes to feel like you can take action. What do you think people can do about the Palestinian situation?
L: I think the most important thing you can do in the current political climate is raise money for people in need. I genuinely believe that if you're in America living the privileged life you're living, you should be pushing funds, helping people that are innocent and in need right now from governmental oppression. Solidarity with the victims there.
That situation's definitely been on my mind. But I guess with this new album, y'all have still maintained some of the same political energy but it also seems there’s an [inward] focus on identity, queerness, mental health and those kinds of things. When going into writing this record, what were you hoping to get across?
L: The words to the newest record were all written during the pandemic in a total isolated state being at home constantly and stuff. So the new record is heavily based around creating solidarity with other people that faced this level of isolation and this level of reflection that they've had to face by force. The new songs are definitely meant to inspire, but also convey a message of real depressiveness and just a lot of self-loathing. It's supposed to be something people can relate to.
I also felt like it had a really hopeful, encouraging tinge to it that wasn't just like bullshit positivity.
L: Yeah, like in the song “Doctor” we say, “You're not alone.” We try to make people feel like if they're in these hopeless mindsets that they can realize that there's people there for them.
[I interjected and rambled here when I shouldn’t have so oops. We got to talking about other songs on the LP]
L: “Takeaway” is heavily about destroying your biggest insecurities. And the video features physical versions of each of mine. Three different insecurities in physical form and I'm killing them in the video, so it's just like a total catharsis song.
Lyrically, there’s a lot of mentions of having a body and that body failing you. Can you tell me a little bit more about those lyrics and where that was coming from?
L: I was feeling discontent with my physical health for a very long time and it was a main stressor for me. It created a lot of different anxious feelings and thought-loops. So I always wanted to include themes of the body in songs, because it is something that has always deeply affected my psyche. Maintaining my body. Fear of death. Fear of sickness. The new record definitely mentions things that are in that vein because of the fact that they're constantly circling in my head when I'm going through an episode. I used to be willing to fully trash my body but now I'm 25 and realizing you need to take a lot of precautions.
Touring's hard on the body. Also the pandemic was not great for a lot of people too.
L: I brought a jump rope on this tour so I can keep my heart rate going while I'm out and stuff. I'm drinking a lot less beer. I have one now because it was free [sipping on a PBR]. But it's been definitely an eye-opening tour because it’s like a really long tour and it's been heavily focused on self-care. I'm definitely at a point in life and I think everyone in the band I can speak for where we want to be comfortable. We're definitely taking a lot more initiative to be happy and healthy on tour. I came off a lot more bubbly back in the day when I was doing a shit ton of drugs all the time. But now it's like, I'm more content and relaxed, so now I seem more melancholic. You know what I mean?
I don't think that. At least you don't seem that way right now.
L: I don't know. It is a different feeling. It's a new experience. We've been touring as a machine now and making sure that we're all healthy. Not letting any wires get crossed.
You could probably shout out a million bands, but so far on tour, were there any bands you saw that you were like, “Hell yeah! This is awesome.”
L: Oh, definitely. Walter Etc. killed it. They played in Charlotte, North Carolina with us. They were really cool. We played with Ski Club in Boston. Super mathy, heavy rock band out of Berkeley.
[At this point the conversation sort of winds down from this point. Luk does describe Water Etc. as songwriter-punk type music. Also, they mention a little on the band's future as they lead me to the rest of the band. I’m able to catch up with them at a table just outside Gasa Gasa. Below is when we start talking about the new album.]
Tricia, I wanted to specifically talk to you because I know you did lead vocals this time just like the split with Homeless Gospel Choir and also some writing. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Tricia Marshall (vocals and bass): I feel very fortunate to be able to write music with the band. I'm really proud that I was able to write two of the songs for this album. I like that this album had a more collaborative process to it. Eli wrote several of the songs too. So next album, I guess we're gonna get Peter on.
Peter Gargano (drums): Yeah. I already got a couple in my back pocket. But yeah, I feel like the fact that it's more collaborative, it’s brought more ideas to the table and changed it up a lot. I don't know. I think it was a good thing having more of the collaborative process, getting everyone's ideas and stuff. Not even everyone's ideas, but like having people saying “No” to things too. I feel like that is a part of the creative process and that always betters things.
I feel like you could hear diversity in the sounds of this album compared to the last one.
T: I'm glad you can hear that. [Dramatic strings kick off from inside the venue] Oh my God, Beethoven's fifth!
P: Fourth or fifth, whatever the fuck. The even ones are the bad ones right?
T: It's true. The odd numbers are the best.
Luk was bragging that Eli wrote like half of the album. Is that true?
Eli Frank (lead guitar): Bragging for me? Well, I don't know. I mean, I guess. [Laughs]
T: I think between you two, it's still a very collaborative process because you bring a lot of instrumental and cordal ideas to the table.
E: More of the compositions and then Luk comes in with the words and some of the melodies get changed up. I think during COVID, it was a very chill time in terms of Luk's own creative process. So they didn't have as many ideas coming out as much as the last one did. So I was like, “Hey, I'm down to help out in this area and just to keep the ball rolling creatively.” We definitely wanted to put another album out.
T: And that's one of the things that we talked about was that our first album was released during the pandemic. So we didn't necessarily have the “luxury,” so to speak, of waiting. We kind of had to get the ball rolling quickly.
