Interview: Teenage Sequence @ Deadpunk Special
Teenage Sequence by Stewart Bywater
In our second Deadpunk Interviews instalment, we're excited to introduce you to the driving force behind Teenage Sequence.
Hailing from London, Dewan-Dean Soomary now calls Texas home. As he shares insights from his recent debut album, Dewan's narrative unveils a genuine bond with classic and contemporary sounds.
Join us as we explore the musical world of Teenage Sequence—where honesty matters above all else.
How has your day been so far?
It's been really good. I haven't been in Bristol for a minute, the sun is shining, and we just played a show that's going to take a while to fully sink in.
Sometimes, after a show, it takes me a few days to fully process everything. I'm kind of in that space right now, but it's been a good day.
You live in Texas now, right?
Yes, I'm in Fort Worth. My wife is originally from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We never planned to move back, but a series of events and coincidences led us here.
Awesome, we have family in Dallas.
Dallas is cool, I like it. It's a big city, and being from London, I feel at home there. But I quite like Fort Worth because, although it's a city, it's also rather sleepy and slow, which suits me. I can enjoy all the benefits of a city while moving at my own pace—my hips don't work as well as they used to!
How's your jetlag doing?
I don't know... Getting off a transatlantic flight and going straight into rehearsals and touring right away is weird. It sort of works because I can vaguely stay on the same schedule I'm used to. But I have a feeling that once this little run of shows is over, I'll get on the plane, go back home, and then I'll be stuck on UK time.
How is the tour going so far?
It's the second day. Last night, we played in Stafford; it was a quiet show but a great one. I haven't played outside a major city for some time, so it's eye-opening to see how quiet and empty those high streets are.
I really appreciate everyone who came. Everyone had a good time, and we blew some cobwebs off, which is always nice. Today, as I said earlier, is one of those shows that will take some time to fully process how I feel about it.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the tour since there are a bunch of places I've not played before. There's also another DIY festival we're doing in Newcastle called Marrapalooza, which I'm really excited about. Then we get to do a hometown show in London, where I can see some friends, make new ones, and then go home.
Have you managed to catch anyone else at Deadpunk yet?
Yes, I watched a bit of dream phone, who we are touring with, and I love them. They do something absolutely different, particularly in this scene. It feels very genuine to who they are. They're great songwriters, and I think it's refreshing. I'm not going to describe what they do because I hate when people do that. But go listen to them and see them live; they do something great. I'm also looking forward to TRIPSUN. I've known Hassan for many years, so I'm excited to watch them, and hopefully, I'll catch a bit of GHUM as well.
So you had an album out last year, and you've just started a tour. What is the rest of your year looking like?
When the album came out, it felt a bit cursed. We faced a lot of headwinds, and though I hate the word, we had a lot of buzz from the impact of "All This Art." It did things I didn't expect it to do. But the album release had its issues. Every time we tried to play shows and tours, I got sick. Both of the labels faced incidents and accidents beyond anyone's control, which slowed things down. On top of that, we had just come out of COVID, so there was a lot of uncertainty and a big backlog of other records that needed to come out. Despite all this, I really love the album and it's very special to me. This run of shows is finally my chance to sit down and share it with people.
As a result of the album, I did a KEXP session. I'll be 40 in a month, and being able to do that at my age was a dream come true. I was also invited to South by Southwest, which I ended up boycotting, but it was still something I always wanted to do.
Coming up next, I want to make another record. I've been working on a bunch of stuff, so this summer I'm just going to spend it indoors, making a record and chasing my dogs around. That'll probably be it. I don't know when it's going to come out; I'm in no rush. I don't think there'll be any more shows in the UK this year—never say never, but I don't think there'll be anything else this year. I want to spend some time making the record and then come back next year with a whole bunch of new material.
What kind of sounds are you loving at the moment?
I have to say dream phone because they are the best thing I've heard in a long time. Otherwise, this might come across as a bit of "old man yells at clouds," but there isn't much out there that grabs me. There's lots of good stuff, but nothing in guitar music has really stood out to me recently. TRIPSUN does great stuff, but they're not new to me, though they might be to people reading this. If you haven't heard them, you should definitely check them out. The last thing that really grabbed me was a band called PVA, who are more in the electronic and dance world. They did something amazing and different. There's a lot of great crossover stuff out there. Working Men's Club, for example, has a profile and does well, but I don't think they get nearly enough praise. They're a great band with great songwriting.
Outside of new sounds, do you find yourself coming back to the same things?
Yes, I find real solace and comfort in repeating songs. I find a deep connection with singular songs like "Disorder" by Joy Division. To me, it's not just a song; it's a prayer, a mantra. It exists somewhere else in my brain as a stunning piece of music. I'm very much into that explosion in the late 70s/early 80s at the tail end of the first wave of punk rock, where weird people got synthesizers and accidentally invented techno. At the same time, there was what they call "the death of disco." It wasn't the death of disco; it was the white oversaturation and murder of disco by homophobic racists because disco is and always will be black, queer music. But it was at that moment when they worked out that they could get two turntables, stick them together, and extend a record by flipping it, and they accidentally made house music. And then in Germany, there's this band called Kraftwerk that were like aliens, inventing electronic instruments. That made some of the punks go, "Synths are cool; let's do something with them." So in that period, you have the early births of electronica and hip hop. I love all that stuff. I love Grandmaster Flash, Kraftwerk, Blondie, Joy Division/New Order, Frankie Knuckles, and I could go on and on. There are moments in musical history; there is pre-The Beatles and post-The Beatles. You don't have to like them, but you can't deny that. And there are other artists like Michael Jackson that it's also true for. For me personally, the most important one, and the most unsung one, is there is pre-Frankie Knuckles and then there is post-Frankie Knuckles. Somewhere between ESG, Black Flag, and Frankie Knuckles is where Teenage Sequence truly draws from.
We can totally see where all the influences and sounds that you love took you on a journey to the sound you have.
I will say this, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's in the songs. Nothing I'm doing is original. I'm not the first person to have borrowed from these spaces or wanted to marry these things. I hope what I do comes across as honest because it feels very honest to what I want to do. And there'll be people before me, there'll be people after me, there'll be people who think they are original and people who will be self-aware enough to know it's not. Originality is not important, but what is important is that we as creators, artists, and musicians are honest to what we want to make.
Teenage Sequence’s self-titled album is out now via Everything Sucks Music (UK/EU) and Get Better Records (US).
