Off the Record

Tyler Farnes 0:00
This is WKNC 88.1 FM HD one Raleigh, North Carolina state's student run radio station, I am your host the loaf. And this is the slice on off the record. In the studio today, I'm pleased to have Lindsey Killian from Teens in Trouble. How are you? It's nice for you be here today.

Lindsey Killian 0:17
Thanks for having me here. It feels good to be here.

Tyler Farnes 0:20
Are you? You know, are you a fan of WKNC at all?

Lindsey Killian 0:24
I am, I was actually, so I moved to Raleigh, three years ago, just a few months before the pandemic started. And right away, like WKNC was a staple. When we moved. We, my husband and I moved here from California. And you know, we were both lovers of music, and we're happy to see, like, you know, every song on or a lot of what we listened to or the kinds of music we like we're being played on WKNC. So that's just now a preset.

Tyler Farnes 0:56
Nice. College radio is the best, I'll tell you how much anything below 91.5 below the dial, that's not commercial, always the best. So um, so first off, we'll get off with introductions. Who are you Lindsey Killian any cool information that we need to about you?

Lindsey Killian 1:17
Well, I guess since I'm here for Teens in Trouble, I play guitar and the vocals and I'm the main songwriter of teens in trouble. It's a solo project that I started in 2015. I have been in a bunch of different punk bands before then. Probably been playing music since I was I mean, I've been playing music since I was a kid with like piano, like my parents, maybe take piano lessons and all that. And then in just before high school, I was like, I want to play guitar. And I want to, you know, be in a band. And I guess, I think I wrote my first songs when I was a high school, in high school.

Tyler Farnes 1:57
So, so what is I guess more of a philosophical question, what is Teens in Trouble to sort of you and sort of like the band in general? Like, like, how do you see it? How do you envision it? Sort of, like, five years from now? You know, how would you get the name Teens in Trouble? You know, does Teens in Trouble mean anything? And, yeah, I mean, what's up with it?

Lindsey Killian 2:21
That's a lot in one uestion, let me see? Let me try to, so I guess what Teens in Trouble is to me. So I started this project. I feel like this year is sort of like, the time when more people are hearing about it, especially since we did just get signed to Asian Man Records, which is amazing. And,

Tyler Farnes 2:45
Awesom, congratulations,

Lindsey Killian 2:45
Thank you. But I started this project in 2015. And it was just a solo project, I put out a single called Santa Monica. And this started when I was sort of in between jobs. So I had a lot of time on my hands and my old band, The Glowing Stars, had been, we'd been broken up for a while. And so this was sort of like my way to get back into music. And I think the way that I saw it was it was really an exploration of my own voice. Because I've been in punk bands where I wasn't really singing per se, there's a lot of like, yelling. So yeah, as you do. And with the glowing stars, it was a little bit more melodic. I, it was sort of like toeing the line between singing and also yelling. And I felt like I wanted to try to do a little bit more with my voice with Teens in Trouble. And so Santa Monica is a little bit more poppy than anything I've written before.

Tyler Farnes 3:56
That was back in 2015, right?

Lindsey Killian 3:58
Yeah. So, and I had plans to release an EP back then. But when I started working again, that just sort of fell by the wayside. And it was really because of the pandemic. And having more time to reflect because of that. I revisited the project and started writing new songs again in 2020. And those songs would be these songs that you hear now on the EP that's out. And it's just been I think Teens in Trouble will always be sort of just like, an exploration slash playground for like, my style of songwriting and finding my voice I think it's, I feel like this is the most authentic project I've done to date, but it's, it also feels like the beginning because like, cool, I could do that. And now I want to figure out more so it's just a journey overall, I think but it's been really exciting.

Tyler Farnes 5:01
That's awesome. So so would you say that Teens in Trouble like, just like always on your mind as for on the back your mind like subconsciously just sort of like something you've always wanted to do?

Lindsey Killian 5:11
Yeah, I think so I think, you know, anytime, I mean, anytime that I'm not playing music, I get really sad. So. So whether it is or isn't Teens in Trouble specifically, I just feel like I want to keep writing songs and over the pandemic, I feel like I've been able to develop more of a practice, it used to be like, oh, I'll just write something when inspiration hits. And sometimes it never hits. Or, you know, you kind of have to make it a habit to just keep writing, even if it sucks. And it's like, nowadays, I'll be, I'm better about recording just like dumb ideas I have, that eventually turn into songs. So I'm using my voice memos app a lot more. Or it's like, oh, here's like an interesting melody, or like a guitar part. And I'll just record that. Because as much as I'd like to think that I'm good at remembering things, I'm totally not anymore. And so it's like, there have been times where I've, I thought I wrote a cool guitar part. And now I don't remember how to play it, because I didn't record it.

Tyler Farnes 6:26
Yeah, that's, um, that definitely does seem very sort of, like, organizational type skills, would you say is definitely very valuable in your work of sorts like,

Lindsey Killian 6:38
Yeah, and I feel like, especially now, because there's, I feel like, there's just so much information overload, where you just have to figure out ways to compartmentalize all these things that we're taking in from like the internet or, you know, just in social situations. And so for me, yeah, it's a lot of organization a lot of Google calendars and a lot of folders for sure.

