American Pleasure Club

Baltimore, Maryland serves as home base for American Pleasure Club, the project steered by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Ray that fuses abrasive, punk-tinged guitar lines with introspective melodies and lyrics rooted in emo traditions while relying on fragmented, collage-style production. The ensemble, originally operating under the Teen Suicide banner, underwent multiple personnel shifts, issued two full-length albums plus numerous EPs, and adopted its current name in 2017 before unveiling its first official statement, the expansive and confessional A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This, the following year.

Sam Ray on vocals and guitar together with drummer Eric Livingston established the group as Teen Suicide in 2009; through 2012 these two remained its sole official members, though additional players contributed to individual recordings. A 2011 compilation titled Bad Vibes Forever gathered early demo material. Expansion to a four-piece occurred in 2012 when Caroline White joined on viola and vocals and Alec Simke took up bass duties. That same year proved exceptionally active, yielding the EPs DC Snuff Film, Waste Yrself, and Hymns alongside the album I Will Be My Own Hell Because There Is a Devil Inside My Body.

Although output and attention were both rising, Teen Suicide announced an impending dissolution in late 2012 and staged a final concert in January 2013; the digital collection Rarities, Unreleased Stuff, and Cool Things surfaced the next month. Near the close of 2013, however, the band resurfaced for a clandestine support slot alongside Elvis Depressedly and Crying in Baltimore. Four reunion performances followed in February and March 2014, now featuring Sam Ray, Alec Simke, guitarist John Toohey, and drummer Brian Sumner.

Run for Cover Records issued a remastered pressing of I Will Be My Own Hell Because There Is a Devil Inside My Body early in 2015 and paired the DC Snuff Film and Waste Yrself EPs for simultaneous re-release. The full-length It's the Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir the Honeypot arrived in April 2016, while the July 2017 single “Greatest Trick” b/w “Sycamore” appeared under the alias the World's Greatest; an accompanying statement declared the supporting tour Teen Suicide’s last, describing the prior name as “horrible, juvenile, and problematic.” Sean Mercer had by then assumed drumming responsibilities from Brian Sumner.

October 2017 brought the digital track “When You Split the Heart Open,” credited to Dumpster. One month later the ensemble settled on the name American Pleasure Club for the release of “You Call Me.” A limited cassette, I Blew on a Dandelion and the Whole World Disappeared, surfaced briefly at year’s end. February 2018 marked the arrival of the first album under the new moniker, A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This, which also introduced the lineup of Sam Ray, guitarist Dan Windsor, bassist Nick Hughes, vocalist Kitty Ray, and drummer Sean Mercer. After touring with Thursday in early 2019, the group issued Fucking Bliss, a stark and unsettling set recorded by Sam Ray in 2015.