Kentucky punk band Teenage Rehab released their brand new EP “Break Yourself” today and you can stream that bad boy while you read a little Q&A with the band below.
Your new EP “Break Yourself” releases today, what are the most exciting aspects of this EP?
Alex: To me the exciting part is the songs! I think they’re a badass group of tunes, plus giving our friends/fans some new shit to listen to is always nice! Our producer and longtime friend Shelby Preklas was really swinging for the fences with the overall vibe on this EP and I think it definitely comes through, because we were having a damn blast! There were drunken pizza parties, skateboarding in the studio, fights, arguments, lots of mexican food and lots of laughs.
Who’s that on the cover?
Alex: I take that back, the best part of this new release is probably the cover art hahah. Thats our bass player Thomas Habit falling flat on his ass while skateboarding. Danny was filming and he sent that over to me, so we just knew we had to use it somehow. Its funny as hell and Thomas loves it too! Hell, we all do.
It seems that your sound has always stayed true to that aggressive , in your face attitude but how has the band evolved through the years? I noticed some ska elements on this release.
Alex: We’ve never shyed away from any of our influences and for the most part we write about fleeting moments of anger or a case where someone has condensended or wronged us in our individual lives so lots of our music has leaned to that old school hardcore style and really it still does. However, we’re not always pissed off and a few funny or lighthearted songs have come out through the years hahah. On “Break Yourself” there are 2 aggressive songs and 2 less aggressive songs. We’ve started including our influence from Bob Marley, Bad Brains, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Rancid and Sublime. So I guess that would be evolving our style. Whatever we write will be Teenage Rehab songs whether they’re punk, hardcore, pop, reggae , ska, rock, metal , country or even polka haha.
Looking through your catalog I notice you’ve been with many record labels, why did you guys depart with those labels?
Alex: We started out on Amp Records from Canada way back in 2001 and we released “More Than A Job” there too in 2004. In 2007 we hooked up with Jailhouse Records and released “Goodbye Sanity” (08) and “Let’s Be Enemies” (09) with them. In 2010 we released “Abuse Your Solution” with I Hate Punk Rock Records from St. Louis. With all these labels we’ve had good relationships and we’re appreciative to them for working with us and spending money on us haha. We just decided to try other avenues and see what could happen. We’re still friends with all these people too! Now that we’ve started Revert Records we’re super excited about what this path holds as well.
You mentioned that you guys are running Revert Records, what does that add or take away from the the whole process of releasing music?
Well like I was saying with our past labels I appreciate what they did because now doing it ourselves is pretty eye opening haha. Making all the phone calls to the pressing plant, scheduling with our release date, distribution , all the e-mails and phone calls for publicity , all that is now there too but we’re enjoying it.
Sadly it seems that most bands give in , give up & start new bands constantly. What is is it exactly that’s pushed this band to keep going on for so long?
Alex: We don’t do this for a living. We all have full time jobs, wives and/or kids. So I think alot of bands get hung up on succeeding where we feel like we’ve actually overacheived by just playing a handful of shows or releasing an album . We’re not goal oriented people at all haha. We love making music, the writing and composition, we’re happy just to be doing it with guys we love and its drama free. When you get on a great tour or get cool exposure somewhere its all a cherry on top because those things aren’t guaranteed. Work is always coming monday morning so playing in our punk rock band for 17 years has been a great way to shake all the negative vibes that happen in life and have some laughs and fun while we’re at it. I think that’s the trick.
With all that said you guys seem pretty laid back , what kinda hobbies and stuff do you get into outside of music?
Alex: Danny, Thomas and Dr. Dietch are all old school skateboarders and they still get together a few times a month and go skating. Danny , Thomas and I are all into fight sports like boxing and UFC. Speaking for myself, I’m a super geek. I love comic books and wrestling. My brother Adam and I run a collectibles business and we do comic book conventions 5 or 6 times a year. Its a cool thing to do. I’m an Undertaker fan so I was sad to see the Wrestlemania streak end this past year hahaha. I love hitting the road for Comic-Con, I have been going to Chicago Comic-Con for 15 years!!! 100% nerd!
Speaking of long road trips, what other bands are you listening to on the road?
Alex: For me only – Lucero, Metallica, Masked Intruder, CJ Ramone, Megadeth, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fugazi, Chris Barrows new album and that new Rancid.
What are future plans for Teenage Rehab? Tours, more releases?
Alex: We’re doing some shows here and there but we’re hoping to be touring in Feb. I’ve been touring alot drumming with The Queers and Teenage Rehab is the backing band on the new Queers re-issue “Beyond The Valley” . Joe wanted to re-record the whole album so we did that with him and it fuckin smokes the original!!! As far as Teenage Rehab we’ll be releasing another EP in 2015!!! I’m hoping to announce a great package tour here soon too. So we’re busy as hell. Teenage Rehab is always our main focus.
That’s awesome, finishing out with a “Break Yourself” question, where do we buy it?
Alex: Its available at Bandcamp, Interpunk, iTunes, Xbox Live , Amazon and a shitload of other digital marketplaces. I reccommend Interpunk and Bandcamp because they’re super cool and work closely with bands.