Tyler Farnes 7:10
So um, so speaking of, I guess, your music, obviously, you're here for that right. So how would you I guess, define Teens in Trouble? I know on your website, it says like, like reflects, quote, reflects the sounds of punk, garage, and dream pop through prisma memory. Is that would you say that is a good description? Would you kind of, you know, you have anything to add to it? Like,

Lindsey Killian 7:39
I guess if it's on my website, it should be, no I'm kidding, I'm joking, but um, I feel like yeah, there's a lot of influences I draw from and I feel like they're all sort of like around that garage rock slash sort of like indie pop I feel like especially with Santa Monica it's a little bit more poppy and songs like I'm not worried and decomposing have Poppy elements to it even though they do lean more towards like alternative rock and in a little bit more punk. Well turns cove road I don't know where to place that really.

Tyler Farnes 8:19
Like an acoustic medley.

Lindsey Killian 8:20
Yeah, I mean, it starts off acoustic and then has that like sort of big, almost arena rock kind of conclusion. But yeah, that's a hard thing. I think about genres, but I feel like the three line is sort of just like indie rock and yeah, a lot of what I was listening to when I was writing this EP was just like the BOCs, Ken Condon BBQ show. Weezer's always sort of been like an influence and sort of like in the background like the dance that I used to be in also have a lot of Weezer influence. I feel like it's hard for me to shake because like Blue Album and Pinkerton were big for me growing up and yeah, that's just like, part of the songwriting DNA now. But yeah, I think all those elements are accurate, but sometimes some more than others depending on the song.

Tyler Farnes 9:20
It's so so do you ever like like, I guess like, this is going away off into the future like I know you literally just came out with with a new EP, but do you like see your music, like evolving into more of a specific sound or is a very much it's like this hodgepodge of like, inspirations that you kind of see. What do you see in the future of Teens in Trouble, I guess?

Lindsey Killian 9:45
I don't know. I feel like right now it is. It's sort of both. It's like this. It seems like I'm getting more into the direction of the sound that I like, but also, since it is still an exploration I feel, I feel like I can't really discount, like, certain genres or anything like that if I'm like, this sounds cool or feels right for me at the time, you know. But yeah, I guess I will say I'm working on a full length now. And a lot of the songs I don't know, I guess I'm trying to to see. You know, experiment with guitar sounds a little bit like, what I really liked about I'm Not Worried is just sort of that sort of, like, almost Dinosaur Jr. Esque guitar line. And I really liked that tone and like a lot of the stuff I've been listening to has sort of like that. I don't know how to describe it. It's like,

Tyler Farnes 10:54
It's very fuzzy. Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 10:55
yeah, exactly. But it wasn't until this project that I really started playing around with guitar pedals. In part because the projects I was in before was just like straight punk. Or it's like, you don't really need to mess around too much with tone.

Tyler Farnes 11:13
Maybe put like, put in a rat pedal or something like that. Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 11:15
Yeah. And then now that I have more space, I guess, to play with this stuff. It's, it's been, it's been interesting and expensive. At the same time, where I'm like, okay, cool. I just bought like, a pedal board, which seems like a curse in a way because now I am like, Okay, what else should I put on?

Tyler Farnes 11:35
Yeah, yeah, it's like something to fill up. Because yeah, because I play guitar to and like, I bought a pedal board like last summer and yeah, it's like, literally, you see, like, the empty thing that you have. I've like the you have like three or four pedals. I gotta fill this all up with a whole bunch of stuff.

Lindsey Killian 11:48
I went from like having one pedal two years ago to now I think I have like, six. So,

Tyler Farnes 11:56
Do you remember what, what pedals those are?

Lindsey Killian 11:59
Yeah, so, I, my main one is like this Boss overdrive pedal, you know, the yellow one. And then, of course, I have to have a tuner pedal. Those were sort of like my two for a long time. And then I recently added a fuzz pedal. There's a guy in Raleigh, who's awesome that I met named Mike Deloch, I think was his last name. But he builds pedals. And he built me a fuzzwar clone. So the same one that John Dwyer uses in the Oh Sees just like I want to sound like that, how do I do that. So it's super fuzzy, I can't, I can barely turn it up. And it's like, already, like really fuzzy, and it's awesome. And he also just recently built me a boost pedal that I don't really use that that much yet. I think that's something I'll explore more in the full length. And then I do have a delay pedal that I want to incorporate more into my sound, too, that's just not currently being used. And I don't really think I use that in the EP.

Tyler Farnes 13:07
So it's definitely sort of like this, this EP is just the beginning for like you using all those pedals and all those effects and like drawing in all these inspirations.

Lindsey Killian 13:17
Yeah, I mean, you know, with this EP, it wasn't just me, I worked on that with my friend Randy, who is also in the More Family band on Asian man records and Dan Andriana, and the Bygones, right. And he's like, in so many different projects. He's like, touring right now with Spirit World, which is like this metal band. And, and then Mike Cugunner from Shinobu and also the guitarist for Jeff Rosenstock. He a lot of that on I'm Not Worried was his guitar for the lead line. And also, he did the lead line in I Wonder What You're Doing Now, which is the third track on the EP.

Tyler Farnes 14:03
Mhm, awesome. So, so I guess speaking more into like, your creative process, you know, what's that? Like? What you know, does melody come first lyric, lyrics come first, is there like emotions that you always try to capture with your songs? Is it like, very much an array of them. Like, is there like subject matter that you like to have? Or like, what's, what's.

