Find out when Teen Suicide is next playing live near you. List of all Teen Suicide tour dates and concerts. This event has been added to your Plans. Seattle concerts. Popular tickets in Seattle Seattle concerts. Band mates joke are easy going and play comfortably together. They're also changing their name so they poked fun at themselves a bit. On this episode of Small Talk, Teen Suicide discusses reactions to their band name, Baltimore, their fans, breaking up, and eating trash. Check it out. Subscribe to Run For Cover on YouTube to.
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Also known as | Teen Suicide (formerly)Dumpster (temporary) |
---|---|
Origin | Baltimore, Maryland, United States |
Genres | |
Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | Run for Cover |
Associated acts | Ricky Eat Acid, Julia Brown, Starry Cat, Us and Us Only |
Members | Sam Ray Kitty Ray Sean Mercer Nick Hughes Dan Windsor |
Past members | Eric 'Skiz' Livingston Caroline White Brian Sumner John 'J2' Toohey Alec 'Torts' Simke |
American Pleasure Club (formerly known as Teen Suicide) is an American indie rock band from Baltimore, Maryland.
- 2Members
- 3Discography
History[edit]
Teen Suicide formed initially as a solo project of Sam Ray in 2009, with their first release being the 2011 compilation bad vibes forever which consisted of 'early early demos.' Soon after this, Eric Livingston joined the band the band making a duo with Ray on vocals, guitar, synthesizers, drum machines, and bass, and Livingston on drums and vocals, occasionally accompanied by various unofficial members such as Alec Simke and Caroline White.
In February of the following year, they released an EP titled DC snuff film. They followed up that EP with a three-song EP titled goblin problems in June 2012.[1] A full-length album entitled waste yrself was also being produced around the same time, but it was left uncompleted. Instead, the tracks intended for release on the album were included as part of the compilation Rarities, Unreleased Stuff, and Cool Things, then released separately shortly afterward.[2] In September 2012, Teen Suicide released their debut full-length album titled i will be my own hell because there is a devil inside my body.[3][4] Around this time, Alec Simke became a full-fledged member of the band. In November 2012, Teen Suicide released another EP titled hymns prior to announcing they were breaking up.[5] They played two more shows in December 2012 and January 2013, then disbanded.
In February 2013, the band released a compilation on Bandcamp titled Rarities, Unreleased Stuff, and Cool Things.[6][7] On the December 27 date of Elvis Depressedly and Crying's tour, the band reformed 'on a whim' to play a secret set at the Charm City Art Space in Baltimore.[8] They subsequently reunited to play four reunion shows from February 27 to March 2 with Special Explosion and Sorority Noise,[9] now with a lineup featuring Ray, Simke, John Toohey on guitar, and Brian Sumner on drums.
A new Teen Suicide song entitled 'Pavement' was featured on Topshelf Records' 2014 digital label sampler.[10] In January 2015, the band signed to Run for Cover Records to release remastered and expanded editions of i will be my own hell because there is a devil in my body, DC snuff film and waste yrself, with the two latter records being released as a single album.[11]
Although their attitude towards recording and releasing new material was unclear after their reformation, Teen Suicide contributed a new song to Paper Trail Records' Thanks for Listening compilation[12] and released a 7' entitled Sonic Youth on November 6, 2015.[13] However, Sonic Youth is not officially credited to the band. From December 2015 to January 2016, several demos appeared on the band's social media prior to the announcement of their second album entitled It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot, which came out April 1.[14] Although various outlets—including the band's label Run for Cover Records—have referred to the new album as Teen Suicide's final album,[15] the band themselves have announced their new temporary name, 'The World's Greatest,' 'while we figure out what to actually name our new band'.[16]
Teen Suicide has since toured twice, once with Say Anything, mewithoutYou, and Museum Mouth, along with a summer tour with Elvis Depressedly and Nicole Dollanganger.
