Twisted Teens: Three Albums in a Year, Sub Pop Debut on Friday

Three albums in one calendar year would be a stunt for most bands. For Twisted Teens, it reads like a work rate. The New Orleans duo of Caspian Halliwell and RJ Santos release The Holy Cross Tigers on Friday, November 6, 2026 via Sub Pop, their first album for the label and their third full length of 2026.

Twisted Teens did not start as an industry band. Sub Pop tells the story plainly. Caspian and RJ were neighbors in New Orleans' Holy Cross neighborhood, making records at home with a small setup, a drum machine, guitars, bass, and RJ's steel guitar answering Caspian's songs. Their self titled debut arrived in 2024. Then 2026 brought Blame the Clown and Florida Water Blues, and now a Sub Pop debut that keeps the same homemade method, just with a bigger stage.

What they sound like is warm, ragged, and direct. Caspian's voice carries the wear of lived experience, while RJ's steel slips and weeps around it, sometimes sweet, sometimes strange. The songs borrow the plainspoken directness of early rock and roll and American folk, with the speed and simplicity of punk in their bones. If you like Chuck Berry's storytelling economy, the Ramones' no waste attack, or the haunted plainness of Blind Willie Johnson, you will hear why those reference points keep coming up around this band.

The Holy Cross Tigers is, by the band's own framing, their breakup album, their Blood on the Tracks. It opens with "Stalks," which toggles between flirty and frustrated, and moves through "When We First Met," a shout along memory of a relationship's early, lusty days. Later songs turn to friends who cooperate instead of standing firm, and to the long work of getting through heartbreak. The closer, "Darker The Night Is The Brighter I See," is the record's bleakest and most striking moment.

Listen

Start with "When We First Met." It is 113 seconds long, according to Sub Pop, and it wastes none of them. The Anthony Simpkins directed video goes medieval at Armored MMA, which suits a song that hits fast and leaves a bruise.

Then go to "Stalks" for the album's opening statement, and save "I Spend My Time Crying" and the closer for a full listen when the album lands.

Live

Twisted Teens play Louisville, Kentucky on November 6, supporting Kurt Vile and the Violators, followed by dates including St. Louis on November 7 and a New Orleans show at Joy Theater on November 18, with Australian dates in December. Check their Bandcamp and Sub Pop pages for the full run.

Start here

1. "When We First Met"
2. "Stalks"
3. The Holy Cross Tigers, out November 6, 2026

Where to follow

• Bandcamp: https://twistedteens.bandcamp.com/album/the-holy-cross-tigers
• Sub Pop: https://www.subpop.com/releases/twisted_teens/the_holy-cross-tigers
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twistedteensneworleans

Pixanami Indie Music Blog will be watching this Sub Pop debut closely.