Lindsey Killian 14:26
Yeah it's the, I guess the interesting thing about this project is just like now I'm taking more different approaches to songwriting whereas before it would like in my past projects, I'd always write something on guitar first and then add add melody and lyrics to it, but it's sometimes it, it's limiting where you're like, okay, now I have to try like I have this awesome guitar part but now I have to like try to fit words into it and and sometimes that just leads to putting words for the sake of putting words versus, like, having something you actually wants to say. So I think that's where sort of like, now my songwriting process is like, multiple things where, you know, if I do have an interesting guitar part, I will start with that. But for now, I just, like, kind of keep a library of ideas, whether it's guitar first or lyrics or a vocal melody. So, so, like with I guess, as an example, Decomposing was written by, I was just like, in my backyard, and I had just built a compost tumbler. Yeah, that I was super excited about.

Tyler Farnes 15:48
Love to see it.

Lindsey Killian 15:48
Yeah. You know, it was a bright, sunny day. And I was throwing all these like dead leaves in the compost tumbler and something about it just felt really cathartic. I just started having like, huh, and like, then I started, like, while I was like, you know, putting leaves in and that sort of formed into words like we are dirt, we are clean, we are slowly decomposing. And, and then I was like, that's awesome. So that just became like, a vocal line that I had in my phone for a while and then I started to build more lyrics around that. And, and the guitar part. And then I think, like, I had most of the song done. Like, within a few days, except for the bridge, which is like, my favorite part of the song. Yeah. And the bridge. So I just like sat on the song for a while. And then like, the bridge sort of came to me randomly. Like, I don't know, for some reason I have, like, all the song ideas in the shower. And like, the bridge came to me in the shower randomly. And like, I just came up with those four lines in the bridge that morning. Like, all right, there's, there's a song. So I guess it depends, I think I'm just more open to where the ideas come from now versus before, where it's like, okay, this is songwriting time. So now I have to write a song. But yeah, I think the songs now for the full length are just coming from like, just different times in my life, where I'm just like, Okay, this is something that means something to me now. Or like, there was another time where I'm sitting on a verse right now, that will hopefully be a finished song, but like, that just came to me while I was sitting in traffic. And I don't know how it just like, yeah, I think it's just like keeping those channels open, as woo woo as it sounds, just like making sure you're like listening for things.

Tyler Farnes 18:01
That's awesome. So speaking of, I guess, your first self titled EP, again, congratulations, I'm not sure if I said it before. This is really so. So I'm gonna give you like, I guess my perspective on it. And then obviously, you can blow it out of the water, you're probably going to blow it out of the water anyways. But, so,

Lindsey Killian 18:24
This is gonna be kind, though right? This is not like you're gonna give me like a four out of ten right in front of my face.

Tyler Farnes 18:36
So I see it, a great EP, obviously, I love it. So I see it, I guess more as a process of growth. Like throughout the sort of, throughout the EP, and just sort of coming into something new, while also like kind of like, going like, like, still remembering like, what the old is and and just sort of like toying around with with those ideas. Would you say that is like an accurate description? Like, I guess, like also like, what is, what is your take on it? Like, what is this new EP?

Lindsey Killian 19:13
I think that's pretty accurate. You know, it's sort of like, I think I've written about this before, but I, there was a point in my life where I thought I was done with music, which was very sad and depressing. I, I sort of, am kind of a workaholic. And there have been many times where work has taken precedence over music, which, you know, makes sense in some ways because you need it to live. And so, I think there's, yeah, there was just a point where I was just working so much and I wasn't coming up with anything good musically. And I was just like, maybe that's it. And that was just like a sad feeling and um, you know, when I moved to Raleigh, it sort of reawakened, like, or it got me reconnected with music. Because I moved here in like April 2019. And like August 2019, just like a few months later, I had found a band, so I'm in this other band called Blab School that's based in Durham. And they're like, they're more aggressive. It's like a post punk band. And I just wanted to be part of any musical anything at that point. And so I met these guys on Craigslist. And we started playing a few shows. And it's been awesome. And, you know, we played our first shows in 2019. And then when the pandemic happened that was on hold for a while, and then we just start playing shows again. I think last year, our first show back was Halloween last year. And we're actually doing two shows at, for Hopscotch day parties. So now I'm playing four shows total, at Hopscotch. Yeah, it's like, Hey, you want to get back into music? Here you go. Yeah. Um, but since that band went on a break with the pandemic. You know, that's where I started looking at Teens in Trouble again, and working on writing more songs at home. And I think because of the pandemic. A lot of my friends who were active touring musicians, had to find other ways to make up for that lost income. And so some of them were putting together songwriting workshops on Zoom, which were super helpful. And it was just like, nice to be connected to that music community and also have some accountability for like, okay, we're all writing a song every week. And it, if it weren't for those workshops, I don't know if this EP would be out.

Tyler Farnes 21:13
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 21:13
And, yeah, so because this is sort of like, a re-exploration into my music. I think I definitely take in a lot of old influences. But yeah, I guess this is more of like, a transitional sort of EP work.

Tyler Farnes 22:32
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 22:34
Like, truthfully, I feel like I'm a bit reserved in this EP. Just trying to feel it out.

Tyler Farnes 22:40
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lindsey Killian 22:42
And I'm excited to like, push the boundary a little more, I guess, with the full leg.

Tyler Farnes 22:47
Is it true that this EP was like two years in the making? I think, right?