On October 23, 2017 Teen Suicide released a new song called 'When You Split the Heart Open' under another temporary name, Dumpster.[17]
On November 19, 2017 Teen Suicide released a new song called 'You Call on Me' which also announced their new band name American Pleasure Club.[18]
On December 31, 2017 American Pleasure Club released a new single titled 'New Years Eve' and also announced the title of their third album which is A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This. On January 9, 2018 they released a music video for a new song called 'Let's Move to the Desert' and they announced the release date of the new album being February 16, 2018. On January 16, they released a third single called 'This is Heaven and I'd Die for It' and also released pre-orders on the Run For Cover Records website for the album.
Members[edit]
Current
- Sam Ray – guitar, lead vocals, synths[19](2009–13, 2013–present)
- Sean Mercer – drums (2014–present)
- Nick Hughes – bass (2017–present)
- Dan Windsor - guitar (2017–present)
- Kitty Ray - vocals (2018–present)
Former
- Eric 'Skiz' Livingston – drums (2009–13)
- Caroline White – viola, backing vocals (2012–13)
- Alec 'Torts' Simke – bass (2012–13, 2013–2016)
- Brian Sumner – drums (2013–14)
- John 'J2' Toohey – guitar, backing vocals (2013–2016)
Timeline[edit]
![Band Band](http://www.tinymixtapes.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Article_Width/1605/teen-suicide.jpg)
Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]
- I Will Be My Own Hell Because There Is a Devil Inside My Body (2012)
- It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot (2016)
- I Blew on a Dandelion and the Whole World Disappeared (2017)
- Fucking Bliss (2019)
Mixtapes[edit]
- A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This (2018)[20][21]
- TOUR TAPE (2018)
Compilation albums[edit]
- Bad Vibes Forever (2011)
- Rarities, Unreleased Stuff, and Cool Things (2013)
- DC Snuff Film / Waste Yrself (2015)
- Rarities, B-Sides, Demos, Outtakes, & Secret Songs... 2009-2019 (2019)
EPs[edit]
- DC Snuff Film (2012)
- Goblin Problems (2012)
- Hymns (2012)
- Waste Yrself (2012)
- Bonus EP (2016)[22]
Singles[edit]
- 'Sonic Youth' (2015)
- 'Greatest Trick' (2016)
References[edit]
- ^Jewell, Sean. 'Teen Suicide (the Band)'. The Stranger. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^'Teen Suicide - waste yrself'. Sputnik Music.
- ^'Teen Suicide: i will be my own hell because there is a devil inside my body'. Portals Music. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^Sacher, Andrew. 'Alex G played Knitting Factory, touring with Teen Suicide'. Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^Lim, William. 'New teen suicide EP, band breaks up'. Sputnik Music. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^Moore, Shannon. 'Chart Discovery: Milkstains (WRIR), Teen Suicide (WMHC) and WLISPS (WCBN)'. CMJ.[permanent dead link]
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-05-10.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ^Kelley, Quinn. 'Teen Suicide's Sam Ray talks signing to Run For Cover Records'. Baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'Log In or Sign Up to View'. Facebook.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'2014 Digital Sampler, by Topshelf Records'. Topshelfrecords.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^Mashurova, Nina. 'Run for Cover to reissue remastered Teen Suicide music'. Infectious Magazine. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^'Thanks for Listening, by Paper Trail Records'. Paper Trail Records. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'Joy Void #001 - 'Sonic Youth' 7''. Joyvoid.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot, by teen suicide'. Teensuicide.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'Teen Suicide - It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot'. Runforcoverrecords.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'GREATEST TRICK B/W SYCAMORE, by The World's Greatest'. Teensuicide.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2017-10-26. Retrieved 2017-10-26.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ^'american pleasure club (teen suicide) - you call on me'. YouTube. 2017-11-19. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
- ^Kelley, Quinn. 'Teen Suicide's Sam Ray talks signing to Run For Cover Records'. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2017-12-31.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ^Tok, Bernie Sanders On Tik (24 January 2019). 'initially. label asked if they could put it out as a 12' record so we did that, but i wish we hadn't. it was always supposed to be a free mixtape, thats why it was full of songs made out of samples & it had so many styles going on etc'. Twitter. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^'New Music: Teen Suicide – 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes''. Spin.com. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Pleasure_Club&oldid=897956778'
Teen Suicide is the old band of Sam Ray, whose other projects include Ricky Eat Acid and Julia Brown. He resurrected the band for a 26-track blowout of an album that is constantly absorbing and equal parts astonishing and frustrating.
