Bummer Pop Band Future Teens Hope Their Third Album Self Help “Hurts In A Good Way”
The Boston-based DIY rock band Future Teens just released their latest album, Self Help. The four person collective consists of: singer and guitarist Daniel Radin, drummer Colby Blauvelt, bassist Maya Mortman and singer and guitarist Amy Hoffman. Self Help signifies a new era for the band both sonically and lyrically with Radin sharing, “I hope people hear the hope in the record.” The band sat down with Five Cent Sound to talk about the release of Self Help, One Direction and party jail.
Image courtesy of Future Teens.
What was the beginning of Future Teens?
Hoffman: Future Teens was like a “bit” band with Daniel and one of our good friends, Gabe Goodman, who's also a really incredible songwriter and is off doing his own really cool things. And then they were like, “Dang, we should play shows.” And it just kind of kept snowballing from there. Now the four of us are the band, and somehow we're here.
Radin: Yeah, we had no intention to be here. But we're happy anyway.
Hoffman: A very happy accident.
How did the rest of you end up coming into the band?
Radin: All various and somewhat uninteresting, but exciting ways. Real quick, Amy and I met on this great app you can use to find bandmates. And I'm not gonna say the name; it's a secret. (Radin and Hoffman laugh.) We've said it before. It's not actually a secret.
Hoffman: It's not a secret. It's this cool app where you can say, “Wow, you play guitar and I play guitar. And I wonder if maybe we should trade music.” It's called Tinder. (Laughs.)
Radin: Then, Maya went to school with our old drummer, Dylan. And Colby and I were in a band prior to this, and I asked him to play when Dylan left to pursue tattooing.
Where did the name Future Teens teams come from?
Radin: The name kind of came before any band existed. You know, when a band has a lot of teen followers. Like One Direction, for example. I don't know if One Direction is still a band or even a band considered. But imagine in 10 years One Direction is still playing: Will there be new teenage fans? Or will there be 28 year old fans you know, 26 year old fans? So I wondered if Future Teens will listen to that music or if the fans will age with the band—that's where it came from.
Hoffman: Very philosophical.
So Future Teens is the next One Direction?
Radin: Yeah that's the game plan.
Hoffman: Yeah, if I'm not emo Harry Styles [one day], then who am I?
Radin: I think you're better at acting than him.
Hoffman: Maybe. I haven't seen that movie yet. But I hear it's bad…Not us weighing in on the Don't Worry Darling drama.
Radin: Everyone kept saying DWD on Twitter [to refer to Don't Worry Darling] and my brain filled it in as “Da Walking Dead.” I was like, ‘Why is everyone talking about The Walking Dead and saying, “Da Walking Dead” (Laughs.) I know it doesn't make any sense. That's perfect.
How did each of you begin your musical journey?
Hoffman: I got my first guitar when I was like eight years old, and my dad taught me how to play “Old MacDonald.” I just fell in love with it and kept playing, and started writing songs as a teenager when I discovered Fall Out Boy and Taking Back Sunday. Then I made friends that I really loved writing music with and here we are.
Mortman: I took piano lessons when I was four, and then spent 10 years dancing ballet and spent a lot of time with classical music. When I was 13, I was really into Led Zeppelin and Green Day, so I wanted to play guitar. And that was my greatest love.
Blauvelt: My first instrument, I tried to play guitar and I never really fell in love with it. Then my dad got me a drum set when I was 11, and from that point on, I was pretty much obsessed with playing drums. When I got into high school, I met some people in jazz band and started rock bands with them. I always wanted to play loud rock, [but] as I got older, I got more into jazz.I just kept playing with different kinds of people [and] bands until I finally met Daniel through a friend of mine. Daniel and I played in [a] folk band, and I was like, “Man, Future Teens seems like it's so fun to play in.” [I told Daniel], “If you ever need a drummer for a fill in, let me know.” And then he was like, “Funny you say that, Dylan's leaving the band, so we need somebody to go on tour with us.” And it's been great ever since.
Hoffman: And now you're in the renowned jazz band Future Teens.
Mortman: Future Teens One Direction.
Radin: I took the Bruce Springsteen method of music where I knew I wasn't going to be the best singer or guitarist, so I just focused on songwriting. And that's always been most fun to me.
Hoffman: Daniel is also a really great engineer and music producer. He does a lot of really cool stuff in that zone. Stop selling yourself short over there.
Mortman: And bass player!
Hoffman: Daniel played bass in this band, originally.
Blauvelt: You studied jazz in Italy, dude.
Hoffman: We all studied jazz at some point.
“We’ve all experienced life extremely differently, obviously. But the ways that those things intersect and where we meet each other in them really comes together in the songwriting because the whole process is so collaborative.”
Now let's talk about Self Help. How would you guys describe the album?
Hoffman: My go-to three words are: “mental health bangers.”
Mortman: When we were recording, I was channeling two moods: one was stadium rock, and the other one was ’90s slacker rock.