Lindsey Killian 22:53
Yeah. So yeah, 2020, you know, that's when I started doing the songwriting workshops, and then had them like in a pretty good place, around like, summer of 2021. And that's when I connected with Randy to help flesh those songs out. And they became what you hear now, like, we ended up recording, we went in the studio, September 2021. Recorded those. The reason why it took so long for it to be fully out was and is we're still waiting for vinyl to be done. But it seems like we don't exactly know when that will be out. Mostly, you know, supply chain issues and like all the pressing plants are backed up. So I was like, let's just release the digital. Hopefully, people like it enough to like, want vinyl whenever it's out. So.

Tyler Farnes 24:02
I think, I think it'll probably be a pretty cool vinyl release. It's obviously like, at least to me, all the songs are very fuzzy and warm.

Lindsey Killian 24:12
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 24:12
So, so I think that that does translate well to vinyl.

Lindsey Killian 24:16
Yeah, I will say I did hear test pressing. And it sounds awesome. Not to toot my own horn, but it sounds great.

Tyler Farnes 24:23
Looking forward to that. I'm sure everybody's gonna be looking forward to it. Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 24:26
Cool.

Tyler Farnes 24:26
All right. So now that, now we've obviously talked about Teens in Trouble a little bit. Let's let's now transition I guess to Santa Monica, which is obviously your first song under Teens in Trouble. So we're gonna do the radio thing we're gonna play that we'll see see all after the break.

Lindsey Killian 24:47
(Vocalizing starting riff of Santa Monica)

Tyler Farnes 27:28
And we're back. So I guess you do a lot of music videos. I feel.

Lindsey Killian 27:37
The weird thing is this is the, the um,

I was trying to think about it and I was like, oh my god, I haven't done any music videos for like any other band that I've been in.

Tyler Farnes 27:48
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 27:48
And I don't know if that's because I mean like one it's, you know, we were like the, the one of the most active bands I've been in like this punk band called Sputter Doll this was, I don't know, early 2000s. And

Tyler Farnes 28:09
Yeah. Are they-

Lindsey Killian 28:10
I feel like-

Tyler Farnes 28:12
Sorry, I'm so sorry. Are they like the eight bit rock band?

Lindsey Killian 28:15
No, that's the Glowing Stars. Yeah. But like, I feel like I guess now it's just so much easier to make videos than it was back then. It's just, and I, now I know more people I guess that do videos. So like, I got to work on these videos with my friends. Santa Monica, and I'm Not Worried were actually done by the same person. Kyle Broom, he's just a really good friend of mine. And it was really awesome to be able to work on another video with him again. And I kind of just like, let him take the reins on like, okay, which song would you want to do a video on and do whatever you want with it. I mean, you know, he's a big fan of 2001 Space Odyssey and wanted to do a space themed video and then my best friend Asia did the video for Decomposing and, you know, because I wrote that song in my backyard. I wanted to have like a sort of like outdoorsy, sunny you know, video for that. But I also like really love horror movies. And I was like, what if we like, were inspired by Midsommar and had a little bit of that there.

Tyler Farnes 29:33
I did kind of, talking about Decomposing, it's definitely very trippy and very sort of like uncomfortable, I guess a little bit like, like, especially there's like one scene where it's like you're playing with your Stratocaster and, and there's just like, there's there's, like, four flower humans like sitting and just like, like, like going back and forth like, like to the rhythm.

Lindsey Killian 29:58
You're the first person to tell me that it made them a little uncomfortable, which I feel like that means the video is doing it's thing.

Tyler Farnes 30:08
I mean, honestly, it, it did but but it was very good because like it reminded me or I guess a lot of like, I guess, what was your inspiration for that song? It I guess it was very much sort of like being outdoors in the environment. Is there any like other inspirations that you took of? Because, because I, I found, at least, I thought it gave off a lot of like Heart Shaped Box types vibes from Nirvana. I don't know why, but just like, that sort of stuff.

Lindsey Killian 30:35
I'm actually not as familiar with that.

Tyler Farnes 30:38
Okay, yeah, yeah.

Lindsey Killian 30:39
So I did not take inspiration from from Heart Shaped Box. But do you mean inspiration for the video itself? Or for the song or,

Tyler Farnes 30:47
For the video itself, yeah.

Lindsey Killian 30:50
Yeah, I think a lot of it was sort of like, it was sort of midsummer and even both Asian and I had like, recently rewatched it before we did the video, but I, one, I think it was just like, easier to do. We didn't have to. I mean, we did rent a studio for like that sort of trippy flower seen.

Tyler Farnes 31:13
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 31:14
But everything else we did outdoors. And it was pretty minimal. It was just like, complete 180 from like, all the production we did on I'm Not Worried where we like, built this entire set and realized we, had a close call with a metal pipe falling and we're like, oh, this is not good. We should be wearing hard hats. But yeah, so like I wanted to make decomposing a little bit more simple, but I did also want it to evoke some of the same like feelings. I wanted the song to evoke where it it's like, it seems like a sunny happy song. But when you like, hear the lyrics and like, also the transition with the bridge, it makes it just like, something's just like a little off.

Tyler Farnes 32:04
Yeah, yeah. It definitely did sort of seem like just very just sort of just like uncanny valley type type sort of uncomfortable. Which, which honestly, like, I think it transitioned very well from the song to the music video. So, so I guess real quick question about, before we move on. Is that orange Stratocaster like your favorite guitar?

