Teens In Trouble / Bat Boy Split EP Track-By-Track Breakdown

Teens in Trouble - "August"

This song is about being on the road last August, forming deep connections with people you’ve just met or getting to know old friends in a new way. I started writing it right after my solo tour with Desert Mambas ended, and finished writing it after touring with Bat Boy and The Dreaded Laramie. It’s for anyone like me who tends to keep their guard up and is careful about letting people in, but sometimes finds themselves unexpectedly cracking open. It's also for anyone who’s missing someone and is counting down the days until they get to see them again.

Bat Boy - "Oh Wee!"

I remember Jake [Guralnik] turning to me during the first show of the infamous tour while Dreaded Laramie was on stage playing and him saying, “Is this my new favorite band?” And I said it back to him when Teens went on after them. That feeling only multiplied over the next week. Me and the Bat Boys raced to every set to make sure we were front and center for both bands, in part because we were slowly falling in love with all eight of them collectively, but also because we wanted our dumb happy faces to be the first ones they saw when they looked out. When I got home, I wanted to write a song that felt how I felt every night: deliriously silly and excited about music again. In the studio, everyone from both bands added stuff, sometimes silly phrases and sometimes the legendary guitar solos (courtesy of the wickedly talented MC of the Dreaded Laramie). I love the song, I love my friends. Oh wee.

Teens in Trouble - "Ghosts"

This is my favorite Bat Boy song. I had listened to their record a bunch before we went on tour together last August, but hearing this song live was a whole different experience. When the band faded out and Hannah started crooning the "Oohs," I felt it. It's really beautiful. I tried to capture that same feeling in our cover, and having Hannah harmonize with me made it even more special. We also wanted to lean into the haunting theme of the song's title, and working with my friend and producer Randy Moore on the ending of the song (which we call "the Nosferatu part") was really exciting!

Bat Boy - "Brave"

"Brave" was one of our favorite Teens in Trouble songs (they’re all amazing). This is one we always shouted along to with the Sweet Caroline “Bah bah baaaaahs.” I think when we envisioned what song would lend itself to our kind of rowdier sound, this one immediately came to mind. Me and Lizzie have different styles of singing which was such an interesting thing to play with, but her melodies are just so sweet and sad and wonderful. It’s a beautiful song. Don’t make me cry. Shut up.