Joe Reinhardt was a big part of the collaborative effort too, from what Luk was telling me. What do you think was Joe's touch with this album specifically?
E: He would tell us things we should either change up or rethink. I wouldn't say a whole lot ended up changing, but certain parts that he had a hand in I think were pretty impactful. It was really important to have someone with an outside perspective. At that point we had songs pretty much written but it's good to have someone with a fresh ear tell you, “Hey, maybe we could do it this way instead.” I feel like that advice and guidance made the songs the best they could be.
T: We additionally had more songs written for the album and he helped us pair that down to what it is now.
Yeah. It's like 10 minutes longer than the last album but it still feels super concise. Every song is less than 3 minutes long.
E: We like to pack a lot of stuff into a short amount of time. Lyrically, melodically. A lot there to listen to. And the themes definitely changed too in this album.
Yeah! Tell me about it.
E: Well, I guess I can't really speak for Luk but I mean, Tricia wrote a couple of the songs. Definitely a different point of view in that sense. And Luk's point of view changed too. Growing up a little bit, you know, going through the pandemic, isolation.
T: Isolation's a huge theme.
E: I guess maybe maturity and feeling like they have to grow up. Feeling like they need to, not change themself but grow into themselves.
T: Enter the next chapter.
E: I feel like a lot of the songs talk about them letting people down or them being judged by people.
I definitely think there's a lot about depression or feeling trapped in those cycles.
E: Which the pandemic definitely did to people. Not that I wanna talk about that because it's definitely been talked about a lot. I don't want this to be a pandemic record. I guess I think of it more as a post-pandemic record.
T: Yeah. It has legs on its own without the pandemic.
P: We're starting a new genre post-pandemic.
[New Orleans Legend Theo Hilton of Nana Grizzol arrives and says hello to the band. We get a little sidetracked again talking about Nana Grizzol and New York Boroughs.]
[Asking Tricia about “Say It”, one of the two songs on the album she sang as lead vocals] Can you tell me a little bit about that song?
Yeah. The inspiration of that one was at a house show that we played. I don't remember where or with who, but someone was being real fucking weird with me and we were joking about it afterward. Eli was like, “You should write a song about that.” It became a more general thing where sometimes as a woman in spaces, you have creepy interactions. Other times you get treated like you're not necessarily a member of the band. I mean, there have been many occasions where I've walked in with gear and I've been talked to as like a roadie or someone's partner. It's like, “No, I belong in this space and so many other people belong in this space.” I've really appreciated the reaction and response to the song especially from women and femmes.
E: What's your favorite song?
I really like “Say Armageddon.” I really like “Get Bitter.” And I also really like “Takeaway.”
E: “Armageddon” and “Takeaway” are my songs. I didn't write the lyrics but I did the comps
T: Takeaway is funny because I remember when we first started learning it, I was like, “Ah, this is, tough.” And now when we play, it's so fun.
E: It's almost kind of ska-esque. It kinda jumps around.
T: It's got syncopation.
E: Like you could make it a ska song.
I really love the rhythm and the drum work on “Sights Down.”
P: That's a lot of fun to play.
E: I think that's your favorite song, right, Pete?
P: I think that's one of my favorites. Yeah. I feel like it's one of the more dynamic tracks, personally. I don't know, it's different. Then the whole ending too, where it like winds down and it's got more like a Beatles kind of beat going on.
E: I feel like that's what we used to do. Like “Sights Down” is the most reminiscent.
P: Yeah. But I feel like it's kind of a better version of that. More edited. A lot of the songs, especially on the first EP, would be fast and then they would kind of break down. It's kinda a callback to that a little bit, but in a new light. It’s not reinventing the wheel.
T: The ending reminds me a little bit of “Race Horse” in that slow jam groove kind of way.
Beautiful. I love it. There wasn't really a whole lot else that I wanted to mention outside of talking about the new record but, how's tour been? Has there been any bands y'all have seen that you've really enjoyed or?
E: We were just touring with our pals, Tongues of Fire. They're good friends.
T: And good musicians.
E: I've toured with them in the past with other bands and they're just a good hang. They're kind of post-punky, Idle-y, kind of sludgy rock ’n roll. A little Nirvana.
T: And now we're on a run with Dollar Signs who are here tonight and they're awesome. Pete's filling in on drums. The drummer, obviously, is not feeling well, so he's gonna meet up with them at some point.
E: Pete learned the songs today.
P: Literally learning the songs in the van. Listening to them like 25 times in a row.
Have you heard Dollar Sign’s music before?
P: Oh yeah, we've played with them a bunch.
At least you have some familiarity.
P: That's why I offered learning. I think I could probably pull it off already.
T: We had released shows the week before that we left for tour and we played with some pretty amazing bands too. All like really good friends, really great musicians.
E: Namely like TVOD, Puppy Angst.
T: The Superweaks.
P: Have a Good Season.
T: The Vaughns
E: Lightheaded.
T: Oh and High Waisted!
E: Also shout out to Hello Shark who played with us in Boston. Dino Gala.
I got a lot of bands to check out now.
T: All of them are incredible. The Superweaks are my favorite.
Cool. I'm excited. Well I appreciate you all talking with me and I hope this wasn't too immensely awkward.
E: It was great. It was the perfect amount of awkward.
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