Lindsey Killian 32:31
Oh, it's a telecaster.

Tyler Farnes 32:33
Telecaster. Okay. Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah. Sorry.

Lindsey Killian 32:37
Um, but it, weirdly, it's not. So the, the guitar that I usually play live is this seafoam green Mustang, which I love. And it's just, I bought that for myself as like, uh, "I just finished recording an EP" gift. I got that not too long after we recorded last September. And I just wanted a Mustang for like, the longest time that was like my dream guitar. And now I have it and it's awesome. And I like it a lot to because it's just like shorter scale and just easy to play. And like I can move around and not have it like break my back. But yeah, for, before that, my guitar of choice was this pink Hello Kitty Squire that I used for the glowing stars. And I think I used it for like many years after that band, but it was just like, you know, pretty cheap guitar. It's a Squire. But I replaced the pickup with like the Seymour Duncan invader pickup and it just like super beefy and really good for punk rock. I thought it was time to like, hang that on the shelf.

Tyler Farnes 34:04
We want it to be engraved thing.

Lindsey Killian 34:07
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 34:08
So I'm not worried about you. Very cool space theme. It's great. So that's your dog. Malkin. Right?

Lindsey Killian 34:19
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 34:19
Very cute.

Lindsey Killian 34:20
I know. I was so proud of him. Like, I, I knew we'd be able to sort of get him to do some stuff on command if we had enough treats. But I, he sort of like went above and beyond. And yeah, he was just like really great on set and just like super calm and you know that, it wasn't it was like Kyle onset and my husband myself and a couple of our friends who were helping with like makeup and just production and he was just like a good boy. The whole time. With, even with like the all the stimulation around him.

Tyler Farnes 35:02
Also, I did see you dress up as Freddie Mercury in that too.

Lindsey Killian 35:07
It was his birthday yesterday, September 5.

Tyler Farnes 35:09
Yeah. That's very cool.

Lindsey Killian 35:12
Yeah, there's that line in the song. Nothing really matters according to Mercury and it is like a reference to Freddy and I just felt like I wanted to dress up as like I went out of my way to dress up as him for like this one second.

Tyler Farnes 35:29
I was showing, I was showing Adrian another DJ here like like, like your one second of just like flying through the screen, like, keyed out. It's like that's Freddy Mercury. I was like, this is awesome.

Lindsey Killian 35:44
I had to get like a white tank top some fake mustaches just for that one scene and like you know, the the armband which I feel like at least now I have a Halloween costume this year. Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 35:56
You think you'll like show up to some shows dressed up as Freddy Mercury?

Lindsey Killian 36:01
Yeah, maybe.

Tyler Farnes 36:02
Or is that too much?

Lindsey Killian 36:04
You know, I did debate, like, so I played a solo set for my EP release at School Kids last Friday.

Tyler Farnes 36:12
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 36:12
And I wanted to wear a jumpsuit and they thought about wearing the one that I wore in the music video. Just like white jumpsuit with like, a Teens in Trouble patch on it. But I was like, is it uncool to like wear something that has your own like band name on it. So I like decide to wear like a purple jumpsuit but I was like, I don't know, maybe I'll do it for Hopscotch or something.

Tyler Farnes 36:35
That would be awesome to see. So Santa Monica. I find, I don't know if you were trying to tap into this, but a lot of feelings of like nostalgia. Because like, generally with like the old technology and it seemed like, the song is definitely more I guess, sort of like nostalgic for Santa Monica, which I assume is where you grew up.

Lindsey Killian 36:56
No actually, well, you're mostly on the right track, except for I, so I did live in Santa Monica, but I lived there for a year. And I wrote that song after I, after I lived there. So I grew up in San Francisco, and had been there for like most of my life. And then in, I don't know, 2012 I moved to Santa Monica. And that's because my husband got a job there. And I don't know I was there for such a short time. It was like there for less than a year maybe.

Tyler Farnes 37:34
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 37:36
And it was kind of hard for me to adjust. I feel like, especially for how short I was, or how little time I was there. Like, it took me a while to really find my footing. And like, I had some friends there, but like everyone was sort of all spread out. And it was hard to see people and LA traffic is awful. Like it will continue to be awful. And it'll never. That's, that's just what it is.

Tyler Farnes 38:04
My friend is from California so, like, I know.

Lindsey Killian 38:04
So, I, I was just like having a hard time there. But then when we moved out, we moved back to the Bay Area after. And there was something about it that I missed a lot. I don't really know what exactly. I guess enough to like, make me write the song. And you know, I was listening to a lot of like, sort of like beachy stuff back then. And yeah, so that's, that, that was just, you know, I like I guess I have a tendency to write about places sometimes or like what places remind you of or mean to you. So like, for instance, on the EP Old Starnes Cove Road is named after the street that I was on during the pandemic, where I decided, like, I needed to just spend some time alone. And like, I wanted to do this sort of, like solo creative retreat for myself. And, you know, I've been in these songwriting workshops for, or no, actually, this was before the songwriting workshops, but I had been reading this book called The Artists Way.

Tyler Farnes 38:36
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 38:37
That was actually, I heard about that book from Rivers Cuomo from Weezer. Yeah, during a zoom show that he was doing, like, you know, he was also doing like, performances online when the pandemic started, and then I watched one of them and, you know, one of the fans asked him, like, what books he was reading, and he had talked about The Artists Way, and I was like, Oh, that's interesting. So I was going to check it out. And it's just a book. It's kind of like this weird like, self help book in a way.

