Teenage Dads Spill Secrets and Laughter About Their New Album “MAJORDOMO!"

Photography by Elise Abotomey

As Australian indie-rock band Teenage Dads gear up to release their new album this August, Temper caught up with Jordan, Vincent, Connor and Angus for a lively and revealing chat. Known not only for their genre-blending sound but also for their humour, the band shared amusing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into their creative process.

From the quirky origins of their “Pirate song” to their evolving musical style and standout tour moments, join us as we uncover the stories behind their new tracks, their favourite live venues, and how they keep the tour bus buzzing with excitement. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to their music, dive deep into the world of Teenage Dads and what makes their music and live shows truly special and one-of-a-kind.

Temper: Your album is coming out in August. How did this album come about? Did you set out to write an album?

Vincent: Yes and no. The first song to be kind of recorded was ‘Speed Racer’. That was at the end of 2022. I feel like, At the time, I think we were still finishing off our EP that came out last year. So we weren't really thinking about it just yet, but I feel like we kind of slowly had some songs, and then after we put out the EP, it was like, “okay, well, now we've got to figure out the album”.

Connor: We’ve got to hustle.

Vincent: Got to hustle, and it was kind of from that point that we started thinking, “okay, what's this album going to be?”

Temper: How long did it take?

Jordy: All up, I mean, it's probably over a year.

Vincent: Well, yeah, from that first recording, but I feel like the oldest song on the album was written in 2021.

Jordy: Oh, yeah, true.

Vincent: But we didn't record that until the start of this year. So some songs are quite old, but the actual recording process was spaced out across a year, just like four or five different sessions.

Temper: Your music often blends and experiments with various genres and sounds. How do you decide which styles to incorporate into your music?

Connor: It's very case by case. I think we take the approach of just doing what sounds best for the song. And in some cases, it might be more themed towards one way, or some might be a bit more of a broad indie rock sound. But as far as this album goes, like the pirate song that features on there, I think it’s that way stylistically, because I guess it serves the song. It would sound weird if it was in a different style and said like, “Yarr” and “Heve Ho” and all that.

Temper: I’m curious how the Pirate one came about?

Connor: Well, that's a Jordy question. (To Jordan) Is it because we were doing the transition in the set and then you wrote the song?

Jordy: Well I just... I don't know. I think I just wanted to do one. We've done a Cowboy's song. Then I think there was an idea at one point to do an album of songs that were kind of thematically... You know, you'd have like a pirate song and then a song about knights and then a song about, I don't know, the renaissance or something. You know? That was kind of the idea, but yeah.

Temper: Is that something you guys are still planning on doing?

Jordy: Maybe, we could maybe do it one day. But yeah, we just did a pirate song instead. It would be funny though.

Temper: How has your music evolved since you first started? What are some of the biggest changes you've noticed particularly with ‘Majordomo’?

Jordy: I would say the biggest difference from the start to where we are now is that when we started, it was really bad. And now it's not so bad. But I'd say we've put a lot of time into working with... We used to record everything ourselves and a lot of the stuff on this album was recorded at home, But we took it into a studio with our producer Chris. I'd probably say it's like the biggest step up and then just like evolution of the songwriting. You know, you get older and you've written songs for a little bit, you start to work out what you like and what you don't like and what works and what doesn't. Yeah, listening to different bands that you like and don't like and different points. It’s just all part of growing up really.

Vincent: At the start of the first songs, you're kind of writing... You're just stoked to have a song. You're like, “sick we have a song!” so you're like, “that's it”. You're done with it but now we’re more selective about what we’re trying to do and how we want the song to sound and stuff. So it's a lot more thought and time goes into it now, I feel.

Temper: Are you writing the songs from experiences?

Jordy: A little bit. When I'm doing lyrics and sometimes it's based on experiences, definitely in the past, it’s been more like that, And it is on the album too, but I feel like a lot of the time I don't really know what I'm thinking about. I put a lot of time into the rhythm of how words work in a song, rather than what it means because I feel like there's definitely... I feel like the Beatles did that a lot too. There's a lot of gibberish but it just sounded really cool. It's always what I've been more about. I'm trying to put more meaning into it as well.

Vincent: People are still connecting with lyrics.

Jordy: They still connect. Could be about nothing. And they go, “whoa man, that song really helped me through this hard time”, and I’m like “Cool. I don't even know what it's about.”

Vincent: For the instrumentation, I feel like our experiences are influencing that because we think about the live show a lot. And it's kind of like, “oh, we wanted to sound like this because it will sound really good at the show. And it will create this moment maybe or something.” So I feel like it’s each to their own. They both are influenced by certain experiences.

Temper: Your latest single ‘Boyfriend’ has a pretty unique vibe. Can you walk us through the songwriting and recording process of it?

Angus: This is definitely a Jordan question.

Jordy: Well you can talk about the way it was put together.

Angus: Well, a few songs were started by using a little Ableton app on Jordan's phone... And this is not one of them, Hahahaha. So I’ll pass it back.

Jordy: This one, yeah, Angus was right. It was different for a lot of them. Some of the songs like Speed Race were written in the studio. Some were started on an app on my phone. Boyfriend was one that I had kind of written most of the skeleton of it at home. Then we took it into the studio and worked on most of the time. The big thing that's re-recorded is like drums and stuff, And then we might go and re-track some guitar parts and do vocals and all that stuff. A lot of the bare bones in ‘Boyfriend’ was kind of done at home. I just wanted to write like a cutie kind of... I was thinking a lot about “Clair De lune”, the Flight Facilities track that they have on the Telstra ad. The cute little synth line at the start. So that was kind of an inspiration, I guess, in getting that done.