Blauvelt: I would describe this album as the distilled Future Teens sound. From all the previous albums and EPs, this one is just the next iteration to me, but in a more direct songwriting way. The songs are “to the point” for me, in a really good way.
Hoffman: It's the most sonically-focused.
Mortman: I would add that it also sounds like the older sibling Hard Feelings.
Where did the title “Self Help” come from?
Radin: We were recording vocals with Andy [D. Park], our producer, and [when thinking] about an album title, seemed to be a theme throughout the record of asking for help and needing help, and we just all came up with it. It was very natural, and everyone was into it. And it's a little tongue-in-cheek, which we like.
Hoffman: It’s kind of a take on how the best way to help yourself is often to ask others for help. And that’s largely what the record is about, our way of approaching self help…We didn't set out to write 10 mental health bangers, either. It just felt like something that has really been prevalent in our friendships, that overlap in emotions. We've all experienced life extremely differently, obviously. But the ways that those things intersect and where we meet each other in them really comes together in the songwriting because the whole process is so collaborative. It wouldn't be anything close to what it is without any given one of us.
Blauvelt: Also, coming out of the COVID lockdown period, I feel like all of us went through some pretty dramatic changes individually. Our lives were so different [pre-pandemic] than they are now, and I feel like this album is a reflection of that period for all of us.
Hoffman: Daniel has been saying lately that in this era of pandemic, we've all kind of become version 3.0 of ourselves. And that really shows in the record, how we cared for ourselves when things were really painful and got better.
You guys said when you came out with [the] Deliberately Alive [EP], it was a reflection of your growth during COVID. How do you feel this album differs from that EP?
Radin: That EP was the first time we felt like we could take some more chances with songwriting, arrangement, and instrumentation. On an EP, it feels like there's less pressure to have a concept, or [something] that feels complete. I think we took some of that sound and brought it with us. That combined with working with a producer in person for the first tim, solidified what we discovered.
Hoffman: Deliberately Alive kind of sits in despair, and Self Help, thematically, takes an active step toward not wanting to feel bad forever. A lot of [Deliberately Alive] is [saying], “I accept that things are bad and will be bad. Maybe it could be better, but right now, it's just bad. And that's all I can feel.” But Self Help is a lot like, “Damn, things really are bad, often, but there are steps that I can take for myself.” It's that progression.
Radin: It's interesting because we've historically written a lot of “sad” music, and I think a lot of people would still label us as sad, but I don't feel like this album is as ‘sad’ as previous music we've made. Maybe it’s cathartic. I hope people hear the hope in the record. That's the goal.
Hoffman: Yeah, I hope it hurts in a nice way.
This album feels very garage rock, early-2000s inspired. How do you feel this album differs from your others sonically?
Hoffman: It sounds more expensive. (Laughs.)
Radin: Partly, it's just that this is the first time we've all been in the same room recording a record together.
Hoffman: It’s the first time we didn't record it in this room.
Mortman: There's a lot more layers, a lot more synth.
Radin: We were a little less precious. When we're all playing together, it's like, “Let's just get the most solid part. That’s where we all felt locked in.” [Whereas] my part has to be the best it can be. It's more like, “No, let's just make the song the best it can be.”
Hoffman: Having Andy there with us really made a massive difference. We would sit and hear one person's recording, each part at a time. We would toil away with our guitar tones and really try to dial in everything perfectly. And Andy was able to harness that energy and be like, “Nope, that sounds great. Let's do it, run with it, turn this knob a little bit. Awesome. It's good.” He's someone that we trust so much, so that made it easy to be a little less precious. Just very full of life, in a way I'm excited about.
Radin: Yeah, I’d say this album has one direction to it. (Everyone laughs.)
“It was that enjoyment of playing with everybody and being excited about it while it was happening. It definitely changed the way that I played. ”
What was a highlight or favorite memory from recording together for the first time?
Mortman: I’m just thinking about watching MTV in the Airbnb. We stayed in this wonderful Airbnb, where we had the whole basement that was all carpeted and there was like a big 60-inch TV. Every night after recording, we went back there with our candy and we watched MTV Classic, and there was a different theme of videos every night. It was very inspiring.
Hoffman: I keep coming back to the day Dan came in to record his part on “Team Sports.” It was truly an extremely special and really bananas moment, to see our friend and…have him so ready and willing to jump in and take that song where none of us expected it to go. Then we got so deliriously tired, because that was like day nine of recording.
Blauvelt: I would say my favorite part of doing it all together in the studio was getting excited about hearing each song finished. hen we are recording, I [go in with] scratch tracks, maybe Daniel and Amy's guitars, and maybe some bass, but I never get to hear the song while I'm recording it. So it's hard to bring that energy that you have when you're playing with everybody. It was that enjoyment of playing with everybody and being excited about it while it was happening. It definitely changed the way that I played. And the self-editing process while you're doing it is so much better when you're doing it with everybody,because you're hearing it as it's happening. It’s not like, “Oh, I wish I could have changed that drum part because I didn't know you were going to play your guitar this way.” Hearing thinking that in retrospect, it's like a live self-editing as it's happening. So that part was really nice.