Tyler Farnes 39:55
Yeah, yeah, like artist self help.

Lindsey Killian 39:57
Yeah, where it's like, it's like 12 weeks to like, unblock, you know, unblock yourself and like get back into, you know, the creative process. And so I've been reading that from like April 2020 until like September 2020. I was like, I'm gonna go on the solo retreat and like, try to write stuff. And if I don't write any songs, I won't be too hard on myself. It was just like a time to be alone with my thoughts, I guess, you know, we'd been cooped up in the house for so long together. At the start of the pandemic, that's like, Okay, I need to just like I'm pretty introverted, like, by nature. So it's like, I need time to reset after a lot of interaction with people. So Old Starnes, Old Starnes Cove road, it's annoying to say, but it's a Street, um, in Asheville, and that's where I stayed. And, you know, the song like the chorus is, I just need to be alone. Like, that's the whole thing, but yeah, that's just another one of those, like, here's a place during a time in my life, that meant something for that time. And, you know, a lot of these songs for me are just like, sort of bookmarks of like experiences. And yeah, so that's an ode to Santa Monica.

Tyler Farnes 41:26
I was gonna say like, in like, in like five or three years once you're, once you're, once you're really big, Teens in Trouble is really big. Everybody's gonna go to Old Starnes Cove Road, and just like, and just be like this is where it all started.

Lindsey Killian 41:43
Yeah, it was at an Airbnb and actually, like, the Airbnb host knows that I wrote a song about them. And I don't know what they'll do with that information later. But they said it was very exciting. They were very honored to be,

Tyler Farnes 41:57
Put on the Airbnb page or something like that. Here's Teens in Trouble-

Lindsey Killian 42:03
It was a cute little spot. It was like 10 minutes away from downtown, but also like, felt pretty remote. So yeah, it was just like, nice and peaceful. And I brought like, my guitar out there and like some recording equipment. And,

Tyler Farnes 42:23
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 42:24
I think I that's when I first started writing I'm Not Worried. So I came up with like, the chorus to I'm not worried there. We were just like, kind of playing around with like, vocal things. And I ended up finishing that song, like when it came back. But yeah, good times. I bought some crystals.

Tyler Farnes 42:45
Some like healing crystals or something like that?

Lindsey Killian 42:48
Like, some quartz and yeah, there's like this mineral shop in Asheville also. Where it's like, yeah, I didn't know, I was just like, I did a lot of like, weird. Treat yourself things.

Tyler Farnes 43:01
I mean, especially like, during that time, like you definitely need to do it, especially when everything is cooped up, I feel like, I feel like that might be a trend, or at least is that like, a lot of music is gonna be coming out and it was like made in the main of the pandemic. And because of the pandemic.

Lindsey Killian 43:18
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 43:18
So it's gonna be really exciting.

Lindsey Killian 43:21
And I know, like a lot of, you know, people who've been putting out music recently, me included, where it's like, this has definitely been like sort of a pandemic project, or like, here are songs I wrote during the pandemic. And,

Tyler Farnes 43:35
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 43:36
There are a lot of like little things with the album that sort of remind me of this time where it's like, if you look at the cover art for the EP, you can see the crystals in the like, in the background. And like, I think the one like front and center is like the one I bought from Asheville. And then like, you know, there's like house plants all around. And like, I never really got into plants until the pandemic because I was just like, bad at it. Like, I could not keep a plant alive for the life of me. And then with the help of a trusty app that told you when to water your plants like now, now I'm just like keeping 50 plants alive at home. But yeah,

Tyler Farnes 44:19
That's awesome.

Lindsey Killian 44:20
That's sort of like what that album cover is about.

Tyler Farnes 44:24
Yeah. Do you have names for your plants?

Lindsey Killian 44:26
No, I don't that's, that's a bridge too far.

Tyler Farnes 44:31
Um, so, so, so moving on to the to I guess the local scene, right? How do you like the local scene here in Raleigh? Do you have like any favorite bands in particular? Like, like, how do you like everybody?

Lindsey Killian 44:45
It's really cool. Like,

Tyler Farnes 44:47
I'm not gonna ask you to name favorites if you don't want to so.

Lindsey Killian 44:50
Yeah, no, I do have some favorites. We recently are, so we haven't really played too many shows as Teens in Trouble yet, I mean, we're just starting to. I think our first show was at School Kids Records in May. And then we played a show at Ruby Deluxe in June, I believe. It's all like a blur now. It's September now, right?

Tyler Farnes 45:15
Yeah, yeah.

Lindsey Killian 45:15
Okay, cool. Like, Charlie Pasos' a really awesome band that I like that, we got to play with them at Ruby Deluxe in June. And I first heard of them at Hopscotch 2021. I think they're doing like a day party at Ruby Deluxe. And I just sort of like, caught them randomly. They were playing outside and we just walked by, and I was like, that band sounds really cool.

Tyler Farnes 45:44
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 45:45
And I also I mean, like, coming from, you know, I, I'm Filipino, and like, it's always cool to see other POCs in rock and like,

Tyler Farnes 45:55
Yeah, definitely.

