There’s several artists on our “Must talk/post about” list where it’s just a matter of making the right opportunity happen. Sometimes we just miss striking while the iron is hot and other times we find that there’s an actual Bandcamp Friday coming where we’re presented with an opportunity to, ahem, present some sort of collected bunch of words to expand everyone’s knowledge on a particular band we’re fancying. Like today! With New York-based tetchy who you (Like us) most likely just missed rippin’ it up in or around the Bay State.
We’re not sure how we came across tetchy (We think it was the recent round of show promoting on bills with faves like Gut Health and Tysk Tysk Task perhaps???) initially but holy hell are we ever glad that we did! We weren’t in time to actually catch the shows and were waaaaay off in covering their most recent EP released in January. Hell, we missed another chance when newest single “Mommy” dropped a few weeks back! But we’re making up for it now!
Speaking of that newly released ditty, it’s probably the most accurate (Or at least up-to-date) read you’ll get on the band’s brand of carefully constructed chaos with a vocalist in Maggie Denning who’s got range for days (And if we needed to try and compare we’d say Denning is like a Punk Rawk Samantha Hartsel of Tysk Tysk Task mixed with the brashness of Wargasm UK’s Milkie Way). Elsewhere within the just over a minute and a half musical maelstrom are Jesse French’s huge riffs and squeals squaring off against Kaitlin Pelkey’s fuzzed out bass lines and Ransom McCafferty’s diabolical drumming for one unholy union of pretty perfect modern Punk Rawk. Kids, welcome to tetchy.
But back to the beginning!
There’s a LOT to explore on ye olde Bandcamp page dating back to 2019 and “Fascist” which is a hyperactive sing-songy lullaby of lunacy. “Quitter” dropped the following year (That’s 2020 if you’re keeping track…) and offered a very different side of the band exploring more Grunge elements with Denning offering a masterclass in vocal approaches as the vocalist begins with hushed tones that seethe with every word breathed out in vibratos and trills before becoming more powerful for the grand finale propelled by French on drums for this outing. Both of those jams ended up on the Hounds EP which also featured the Alterna-Prog of “Emotional Labor” alongside two other sonic gems.
2021 ended with the release of “Backyard” which really dug deep into tetchy’s aesthetic of schizophrenic soundscapes that could somehow elegantly meld lush Pop anthems with raging heaviness. In 2023 fans got the Smaller / Better EP that exquisitely leaned into that aforementioned dichotomy for something of a twisted carnival that was on the quieter side yet ended up being no less unhinged from the band’s louder moments. Oh, you like it louder you say? Well, this year’s All In My Head has a lot of that intertwined with some of tetchy’s most beautiful works to date (“Hands” in particular is spectacular) for a well-rounded four tracks that really capture the feel for when you’re inevitably asked “Well, what do they sound like?”
You can check out all of what tetchy has to offer on Bandcamp when you head here and to jump right to the new single (On Trash Casual) you can hit the stream below. For a whole lotta other tetchy-related links (Non-Bandcamp streaming sites, live dates, etc) you can click here and for the socials across the information superhighway you can stop here or here.