Mortman: And we're all responding to each other at the same time, instead of just one person responding to a recording.
Hoffman: Yeah, it feels the most like us of anything we've done. I feel like we are very much a live band. It's our favorite thing in the world to do. So, getting to put that energy onto the record, it's really exciting.
Radin: I think echoing off everyone just playing the same song over 20 times so we get the right tape, and then going into the control room, listening back, and being like, “Oh, my God, it sounds awesome. This is great.” Because in the headphones, it's easy to just be like, “I gotta nail my part.” But you get to go in and hear the bass or the guitar, the drums, something you weren't noticing while you were trying to nail your pardon. It's extra exciting.
Hoffman: That sounds like an exaggeration, playing it 20 times, but I think we literally did play "Well Enough” at least 22 or 27 times. We were all absolutely broken people. And then getting to hear it, we're like, “Alright, this is really cool. I feel better now. And also, can you leave?”
It definitely paid off because “Well Enough” felt like it belongs on a coming of age soundtrack. The entire album felt like that. If you could pick a film to have Future Teens feature in, what would you pick?
Hoffman: Oh, man. First of all, my two dreams is Future Teens in a coming of age movie and Future Teens in a reality TV show. Those are my top two.
What reality TV show would you pick?
Hoffman: I mean, obviously, I want us to be the musical guests on The Bachelor.
Radin: Oh my gosh. That’d be funny. Wait, they do musical guests?
Hoffman: Yeah, it's always a D-list country songwriter.
Radin: What do they do? Play live?
Hoffman: Yeah! They play on a date.
Blauvelt: What? Really? There’s a band there?
Mortman: Wow, I would do it!
Radin: That sounds hilarious.
Hoffman: But it's usually like really sappy love songs. Except for one time. I’m about to really show my ass here, to use one of my dad's favorite phrases. I love reality television—too much. So, Rachel broke up with Jordan V, or whatever the fuck his name is, on their one-on-one date. Instead of going into the musical guest playing a sappy love song, they had a breakup song cued up.
Radin: Wow, we're the backup in case the date doesn't go well.
So Future Teens wants to be on The Bachelor, is what I'm hearing.
Blauvelt: Did you watch Love Island yet?
Hoffman:I haven't watched Love Island yet.
Colby, which song would you assign to a Love Island couple?
Blauvelt: Helpy’s song.
Hoffman: “Good Reason” is Helpy’s song. The puppet in the music video is named Helpy. And we've started calling that Helpy’s song.
Blauvelt: I still don't know the names of the songs.
Which song is your favorite off the album and why?
Radin: For me, it changes, but we did just work on an arrangement for the last song on the record. I'm really excited to play that live. We don't get to play quiet songs very often, so having it on the record and getting played live will be a fun change of pace.
Blauvelt: I don't have a favorite to listen to, necessarily, but to play. I have a lot of fun playing “Real Change,” mostly because my drum part is really, really simple. But I have to make it sound and feel really good. And that's what I enjoy when I play live: making a really simple part sound intentional.
Mortman: Yeah, I also don’t have a favorite to listen to, but I love playing “Team Sports.” I love playing bass to that great chord progression; [it’s] very satisfying.
Hoffman: You get to riff on that one, it’s fun. I have a hard time picking. I think “Growing Pains” is one of the songs I'm most proud of, from a songwriting perspective.We've been learning the whole record, and it's so hard and it's so fun.
After Self Help, what is next for you?
Hoffman: Hopefully touring a bunch.
Radin: We’re touring in two weeks. We're hitting a third of the country and then hopefully, we'll hit the other two-thirds next year. We want to go back to the UK; we had a blast there. Wherever people want to see us, we'll go.
Hoffman: We just want to rock. We've missed it.
Is there anything else you guys would like to say?
Radin: The only thing that I will say is that, this album would not have come out without [everyone involved.] We have an amazing team of people that helped in every aspect. We're all busy adults, so having people to be like, “Alright, here, you need to complete these tasks,” or “I sent this email for you.” Just all the minutiae of putting out a record.
Hoffman: We had to delegate stuff for the first time ever. So the team is the best.
Radin: Shoutout to the Future Team.
Hoffman: It's really surreal to be in a place where we can say we have a team. Especially coming from a DIY band booking basement shows and sleeping really uncomfortably on tour.
Radin: Or being in party jail.
Mortman: Party jail!
Hoffman: Party jail is where you play a house show and you're staying at the house where you played the show and you just want to go to bed. But everyone is still up drinking beer and wanting to talk to you.
Mortman: I hate party jail.
Thanks so much for sitting down and chatting today.
Image courtesy of Future Teens.