Temper: How do you balance creative differences within the band? Do you do anything to ensure everyone's ideas are heard?

Jordy: No we don’t...It’s allll meeee.

Vincent: We do rock, paper, scissors for the best idea.

Jordy: I feel like everyone still gets their bits though. I feel like there was one EP we did where It was a bit more of a... I guess... dictatorship. I was a bit more picky and choosy. But I feel like this, and the last few things we've done, even if I've come with a song that I've written, everyone gets to add their own spice to it. So we get some cool KFC with it, you know?

Connor: Like everyone plays on every song. And yeah, everyone has a different flair and changes up certain things, for sure. But Jordan, you're just like 90%, Yeah 90% He will start the song himself and we kind of finish it together.

Angus: Come home.Connor: Finish it together, as a team.

Temper: You guys seem to never stop, you’ve been touring so much this year. What’s your favourite place you’ve played this year? Any memorable tour moments?

Jordy: I'll give that one to Angus.

Connor: Yeah, come on Angus, There we go

Angus: So personally, this year I really, really liked the New York show, just because when you enter New York City, it feels very busy and feels very “happening”. And the fact that, you can muster people to come and see you, in amongst like everything that's possibly happening in the city there that night. It was pretty awesome.

Connor: Imagine you're in the city of the world and then there's like five people and you're like, “God damn, this is not what everyone says it is.”

Angus: But no, it's just like coming in and just seeing people be really excited to see us. It was great no matter where you go, seeing people be excited and go out of their way to see you is very cool, but for some reason, with New York this year, personally, I was just... Yeah, it felt very fulfilling to have that happen.

Temper: Any dream Venues that you really want to play?

Angus: Ah Red Rocks in Colorado. Every single dream venue in Oz, we've kind of done now. So...

Connor: Yeah, I feel like we haven't head lined a lot of the really epic ones in Australia. But we've played, like, as a support act at most of the real epic ones. And, you know, it's coming that way that, on this tour that we're doing, Enmore Theater, Tivoli and Forum, which I think ... If we were told back in 2017 when we first started playing public gigs that we would be playing those venues, I just wouldn't have believed it.

Angus: Our manager told us we'd be playing the Enmore in 18 months. Probably about 18 months ago and we told him to jog on. And it is so cliche, but that did happen and we didn't really actually believe it. But here we are. So pretty cool.

Connor: It’s Heckers

Temper: What’s your favourite Aussie venue to play?

Jordy: Honestly, I still reckon Gaso downstairs (Gasometer Hotel) is so hype. Vincent: I reckon that room's mad.

Jordy: It's crazy and it's definitely one of the cool ones to sell out for the first time when you're first starting out. I think it's like 300, 350 in there. There’s like a cool upstairs and the roof opens and all that. It's crazy.

Vincent: The night cat in Melbourne's also really cool because the stage is in the centre of the room and the crowd is completely surrounding you. So that's quite a unique venue.

Vincent: Yeah. I would say The Toff or The Corner because you get to do, the curtain parting thing.

Angus: Yeah, that one's cool.

Connor: when you do that for the first time, it's like, “oh, yeah, this is a show.”

Angus: Really, really sadly, just closed down, but The Zoo. The Zoo in Brisbane was great.

Teenage dads: Aweee

Angus: we did, like-

Jordy: yeah, we did, two headliners there

Connor: We did three.

Angus: Yeah, we’ve done three shows there. We did the one with Royal Otis. We did our biggest interstate gig, I think

Connor: at the time then.

Angus: That was a really exciting, really cool show and then we did-

Connor: We did a back to back.

Angus: Yeah, we did two sold out, an all ages and an 18-plus show there. And that was, yeah, just a really cool vibe, really cool venue. It’s kind of a shame that it's just closed down.

Temper: Yeah it’s pretty sad.

Angus: Yeah.

Temper: How do you keep yourselves entertained in the down time on tour?

Jordy: Mario Kart, and, um, footy.

Vincent: We don't really play footy much anymore, but we used to do that for a bit.

Angus: Yeah, Mario Kart, for sure.

Connor: Yeah, a bit of Mario Kart. Arguing is a good way to blow some time as well.

Angus: Arguing. Yeah that’s good hahaha.Connor: Actually, in Europe, we bought an acoustic guitar while we were over there for the first time, and that was honestly really nice to just have in the van so you could just a) annoy everybody else and b) simultaneously entertain yourself while nothing's happening.

Angus: I'll tell you what's really underrated is like just a meander.

Connor: Yeah.

Angus: Just a light walk.

Temper: Last Question, Rapid fire, Which song from the new album are you most excited to play live?

Angus: Play Live, umm, probably the Pirate Song.Connor: Yeah, I think the Pirate Song will be a pretty epic moment in the set.

Vincent: Um. Yeah, I could definitely say the pirate song, but also... actually, I'm going to say ‘Spiders’.

Jordy: I'm excited for the Aussies to hear ‘Boarding Pass’. That’ll be a cool one.

Majordomo out now!