Feature: Dead Tooth Decodes “Birthday Boohoo”
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of "Birthday Boohoo?"
I initially saw it as like a short film where the protagonist is tripping out too hard at their own surprise birthday party. A situation like this happened to me once and it was terrifying. All these people I hadn’t seen in a long time were just popping right into the forefront of my psyche sending my mind and emotions on a wild journey through the past. It became too much and I eventually isolated myself in a room of the apartment and locked the door and just stared at this color changing light for hours, occasionally writing on a pizza box. Making movies is too expensive so I made a song with dialogue instead. We do have all these ideas for the video though.
Can you share any interesting or unique musical elements or production techniques used in this single?
The process on this track was really unique. The song It started as a demo that I(Zach)wrote in my room. I drummed out this wild beat on my keyboard and had these two really menacing riffs. We were recording later that week and had some extra time in the studio so we jammed on the two parts with everything isolated to a click track for about 20 minutes. I then took the stems and remixed them very building loops out of parts I liked. Then we learned that version of the song and took it back in to Hive Mind studios and laid down what you hear on the record.
What did you enjoy most about making this track?
The process was so unlike what we normally do. It was more collaborative. It was cool to see what people came up with when we just jammed on two basic ideas. It was really fun.
Can you walk us through your creative process when writing and composing music?
It’s always changing and different per song. Sometimes I write on my guitar just straight up singing and playing. Sometimes I write a whole song with all the parts complete. Lately, as the band has evolved into something a bit heavier and driving I’ve been abandoning the rhythm guitar to free up space for the other instruments. I’ve been starting with a beat and then putting a simple groove heavy bassline over it. I love a simple dumb bassline. James has a way of taking those and elaborating and improving them so nicely. He took my super simple Boohoo bassline and made it completely insane. I like to get that to a place where I feel inspired to wax some vocal ideas over that, coming up with lyrical motifs and concepts. I like the idea of adding something and then seeing what that inspires on another instrument than taking away the original idea. There are so many ways to experiment.
What do you enjoy most about performing live and connecting with your audience?
Sharing a visceral emotional expression of your passion with a large room of people is just very intoxicating. We like to keep the show with improvisational elements. It’s fun to not know what to expect sometimes and know that you’re right there on the ride too. Moving around with people and just having fun and forgetting about life for a little.