Back on March 18th, the Progressive Indie duo known as All Human released their full-length album, entitled Teenagers, You Don’t Have to Die. Featuring Vocalist/Guitarist Adam “Rupert” Fisher of Fear Before the March of Flames/Orbs and Drummer/Vocalist Brian Ferrara of Trophy Scars, Teenagers, You Don’t Have to Die is provoking positive reactions from listeners who are saying the album is mind-blowing. Difficult to categorize, their music is a colorful blend of styles that is both potent as well as stimulating to the senses. Now fans can learn more about the seventeen tracks that make up Teenagers, You Don’t Have to Die inside an exclusive track by track feature here on CrypticRock. Read what the dynamic team has to say about each song below:
Let Me Be Your Mutt –
Adam: I wanted to start the record off with an extension of the last record. The song is the same progression as the last track off “Catholic Guilt or the Queerest of Thoughts,” just a half step up key wise so that it would go into the next track seamlessly. It’s the exact same synth sounds and guitar track as “Let Me Be Your Daughter,” just pitched.
Brian: I knew it was a continuation of the last record cause it was the first thing Adam told me. Maybe he thought I’d be creeped out if he didn’t? Never really asked him, honestly. I feel like it’s just a perfect intro for the record for the vibe aimed for, and it transitions so well into “And So Peter Dances.”
And So Peter Dances –
Adam: Wrote the main riff while my sisters dog Peter was dancing on me. It was a working title then I just kept it. I wrote it in a very lonely period. You can mosh to it. No…you cannot.
Brian: This was the first song I did a demo for and also did the real tracking for. When I was doing the demo to send to Adam, I got SO mad cause right before the very end sedition, my stick went through my snare head. In the demo you hear it get quieter and quieter, and the demo is actually exactly the same except I added 2 more different little snare sections in the real version cause they’d transitioned so well from the other parts. In my head, I was like “I can’t NOT do that! It’s too good!”
Headless Friends –
Adam: Inspired by Nada Surf and missing friends after moving from Colorado to Long Beach. Angela Jane, who sings on much of the record, really brought a lot to the table melodically.
Brian: This was probably my favorite to do vocally. Like Adam said, Angela brought a lot out in this song, and I had so much fun whaling on vocals following her melodies as a double.
Where’s My Upslope? –
Adam: This was a song that I can’t even imagine not having David Marion do vocals on. It was a perfect fit for his voice. “Wheres My Upslope” is a long running inside joke with a few friends. I wanted to give them a little tongue in cheek shout out.
Brian: I think Adam (John too) may have been a little skeptical about this cause Adam had just sent me a demo later on, and it was all electronic. It was actually kind of Hip Hop sounding (which was badass, and got got me all jacked up, haha), and I was stoked on it. We weren’t positive if it was definitely going to be on the record, but I told everyone, “Let me do the drums, and we’ll just see what happens. Could be awesome, and if not, we’ll cut it.”
Lets Step Outside and See What Explodes –
Adam: Wrote this deliberately to get out of “Where’s My Upslope?” and into “Even the Dogs Stare.” The title basically describes the mood of the song. Basically, expecting the worst. Feeling like everything is gonna suck. Then the song kinda presents this hopeful turn like maybe everything will be OK. I left it hanging with that uncomfortable squealing synth though because I didn’t want it to be too hopeful.
Brian: Man, I had so much fun doing all the interludes. It’s somewhat of a sad one. I really wanted to have the drums with a lot of reverb so it was more drone-like, and when the bass drum/toms are hit, it feels like a shotgun to your stomach. Not that I know what that feels like, but that’s my best way of explaining what I was trying to express musically.
Even the Dogs Stare –
Adam: This one was inspired by a Wings song. That stompy bass and drum vibe in the verses. This song is kinda special because I had six of my close friends sing on it. Whole lot of voices on it.
Brian: This was one of my favorites to track. I actually didn’t really know exactly what I was going to do for some parts cause I knew the lyrics were changing in some sections of it (David’s part). However, I knew the harmonies were staying the same, so I sorta just went in with the idea of, “Let’s have some fun with this one.” I had ideas, but I just wasn’t exactly sure how they’d sound with the newer elements that were going to be brought in later. My dog probably still hates me from hearing me demo so many different ideas for it from the other room. Then again, I’d come out and he’d be zonked out..maybe he knew it was called “Even the Dogs Stare.”