Lindsey Killian 45:56
I know, Nina. And that band is also Filipino, which was awesome. And, like, Bangs is a another band. That's really cool that I'm excited to play with them for the first time at the Hopscotch day parties, we're actually playing both Hopscotch day parties with them. So I've been trying to like get a show together with them for a while. And like, now we're playing two. So that's cool. And we, it just got announced that we're going to do Fem Fest NC with them in Winston Salem in December. So I guess I got my, my wish. Granted. Tiger Beach is awesome, too. I know you had them here recently. But I know Ricky and like his musics great. Maybe we'll play a show together sometime. But the scene here has been really cool. And like, you know, coming from California, where I did play a lot of shows there. But I've also seen the scene sort of like change over time, especially with just, you know, gentrification, and we see it happening here in Raleigh, too, but like, there were less and less places to play over there just because real estate's so expensive. And I know, people here say that there are, there are less venues than there were before. I don't know what it was like before.

Tyler Farnes 47:19
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 47:19
So. But it's been, I just think the community has been really great. And like, we haven't gotten to play with a ton of bands yet since we're getting started. But I've been able to connect with them on like Instagram, and like we're trying to plan shows together. And everyone's just been like really nice.

Tyler Farnes 47:39
That's, that's, that's really awesome to like, see, sort of like a community of like, just all all local bands sort of like in Raleigh I guess, like, always forming and like always growing. It's, it's definitely one of my favorite parts of just sort of the scene, a sort of local scenes in general. It's like, it's like everybody just like, like coming together like, hey, you want to do a show and all that type of stuff. It definitely seems like it is kind of a vibe.

Lindsey Killian 48:06
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 48:06
All right. So next off, well, at least, I'm gonna do some quickfire questions for you. Just to sort of before we end here. Are you a huge Weezer fan? Is that, is that, is that right? Am I hearing that right?

Lindsey Killian 48:24
Yeah. Um,

Tyler Farnes 48:26
Is Pinkerton, your favorite album?

Lindsey Killian 48:27
Pinkerton is my favorite album.

Tyler Farnes 48:29
It is mine too so,

Lindsey Killian 48:30
Nice. Cool um, yeah, that album was, so I knew, I think I started getting into Weezer in like high school, and I knew about The Blue Album. And I knew about The Green Album, but for some reason, like Pinkerton slipped through the radar and a friend of mine that I was in a band with at the time like, was like, Oh my God, you have to listen to Pinkerton. And like let me borrow his CD and I don't know if it was like, hormones or whatever. Like being a young teen but I was like listening to it I was like, Oh my God, I've never heard anything like this before.

Tyler Farnes 49:11
Yeah, yeah.

Lindsey Killian 49:12
It was just, just like the rawness of it and how personal it was.

Tyler Farnes 49:19
It's definitely very different than obviously what, what Cuomo was doing.

Lindsey Killian 49:23
Yeah.

Tyler Farnes 49:24
So you go from Blue Album to Pinkerton and just like it's a very different vibe.

Lindsey Killian 49:27
Like what?

Tyler Farnes 49:28
Yeah, yeah it's a very different vibe.

Lindsey Killian 49:29
And I know like there's always like those debates on like, oh is Blue Album better or Pinkerton better and I feel like you know, I think a lot of the people who are like, really into Blue Album don't like Pinkerton because it's not like the Blue Album. But I didn't, I guess like, by the time that I got into Weezer, like Blue Album was already like, had come and gone because, when I first heard about them that was when like, Green Album was already out.

Tyler Farnes 50:00
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 50:00
Or coming out.

Tyler Farnes 50:01
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 50:02
So I don't know. Like, Pinkerton was just like life changing for me to be honest. And, yeah I hope I returned that CD to my friend but I think it's fine.

Tyler Farnes 50:18
Is Weezer, was Weezer, a huge inspiration for your latest EP would you say? Or is it just kind of just like,

Lindsey Killian 50:24
Um, I feel like Weezer has definitely been a huge inspiration for a lot of the music I wrote in previous bands, so like, especially the Glowing Stars, like the Glowing Stars was just like Weezer at the forefront of my mind like, I'm trying to think about oh, because the name the Glowing Stars came from a line in Falling For You, in Pinkerton, where he says, sings I admire the glowing stars and tried to play a tune. That's how we got the name. So, but I think with this EP, I wasn't really thinking that much about Weezer, or I guess it was like less on my mind. I, I was definitely thinking more about like, the Oh Sees and King Khan BBQ Show because that's who I was listening to most around the time that I was writing it, but Weezer definitely did come up in conversations when I was talking to Randy about like, how, like, where I see the songs going or like how I envisioned like the final product so like, like with Old Starnes Cove Road, for instance. That's I feel like that's probably the most Weezer song on the EP. And like, especially down to the cielo, like

Tyler Farnes 51:53
It's definitely something you would see on a Weezer album maybe.

Lindsey Killian 51:56
Yeah, I feel like that's our most Weezer song, but I think, because I had been, you know, I've been listening to a lot more kinds of music in the last two years, that it wasn't as present to me I guess. But I feel like also because it's been a big part of my like, life in general. It's hard to avoid.

Yeah. Wow. Quickfire questions. I'm sorry.

Oh yeah no worries. I was like oh yeah quick, quickfire got it, got it.

Tyler Farnes 52:32
I was very interested. So favorite color.

