Written by Travis Shosa

This Album Auto-nalysis interview was originally published on COUNTERZINE on June 7, 2019. It has been re-edited and adapted for Stamens/Pistils/Parties.

Album Auto-nalysis is a regular feature where we ask some of our favorite artists to breakdown their albums track-by-track, to provide further insight into the thoughts, feelings, and artistic processes that went into making them. For this edition, we asked Wilson Hernandez of garage/surf pop band Tennis Club to detail their album, Pink.

1. “Bella Vista Surf”

Wilson Hernandez: “It’s just an instrumental, but it’s a summertime song. It’s about cracking open a cold beer on the highway on the way to see someone you love.”

2. “Vodkas”

Hernandez: “I wrote this song when I was at a painting party.  It was at a spa and everyone was painting trees on canvas and drinking mimosas.  I went into the bathroom and recorded a vocal harmony on my phone so I would remember the song. It’s basically about having trouble staying away from someone that you should probably stay away from.”

3. “Ghost Cops”

Hernandez: “This is my favorite song off the record. A couple of months ago, I was picking up my mom from the airport when I got pulled over by the police in a creepy Oklahoma town. They took some weed I forgot I had in my pocket and gave me a $600 ticket.  The song is a post-break up song with a police story. I call them ghost cops because they linger in the dark and come out of nowhere.”

4. ”London”

Hernandez: “This was the last song that was recorded on the album: way too sappy. It’s about dating someone that is embarrassed/ashamed to date you. So they keep it a secret.  I called it “London” because, for some reason, the guitar intro reminded me of Britpop.”

5. “Mexico City (Rich Girls)”

Hernandez: “This is the first song I ever wrote in Spanish. I think I started writing part of it at a dance club. We recorded it on a whim with just guitar/vocals and drums from an electric keyboard and tons of reverb. We were very happy with how it turned out. The song is about dating a Forever 21 model.”

6. “Stay”

Hernandez: “Probably the only radio-friendly song on the record. I also wrote this song at a dance club. We recorded this one pretty quickly in our drummer’s bedroom with a super beat-up drum kit we put together. I think this the only song that we argued about in regards to the mix. This is the only song on the record that goes past three minutes. The song is about false hope.”

7. “Car Beers”

Hernandez: “Sometimes, when our drummer and I would go out to a bar, we would drink beers in the parking lot before we actually went into an establishment because it was cheaper: hence the term “Car Beers.”  I wanted to create a scumbag vibe out of this song. It’s pretty silly.”

8. “Pink Sweater! Pink Shoes!”

Hernandez: “This is a very old song that wasn’t supposed to be on the album, but we used it as filler. It’s funny because our label really loved the song when it wasn’t even supposed to be on there. I wanted to write a cheesy unrequited love song and this was what we came up with.”

9. “Baby”

Hernandez: “This is just a really petty break up song, but we wanted something very stripped down to end the album. It’s just vocals and guitars.  My friends in this band called Space Dingus just put out a super solid record and they end the album with this song called “George.” And I just wanted to copy it and write something in the same vein.”

You can follow Tennis Club on Bandcamp.

Travis Shosa is the founder and editor-in-chief of Stamens/Pistils/Parties. Formerly the runner of COUNTERZINE, he has bylines at Pitchfork, The Alternative, and Post-Trash among others.