Teenage Dads are ready to riot into your life with some euphoric indie rock. Over the past 3 years the Mornington Peninsula four-piece have been honing their songwriting craft and finding a unique dynamic that celebrates a distinct contrast of humour and vulnerability. Their new EP ‘Club Echo’ (out now) is a victorious embodiment of growth and understanding. 

Led by the euphoric single ‘Cheerleader’, the EP remains at a high energy as they explore who they are as a band. Mastering an epic live show, this body of work really cements their vision as you can immediately imagine hearing every single one of these songs live and ironically losing yourself and your friends in a mosh pit. 

I recently chatted to Lead Vocalist Jordy Finlay from Teenage Dads about the growth in production behind their new EP ‘Club Echo’, as well as explored the creative processes behind songs like ‘I Believe It’, ‘Elevator’ and ‘Come On, Cowboy. Fire Your Gun!’. Check it out BELOW;

THOMAS BLEACH: Your new EP ‘Club Echo’ is a bold collection of tracks that explores perspective, and hears you pushing your production into an even punchier territory. What is the most surprising thing you think people are going to hear or get to know about you as a band from listening to this EP from start to finish?

I think right from the start listeners will notice the production on this EP. It’s the first time we’ve enlisted help on the mixing side, with special thanks to Steven Schram, whose experience and expertise is something we greatly appreciate and think that our listeners will appreciate and be surprised by.  

TB: ’Elevator’ opens the EP with a sun-soaked production that sonically sits somewhere in-between Ball Park Music and Grouplove. What were your sonical references/inspirations for this track specifically?

We were listening to a lot of Vampire Weekend writing this one, specifically ‘A-Punk’ and ‘This Life’. We wanted to create the feeling of joy and euphoria you feel for someone special. 

TB: ’I Believe It’ is a song that immediately stands out with its different production levels. Can you explain the creative process behind this track? 

This song was born in the midst of the 2020 lockdown periods. Connor had just picked up some recording equipment to keep himself sane, and this was the first song that he sent us using that new gear. After a few solid months of collaboration within the band, we recorded the song in my shed and sent it off for mixing. It was really fun creating this one.

TB: ’Come On, Cowboy. Fire Your Gun!’ sounds like a song that would’ve been quite fun and playful to write. What did the writing session look and feel like for this song? 

I had written the first half of the song about 6 months before the outro of the song had been written, and when I showed the demos to the rest of the guys we all came to the conclusion that they worked really well with each other and after a little fine-tuning we got it to where it is now. The main thing we always strive for in writing is the reception in a live setting, and we took this into account when creating this song. 

TB: What song from the EP took the longest to hone its vision sonically?

‘Cheerleader’! Pretty much every song on this EP went through many versions compared to past material, but ‘Cheerleader’ takes the cake. It was written in June 2020, and we re-recorded it multiple times in the span of 3 months before we finally got the all clear. In spite of the changes, we were still able to see our vision through and come out with a song that we like. 

TB: You’ve recorded an acoustic version of ‘Cheerleader’ which shows the song in a completely different light. What is your favourite thing about this version of the song? 

I really like the bridge of the acoustic version, which sounds straight out of a Fleetwood Mac record. This version as a whole feels really special for us and was a lot of fun to put together. 

TB: Looking back on your 2019 EP ‘Red’, what is a take away you all had that became a big focus point creatively/thematically for this EP?

‘Red’ was very isolated in its recording and writing, with myself taking on a big role in all aspects of the track listing. This EP we wanted there to be more inclusion across the board, and we wanted to spend more time on it rather than rushing out something we weren’t happy with. We also wanted to up the production to give our songs the boost they have needed for a long time. 

TB: Let’s play a quick game of rapid fire questions about the EP. Are you ready? 

No *laughs*. 

TB: The emoji that best describes our EP ‘Club Echo’ is…

The poo emoji

TB: The song that is still sitting in our drafts but nearly made the EP was…

You wouldn’t know the name of it.

TB: A lyric on the EP that makes me smile is…

“DAAAH” from ‘I Believe It’

TB: The song we are most excited to perform live is…

‘Come on, Cowboy. Fire your Gun!’

TB: The song from the EP that you should play for your friends first if they’ve never heard us before would be…

‘Cheerleader’!

‘Club Echo’ is out now!