Singled Out: Acid Tongue's Acid on the Dance Floor

Seattle garage rockers Acid Tongue recently released "Acid on the Dance Floor," the title track to their forthcoming album, and to celebrate we asked Guy Keltner to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

I have been messing around with the riff of this song for a couple of years now. I f***ing hate jamming, but for some reason, whenever I am stoned (often) and someone asks me to play with them, I can't refuse. So, this riff has been pulled out quite a few times in desperation, and it always gets a reaction from my friends. It's easy as hell to play, and you can layer pretty much anything on top of it.

When I was writing this new album, I got into a nice groove of setting up my recording gear in my dining room so I could enjoy the natural light, smoke a bunch of weed, and dance around a bit while recording. I remember it being really sunny, and I had the urge to dumb things down a bit and play with some really stupid lyrics that were going through my head. "I took too much...I took too much..." That chorus is so fun too because it's just those two chords and all of us chanting together.

In general, this record has a heavy drug focus because of where my life was at during the writing process. I quit drinking for good back in 2020. But in 2022 I started f***ing around with drugs again, especially cocaine. When I used to drink, I was really awful, annoying, and inconsiderate. But other drugs didn't put me in that state, so I had this understanding with myself that as long as I avoided alcohol, I could basically do whatever else I wanted to do.

By the end of 2022, I was on tour with Papi Saicos performing the songs of Los Saicos. We headlined the Monkeybee Festival in Mexico City with The Black Lips. I was struggling to keep up with everyone's partying during the Saicos tour, and when the Black Lips wanted to do blow together, I happily obliged. How the hell could I turn that down? And then I started doing it a lot after that. And once you're high on coke, it's a lot easier to say yes to other things.

This uptick in hard drug use really bled into my lyrics throughout the course of this album. I don't want to diminish the songwriting, though. There are some very personal songs in here, and a lot of the subject matter ranges from coping with my various mental health issues to the ups & downs of romantic relationships. "Acid On The Dancefloor" really epitomizes the drug part of this album, and I wrote about that special moment when you're off your head and trying to make sense of everything around you in a rave. "Are you still you? Am I still me? Or are we energy?"

I'm trying to destigmatize drugs, while at the same time encouraging people to take care of themselves and use some amount of moderation. It's a song about the beautiful experience you can have while taking acid, and how far it can go when you overdo it. I still believe in drugs, especially psychedelics, and their ability to serve a purpose in someone's life and generally expand our perception of the world. But now that I've cut alcohol, cocaine, and so many other things out of my life, I'm really happy to be in a place where I can appreciate some clarity while singing about the joys of partying and addiction.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the band here

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