by Brittney Corridean
Days within the release of the new album, Teens of Denial, we were fortunate enough to have a brief chat with Will Toledo, creator of it all, about what lies ahead in regards to new music and heading out on tour.
The big deal about this album is that it was the first album recorded in a studio. To break it down, Car Seat Headrest came from Toledo recording music from the backseat of a car in all different hours of the day. Releasing many on his own, this grew into something that fed off the organic taste of accomplishing something from basically nothing.
“To feed off destiny”- to quote a lyric from new song “Fill in the Blank”.
“You have no right to be depressed, you haven’t tried hard enough to like it. Have you seen enough of this world yet?”
Just a beginning to his deep thought, rough lyrics of what it means to be growing up in this day and age. Fans are excited for the tour and new music, but according to Toledo, the process of recording was the same. but just a bit more organized.
“We practiced a bit beforehand, but it was just easier,” says Toledo, “It was a little difficult in the beginning because more people were involved but once we figured out a rhythm, it was fine.”
After recording multiple albums on his computer, meh, didn’t phase him.
A Virginia native, in 2014 Toledo moved to Seattle. After graduating from the College of William and Mary, as an English major, he met band mates Andrew Katz and Ethan Ives. It clicked right away.
Obviously, lyrically Toledo breaks to the point and it didn’t surprise me to find out he found his love of music very young. “I learned to play guitar in middle school and piano as a kid by my dad,” Toledo says. However, he didn’t take it creatively. He mostly just began to write naturally and it turned into the music we hear now.
When asked if any of his songs off the new album pertain to anyone special, he says, “it’s from a variety of experiences-but ‘Unforgiven Girl’ was the first love song he had written in awhile. “It was also about me,” he explains. It blends together emotionally.
The artwork from the album is something he stumbled across from a friend who digs vintage photos. “I saw the picture and the caption was ‘Teens of Denial’ and I knew that was it.”
If you ask Toledo what really gets him going, mostly it has to do with the disorganization of today’s society.
“There is a lack of authority figures today for young people,” he says. “Since the 1960s rebellion, there hasn’t been a larger nationalistic identify- it phased out. People who have subscribed to the patriarchal individualistic state of mind, lack, a current voice.”
Does Toledo fear the election of 2016? I’m sure. I’m sure he does. In a field of desperation and amateur voices, half the time we can’t even recognize what one another is talking about.
“It effects modern day and lacks the attitude that gave the decadent of feel,” Toledo states.
Mostly, he understands the responsibility it takes to be an artist nowadays and the tribulations you go through as a musician. All and all, with the busy schedule, Toldeo is ready for the tour and hype of the new album. He notes all his work with a genuine empathy that resides within the lyrics we hear. Some you can’t help but sing along too- whether it’s with a bestie at a bar or at your bedside at night. He has a strong voice and not just musically.
Toledo will play a set at next week’s NonComm convention at World Cafe Live. He’ll also be at The Underground Arts on May 22nd. When asked what he wants to tell his Philly fans, he just apologizes to those who aren’t 21 and to those who are- game on.
