Watch Teenage Halloween play a concert to no one in their new video for "Drown"

Teenage Halloween haven’t been able to play a proper live show since releasing their great self-titled 2020 debut album on Don Giovanni, but they gave us a taste of the energy that they bring to the stage with a virtual release show and an Audiotree session (including the debut of the new song “Burn”), and now they’ve done so once again with their new music video for “Drown.” It’s mainly a live performance video that’s just as cathartic as their recent live sessions, but with some tongue-in-cheek commentary about being a band during a global lockdown. The band says:

“Drown” is about the condescending thoughts and feelings that people with OCD have when they are in a dysphoric state, but at the same time it’s triumphant because we’ll all die at some point anyway so one day these feelings will end.

“Drown” was one of the last songs we wrote for our album and the first one Eli wrote for the band. Luk took a lot of the singing style from Glocca Morra’s early material and felt a lot of love for the Replacements-esque energy from the lead guitar. We called it ���Eli’s Song” for awhile and morphed into “Drown” because Luk was watching a lot of mob movies.

The video is reflective of how we’ve been feeling as a band during the pandemic. How empty it feels to work and write but not be able to have that in person experience and celebrate, especially having released our first full length record. We had a blast shooting the video even though we had to listen to that song probably 500 times that day. Luk’s uncle actually makes an appearance at the end of the video, probably the best part tbh. A special thanks to the venue House of Independents (where we filmed) and to Jordan Hidalgo & team (who filmed and helped with the video).

Watch below. Teenage Halloween finally do return to the stage to play the New Colossus Festival’s free outdoor concert series outside of Brooklyn’s 18th Ward Brewery on June 27 with Growing Stone, Johnny Dynamite, Dolly Spartans, and Emily Weekes. It goes from noon to 6 PM, no RSVP required, and it’s all ages. The organizers ask that attendees wear a mask.