Kevin Bronson on April 1st, 2021

0

A pandemic is certainly no place for anyone suffering autophobia, the fear of being alone. But here we have been for the past year, locked down with our angels and demons, away from friends and bandmates. Tennis System singer-guitarist Matty Taylor acknowledges he felt triggered until a friend he had made on tour, Chadwick Johnson, telephoned him.

“I was done. I didn’t want to make music anymore,” says Taylor, admitting the pressure to do the virtual dance (add followers, garner streams, etc.) took a toll on his mental health. “If Chadwick hadn’t called me and said, ‘Why don’t you come down here and make the record?’ I don’t know what the fuck I would have done. I wouldn’t have made this record.”

The record is titled “Autophobia,” Tennis System’s fourth and their first for fledgling label Quiet Panic (Beach Slang, Spiral Heads, Slow Crush).

“Truth Hurts” is the pummeling first single, a slight deviation from the band’s dense, guitars-first sound but no less melodically inviting than Tennis System’s crushing, wall-of-sound popgazing. Written and produced with Johnson and mixed and mastered by Sam Pura (The Story So Far, Basement, Spice), “Autophobia” is due in the late summer.

“Writing these songs without a band let me make music without having to meet anyone’s expectations but my own,” Taylor says. “I focused on making the record I wanted to make.”

||| Stream: “The Truth Hurts”

||| Also: Watch Bradley Scott’s video for the song

||| Previously: “Shelf Life,” “Coming Down,” “Clearer,” “Lackluster,” “Here We Go,” “Memories & Broken Dreams” (video),  “Memories & Broken Dreams” (stream), “The Summer After,” “Such a Drag,” Ears Wide Open