A Healthy Fear of Women –
Adam: Whole song started with the main piano loop and the “Sometimes Behave So Strangely” sample. My favorite part is where the real drums kick in. That was Brian’s call. It really picks up right there. Lyrically, it’s one of the odder ones in my opinion.
Brian: Adam had a great loop going throughout the entire song. I was a little hesitant to change ANYTHING, but he was really into the idea of when the natural drums start. I basically wanted to follow what he had as best as I could cause we wanted to keep some of those electronic drums in there too like with a few others.
Desert Fox Cubs Play Under a Sky Full of Stars –
Adam: I wrote this one when I was living in an apartment with Angela. It wasn’t originally going to be an All Human song. I was really happy with the music but was sick of the sound of my own voice. I asked her to write the lyrics and vocals and she just killed it. Musically, it is very John Murphy inspired.
Brian: “Fox” Cubs was a really fun one to do. I was switching with sticks and hot rods on this. I really just wanted to give it a spine/backbeat, and let Angela’s vocals take the listener for a ride while it crescendos throughout and be big at the end.
Night swimmer (Camp Ohio) –
Adam: There’s a fishing hole by my parents house in Ohio. My sister told me that some time ago two brothers were swimming there. One got stuck on part of a fence or something at the bottom. The other one dove down to try and save him but they both ended up drowning. I don’t know if it was true, but it immediately put some pretty dark imagery into my head. I tried to get my friends kid to sing on it, but he said it was “too scary.” It’s basically just a lot of layers of me, Brian, and my friend Joel.
Brian: I had a lot of fun with this one. As soon as I heard it, I’d thought about really bringing that lower vocal track out more. So, I sang almost as deep as I could, and wanted it to retain the eerie vibe of Adam and Joel doing the really high harmonies that are meant to almost sound like a children’s choir. Only difference is we’re singing about some scary shit, haha.
I’m Afraid –
Adam: This is the first song I ever wrote entirely on piano. The demo was very basic piano however, as I’m not very good. The guy who played on it really made it so much more interesting. One of my favorites drum wise. Brian killed it on this one.
Brian: This was the very first song Adam sent me when first contacting me about working together. I was sold immediately cause I had the drums doing a shuffle idea literally right away. It was also so fun to do vocally. I sang on the entire song, and we both branch out in the choruses and then in the end within falsettos and high/low vocal harmonies. Originally, Adam did the high harmony at the end, and I was like, “Oh man, I’ve gotta mimic that as best as possible!” 99% of the time Adam would tell me he couldn’t hear the difference cause we sound scarily alike at times. So he’d say, “Make yours louder” all the time. Meanwhile, I had them cranked so he could hear! Haha. I felt good about it though..I was tracking alone and had nobody to say good/bad while in the midst of doing it, and when I sent it to Adam, he was all for it.
Don’t Come Home –
Adam: This one was originally mostly acoustic with very minimal production. When I went to record it for the album version, I really wanted to build up the ending and create this beautiful sad sprawling soundscape. I felt like the song deserved more than just a petering out.
Brian: Oh man. This was probably the most experimental song to track drums on. I was switching from brushes to hot rods and to sticks on this as well. At one point I even used one stick and one hot rod. If you listen very closely, there’s layers and layers of drum tracks; all from multiple snare tracks using brushes to using mallets on the toms and cymbals to build the crescendo. I think, altogether, there’s like 7 different tracks we have going together at the same time all building up, and then EVERYTHING together at the end when it comes in while it gets louder and builds more.
Sad Little World –
Adam: A long time ago I had a demo for this song with vocals. I played it at a few acoustic shows. It was very similar progression to “Don’t Come Home” so I shortened it and turned it into a segue into the next track. Plus I wanted to make it heavy cause there wasn’t really anything heavy like that on the rest of the record.
Brian: I love this interlude most out of all of them. I think it’s because it’s just so intense sounding and we really showcased that “horror theme” in this. It’s like what would play in my head if witnessing a horrific murder or something. Just such a cool vibe.