Lindsey Killian 52:35
Favorite color? Oh, no. I feel like I, I don't know sometimes like I like, I guess I, I really gravitate towards like, teal. And like, now that I have like a seafoam green guitar. I'm like, super stoked about that. But I used to hate pink but I don't know. I'm kind of like into it lately. Like we just got new Teens in Trouble T-shirts, which I have to send you one later, but we have a black one and we have a pink one. I don't know it's like something about pink.

Tyler Farnes 53:13
Favorite thing to do outside music.

Lindsey Killian 53:15
Favorite thing to do outside music. I do like to play video games. I have been around games for a very long time and played a lot of games since I was a kid. But lately, I've been playing Phasmaphobia with my friends. It's like a ghost hunting.

Tyler Farnes 53:35
Yeah, I have too.

Lindsey Killian 53:36
It's so fun. I love it. And then recently started getting back into Dead by Daylight, love that game too.

Tyler Farnes 53:43
In Phasmaphobia I'm always the one, because I'm the poorest one. So I'm always the one that I go in there and like start the ghost hunt and it's like oh it's the uh, I'm always the sacrificial lamb over there.

Lindsey Killian 53:53
I think I have like, $40,000 in Phasma right now.

Tyler Farnes 53:54
Oh my God. You're not doing anything.

Lindsey Killian 53:58
Yeah, no, I have to buy everything.

Tyler Farnes 53:59
You're supplying all of your team.

So if you could instantly become a master of like any instrument, which one would it be?

Lindsey Killian 54:10
Oh,

Tyler Farnes 54:10
There are some crazy instruments.

Lindsey Killian 54:12
Yeah. Well, I mean, I would, I would really love to be better at guitar generally. But if I had to, like pick another instrument, I do have a Theramin and I want to learn how to use it.

Tyler Farnes 54:24
Oh my God that's so cool. It's like the wave one right?

Lindsey Killian 54:27
Yeah, yeah.

Tyler Farnes 54:27
Where it's like, you wave your hand around? And that doesn't do it any justice but.

Lindsey Killian 54:30
Apparently, like I supposedly it's the hardest, like one of the hardest instruments to learn. I'm like Oh good job me getting a Theramin and not knowing what to do with it. But I don't know I just like that like sort of like spooky sound. Not saying that I'm gonna start like a horror punk project soon or anything like that. But even like, I know they don't use that Theremin specifically, but I like, it's a similar sound in like the Beach Boys like Good Vibrations where it's like yeah, just like,

Tyler Farnes 55:00
Yeah.

Lindsey Killian 55:00
I want to find a way to like incorporate some of that in like future music.

Tyler Farnes 55:03
Awesome. So what's your favorite thing to do locally? Like here, here at Raleigh? Any favorite spots you got? Or just like, anything in general? Obviously you don't have to say specifically.

Lindsey Killian 55:13
I guess like, oh, my favorite restaurant is Cortez. That's like a seafood place. The stuffs really good. And they have really interesting cocktails, that they, and they change that menu every now and then. I also like,uh, what's that called, oh, there's this place called The Standard Food And Beer I think it's called. But it's just like, another sort of like cocktails place near. It's like, near on Person. Or like near that Person Street area where there's like Oakwood Pizza and all that. Oakwoods good, too. Yeah, those are probably like, the top three if you include Oakwood that I frequent a lot. Oh, no, Jim Tacos is also, yeah, that, that's pretty close to where I live. So like, when that opened. Oh, my God. That's like my whole diet now.

Tyler Farnes 56:13
Okay, well, before we end here, is there anything else you'd like to say before you go? Got any like, obviously, where can we find your music? Your social media as you know.

Lindsey Killian 56:26
Oh yeah, Teensintrouble.net is where like everything lives. Where, but you can also find us on, um, on Instagram. Teens in Trouble. Twitter, Tik Tok, which I have to figure out how to use. Do you know how to use Tik Tok?

Tyler Farnes 56:44
No, not at all which is rare.

Lindsey Killian 56:48
Yeah I know, counting on you. And then I guess facebook if people still use Facebook? I don't know. I keep forgetting to like, update that. If you're on Facebook, you can find us there too.

Tyler Farnes 57:00
Right. Oh, wait. So one last question. I just thought of which teens are in trouble? Is there like any cool teens in trouble?

Lindsey Killian 57:09
The royal teen. They're all in trouble. Oh, that's been like the most interesting thing. Or I guess like one of the funny things about like having that as a band name is like, before I had any music out it was really hard to like search for Teens in Trouble on Google. It was like all Dr. Phil or like, like random news, like local news about like the like teens who are in trouble. And then, and now I feel like finally like when you search Teens in Trouble like we're the first result.

Tyler Farnes 57:42
Yeah, that's great. All right, well, thank you so much for for talking with me and being on off the record here at WKNC

Lindsey Killian 57:51
Thanks. It was super fun and I feel like I'm gonna get some tacos after this.

Tyler Farnes 57:55
And thank you listener for tuning into the Slice with Teens in Trouble on off the record here at WKNC 88.1 FM HD one and wherever you're currently listening whether that's just online on a website, Spotify, you know wherever, thank you for listening. I've been your host aloaf and this has been Teens in Trouble with Lindsey and I want to leave you off with some more Teens in Trouble specifically their new EP definitely I'm gonna play obviously a few songs from that and yeah, till next time thank y'all for listening and thank you Lindsey for coming on.

Lindsey Killian 58:29
Thank You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai