Ghent-based trio Teen Creeps, who have just announced their debut album Birthmarks set for release April 6th via PIAS (Belgium). Along with this announcement they’ve also shared the first single from the LP “Sidenote“.
Speaking about the new track, singer-bass player Bert said “It’s about not fully committing to someone and getting nowhere because of it. Feeling something but holding it off because you don’t want to get hurt again. When I wrote the words I had just come out of a relationship and wasn’t ready yet for a new one. I met someone but things went sideways because of this.”
“The dancer in the video is Jules Jordens, an actor who is a friend of the band. He showed up with an entire dance routine that perfectly translates the vibe and energy of the song. Plus, watching him go at it brings smiles on our faces.”
Listen below to Teen Creeps’ first single, “Sidenote”
Since its formation five years ago, Teen Creeps has performed as many shows as possible at home and abroad, appearing on stage at renowned festivals in the Benelux as Rock Herk, Absolutely Free Festival and Incubate. And playing clubs in Germany, France and Great Britain.
After an EP (2014) and a 7” (2015), Teen Creeps began work on their first full album. Their previous releases were all recorded in the rehearsal room, but for Birthmarks they recorded in a real studio for the first time. The band went to London, where they worked with the producer Rory Attwell (Veronica Falls, The Vaccines, Yuck) at Lightship 95. A studio on a lightship anchored in the Thames.
“We got to know Rory when we were the opening act for his band Die! Die! Die! When it emerged that he had also worked as a producer on records of which we were fans, to us it seemed the perfect match. And indeed it was! The studio itself was a further reason for going to London. Because recording on a big, red boat naturally appeals to the imagination”, says guitarist Joram.
Textually Birthmarks has become a personal record, singer Bert explains. “It is an album about frustrations, shortcomings and disappointments. About misplaced hope and false expectations, about people hurting and being hurt and not being able to deal with it. Very personal for me, but that is something that I have learned with Teen Creeps: to make myself vulnerable in my texts. ‘Birthmarks’ contains the most honest lyrics that I have ever written. The title refers to events that you carry with you for the rest of your life, whether good or bad. Just as a birthmark is not necessarily beautiful or useful, it is forever.”
Birthmark tracklist:
1. Sidenote (video)
2. Hindsight
3. Mercury
4. Will
5. Good Intentions
6. Thread
7. Hemispheres
8. Unravel
9. Forging Kindness