Asleep On the Church Steps –
Adam: Some bad grammar in the intro and bridge of this one. Whoops. Should have gone to college. I wanted to do a song where every chorus was a little different. Both verses are a little different and the intro/bridge are a little different. Just wanted to switch it up.
Brian: At first, this was the toughest one for me to figure out. I was a little hesitant in what I was doing in the verses until actually being in studio doing the tracking. I remember for the end, Adam saying, “Just like go nuts.” So, I was like, “Alright. Well, I’ll try?” It turned out to be one of my favorite songs on drums, especially that end section.
Don’t Ever Get Sad or the World Will Kill Your Best Friend –
Adam: I read an article where they said how the scene in Never Ending Story where Artax the horse dies in the swamp of sadness ruined some people’s childhood and they said Don’t Ever Get Sad or the World Will kill Your Best Friend was the message. It’s true, that scene killed me. On the first All Human record, the first track references this scene. I like to doing little references to other records I’ve made. There’s a few on TYDHTD.
Brian: I had the same vibe for this as I did for “Let’s Step Outside…” I wanted the drums all droned out with reverb to sorta create a spell on the listener and almost make it like they need to choose a specific instrument to listen to in order to catch everything that’s actually going on.
Rogue Bee –
Adam: This song didn’t originally have a chorus. Just kind of a slow building verse into the ending where some programmed drums kick in. Two years after I wrote it, I revisited it and added the chorus and gave it drums through most of it. Brian played so tight to the programmed drums throughout. That’s one of my favorite elements.
Brian: Adam had this song nailed with the electronic drums. I really wanted to give it a shot with putting the natural drums to it, and almost recreating what he had. Everything is so locked in cause I really wanted to keep it so simple and make it sound as though the programming wasn’t actual programming, but just other drum tracks I’d done in the background. I even used a rainstick to accent his lyrics for “…washed away by the oceans hand,” cause I thought it’d be awesome to have it sound like wave using the extra percussion. I nailed the sound of the snare with the throw off that he had had programmed. I didn’t even realize it was THAT similar until I listened back to the tracking I did right after.
Everyone That You Love is an Insect Now –
Adam: When “Nightswimmer” was “too scary” for my friends kid to sing I figured I’d get a take of him saying the title of the record. He was supposed to just speak it, but he kept singing it. There was like 3 takes all the same and then for some reason there was two takes of him singing a perfect harmony to it. I don’t know how he did that. I built all the music around the vocals he did.
Brian: When Adam told me he had his friends kid sing on it, I was like, “Oh man, this is going to be awesome!” I didn’t even do anything on this track aside from tell Adam my thoughts. He had it nailed down and I really didn’t want to mess with the vibe it already had going into such a creepy/different last song from the rest of the record.
In A Pig –
Adam: The last record ended with this long building instrumental. I wanted to do the opposite this time. Just a creepy little acoustic song that drops off with one last ominous lyric.
Brian: “In A Pig” was really cool to do. We were both doing similar to what call/responses are with our falsettos. I also whipped out a rain stick for the extra percussion in this too, but more so for an ambience/ear candy effect at the end when the drums come in. This one was really fun cause I experimented with a lot of different ideas; I had to meet the creepy vibe it had given me. It’s like Tim Burton-esque in a way, and I absolutely love that it’s the last track, and the idea it leaves you feeling, like, “Wow, wait. What just happened?”
TRACK LISTING:
1. Let Me Be Your Mutt
2. And So Peter Dances
3. Headless Friends
4. Where’s My Upslope?
5. Let’s Step Outside and See What Explodes
6. Even the Dogs Stare
7. A Healthy Fear of Women
8. Desert Fox Cubs Play Under a Sky Full of Stars
9. Night Swimmer (Camp Ohio)
10. I’m Afraid
11. Don’t Come Home
12. Sad Little World
13. Asleep on the Church Steps
14. Don’t Ever Get Sad or the World Will Kill Your Best Friend
15. Rogue Bee
16. Everyone That You Love is an Insect Now
17. In a Pig
Stream Teenagers, You Don’t Have to Die here
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