Get ready to rock on, dive in, freak out and give it up for Michigan-based underground music fanatics Arsenic Tea Party. Announcing their upcoming (and second overall) major release –‘The Really Not Good Times’ EP, they unveil a video for lead track ’12 Gauge Exit Strategy’ (created by JacobGlover), following up the single ‘Tommy The Cop’ (video produced by Amanda Meade). These 2 tracks, taken with the remaining 2 (oh yes, we’ve heard them), the duo of Richard Cynic (vocals, drums, keys, guitar, lyrics) and Ron (Ryan Szewczyk) of Downtown Brown (guitar and bass) bring us a loaded feast of extreme sounds (metal, punk, alternative rock) rolled into one hot tamale of a sonic offering.
An apolitical Rock and Roll outfit dedicated to “poisoning” the minds of honest folk with positive, nihilistic cheer, Arsenic Tea Party exists to make noise and make it fun for everyone – to make things less painful. There’s a certain level of whimsy,and levity in this avant-garde metal. At times sardonic in subject matter, this simple but high-energy music has got hooks, and utilizes a wide range of instruments and styles.
Debuting with their eponymous LP in mid-2019, it’s been a full year since they released their next single ‘Homesick For Hell’.
“Personally, we both have gone through a lot of very strange and terrible things the past two years. From struggling with health issues, losing homes and livlihoods, getting shot and basically coming back from the dead, the pandemic, missed opportunities then, and now, major depression…you get the picture,” says Richard Cynic.
“This release, and its future sister release, is an attempt to make sense of the fact that there is no good sense in any of this – and I guess to poke fun at serious issues to minimize their power. Kind of like how a mother bird will regurgitate food for her offspring. This EP is just a sardonic outlook on the absurd nature of everything that is the present or that could be the present – I don’t like to date things, haha.”
We recorded this release in our homes respectively. Just a homegrown record. I handle the Vocals, Drums, Keys, and Guitar, and Ron handles both Guitar and Bass. For a brief period, ATP had live players, but that was short lived. We aren’t in much of a hurry to play live given the circumstances, but we do have prospects and interested parties who are practicing our songs as we speak.
As of February 14, ‘The Really Not Good Times’ EP will be available digitally across all platforms, includingSpotify and Apple Music. It can already be pre-ordered via Bandcamp, where ’12 Gauge Exit Strategy’ is available for download via Bandcamp, where you can also order the full EP at https://arsenicteaparty.bandcamp.com/album/the-really-not-good-times-ep or else get it from the band’s own web-store at https://arsenicteaparty.com/merch-and-music-store
CREDITS
Richard Cynic – vocals, drums, keys, guitar, lyrics
Ron (Ryan Szewczyk) – guitar, bass
’12 Gauge Exit Strategy’ video by Jacob Glover
‘Tommy The Cop’ video by Amanda Meade
Album artwork by Erin Kaltrider
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