Featured Tracks:
If you couldn't tell from the title or its 26 tracks or 69-minute length, It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot is A) a glorious communal blowout and B) goddamn mess. Its intentions are messy: Sam Ray resurrected his old band by popular demand (vis-à-vis his other projects Ricky Eat Acid and Julia Brown) and will be touring throughout the spring, yet they are also calling it their last will and testament. Its presentation signifies wild ambition, but Ray appears more interested in capturing fleeting bits of casual brilliance than making good on grandiose designs. The ugliest song is called 'Beauty,' one of the prettiest is 'Neighborhood Drug Dealer.' It's constantly absorbing and equal parts astonishing and frustrating. It's a party you can hear from down the block and yet still requires a password at the door.
Ray's ascent as an indie/DIY auteur has been propelled by his prolificity and his equally active desire to circumvent any barrier between him and his listeners. This personality (or persona) is as crucial to full appreciation of Celebration as the music. As he shows with his projects outside of Teen Suicide, Ray is direct, omnivorous and unpredictable: Celebration feints at stop-start post-punk, patches in some nifty acoustic progressions on loan from Alex G's Beach Music, flirts with psychedelia and throws out some jazz noodling as well. And this is just the first song.
At their core, Teen Suicide is the most 'indie rock' of Ray's projects and in that form, they write poignant song-sketches that can traffic in sarcasm ('it's not art unless you laugh, one of these days I'm gonna laugh') and have a poignant sweetness ('Falling Out of Love With Me'). But the lo-fi recording quality serving as Celebration's binding agent has a far greater effect the further Teen Suicide get away from guitars. The resplendent piano rolls of 'I Don't Think It's Too Late' and 'The Stomach of the Earth' are slightly scuffed and distorted, like a tear-stained take on the Range's recent emotronica. 'My Little World' touches on Aphex Twin's early ambient work, while the crackle surrounding the harps and strings on 'V.I.P.' carry the haunted-house eeriness of the Caretaker's Victrola memory experiments. It's hard to think of any album, probably ever, that managed to sound like these three and Sparklehorse in the same hour.
His use of tape manipulation and sampled orchestral bric-a-brac dutifully marked in the treasure map-like credits (Girlpool, Elvis Depressedly, Alex G, Porches, Owen Pallett and more) put him in the lineage of Elephant 6, Microphones or early Saddle Creek. But Teen Suicide's crucial novelty lies in how they connect modern forms of communication and dissemination—it's a celebration of how Bandcamp and Soundcloud can allow songs to be released in an instant while constantly mutating (this was not invented by The Life of Pablo) and, of course, any form of social media.
Most of the lyrics appear to be trimmed to fit for maximum impact within a character limit and even if they're not necessarily about him, Ray takes advantage of the presumption that songwriting is an autobiographical mode. As a result, the listener is inclined to relate to the person going through the harrowing narratives here. They all read like casual conversations, but the kind you can only have when the speaker has a total lack of a filter and a complete trust in the person on the other end. Some of his best lines are brazen provocations ('depression is a construct'); many sound like jokes but are devastating insights about drug abuse and suicidal ideation. Most importantly, they're very, very quotable. Witness the best of the lot: 'Pavement were an OK band/but you don't gotta sound like them.'
This isn’t some kind of Kill Yr Idols mission statement--Celebration has enough ’90s indie rock in its genes to suggest that Ray thinks Pavement were at least OK. But most of Ray’s colleagues in Orchid Tapes or Run For Cover or any of the leading figures in post-emo are developing intensely dedicated, often young fanbases without the previously established means of generating sustainable indie rock success or the previously established canonical influences. The bands they sometimes remind me of—Bright Eyes circa Fevers & Mirrors, for instance—won only begrudging respect from older listeners at the time it was released. The directness with which it speaks to its audience makes it easy to imagine Celebration inspiring a lot of its younger listeners to start a band. For anyone else, it’s just an inspiring testament to indie rock’s continued vitality.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article erroneously referred to another Sam Ray project as Julian Brown. That band is in fact named Julia Brown.
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