Arizona’s No Laughing Matter were kind of a ‘love ’em or hate ’em’ kind of game. Dark and broody, they didn’t fit in with most CCM at the time. Heck, even the alternative stuff wasn’t quite this dark, for the most part. Scott Roman’s dramatic wail was an acquired taste. The guitars alternated between goth-rock and the occasional nod to funk (see “Helltown”). Of particular interest were the deep bass grooves. They were one of Christian music’s very few, true “post-punk” bands in the proper sense of the term. Often criticised as Christians playing such a dark brand of rock, the members justified their position by claiming they felt called by God to play the genre of music they did.
It wasn’t just the music that was gloomy. The lyrics described the human condition in terms that were brutally honest, and often bleak, yet theologically and existentially accurate. Take “Bad Blood” for instance:
My mind begins to dwell
Where angels fear to tread
Why am I enchanted by the power tools of death?
Bad blood
Those who listened carefully discerned that the “no laughing matter” was aimed squarely at our sinful existence outside of redemption. Scott croons further . . .
This is something beyond control
The stigmatism of the soul
A disease that’s cured supernatural
Won’t somebody tell me–I just gotta know!
About the bad blood!
Can anybody set me free?
Can anybody set me free?
Can anybody set me free?
From the bad blood
This is intentionally dark stuff that points to a need for redemption–a redemption they believe was found in Christ.
While the band only released one full-length on a label (Monstor on R.E.X.), they released close to a dozen demos, indie recordings, and side-projects (Scott Roman, Gehenna Tattoo, 120db, Aluminum/Reverb/And/Parsley and more) on their own imprint Worthless Records. Sadly, not much can be found on YouTube, but check out their own blog here: https://worthlessrecords.blogspot.com/
