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Continue readingSong Premiere: Boston Band Merry Brigade’s ‘Work Smoothly’ Is White-Hot, Entrancing, Incandescent Rock
Posted in Exclusives with tags Joe Love, Merry Brigade on 06/20/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
It was only a month ago that we introduced you to Merry Brigade.
In Merry Brigade’s first video interview, Love revealed how the group’s trials and tribulations with their previous projects strengthened their new musical undertaking, what he learned from Soundgarden (his favorite band) and author David Foster Wallace, and how delicately he treats his lyrics.
Now, they’ve paid The Bad Penny a second visit to bequeath us with the premiere of their new song, “Work Smoothly.”
Continue readingFavorite Films: Martin Atkins (Ministry, Pigface) ‘Bedazzles’ Us by Picking a Comedy With Dudley Moore, Peter Cook
Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags Bedazzled, David Wm. Sims, Dudley Moore, Genesis P-Orridge, Martin Atkins, Mick Harris, Ministry, Peter Cook, Pigface on 06/20/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
If you want to get properly schooled in the history of post-punk and industrial music – and the music industry machinery that has both helped and harmed it over the decades – don’t read a music blog or turn to some know-it-all bottom-feeding on social media for information. Instead, seek out a revered guru like Martin Atkins, he of Pigface, Ministry, Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd and Nine Inch Nails note.
Atkins is a prolific author of books concerning the music industry; the studies coordinator on the very subject at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois; and owner and operator of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music in Chicago. If you’re more inclined to enjoy Atkins making music instead of reading his tomes, look no further than The Howler: An English Breakfast, a record he issued on vinyl for the first time about three weeks ago.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Why Musicians Must Speak Out Against MAGA – and Why Their Fans Must Support Them When They Do
Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags artists' rights, authoritarianism, fascism, Jack Rabid, No Kings, On Tyranny, resistance, trump, tyranny on 06/18/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
If you’ve enjoyed The Bad Penny‘s ongoing On Tyranny series, be sure to pick up the latest edition of The Big Takeover, underground music’s best magazine. Publisher, editor and perhaps the best person on earth Jack Rabid graciously allowed me once again to write one of the three coveted opinion essays that lead off the 160-page edition. My second commentary is a kindred spirit of the first, and both digs deep into the sums up lessons learned from On Tyranny. If you believe in punk rock and for which it stands, buy the newest issue of The Big Takeover.
Cola’s ‘Cost of Living Adjustment’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags Cola on 06/18/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
It appeared that Montreal’s post-punk squad Cola tried to pull a fast one when they formed in 2020. After all, properly capitalizing all the letters in their name would’ve clearly indicated it was an acronym and not a synonym for soda—which, in all fairness, would’ve been equally bland. On this, their third record, the trio finally come clean by confirming through its title that their handle is, in fact, a phrase used in the titillating field of economics and employment contracts.
Continue readingAn All-En-Compass-Ing Conversation With June of 44’s Jeff Mueller
Posted in Interviews with tags Doug Scharin, Fred Erskine, Jeff Mueller, June of 44, Rodan, Sean Meadows, Shipping News, Touch and Go on 06/18/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Enjoy my lengthy conversation with Jeff Mueller, one of the four captains steering iconic Louisville band June of 44. From start to finish, you will learn the history of June of 44 and get a deep understanding of the band’s ethos and spirit. You’ll learn why reuniting was a transcendent experience in which the band members discovered new meaning in and appreciation for songs they had written decades prior. You’ll discover that a group of musicians who appeared stoic and even intimidating in their heyday are empathetic to the core. And you might enjoy a laugh or two — surprising for a band whose concerts were considered to be serious, chuckle-free engagements back in the day.
Continue readingSonny Rollins, Master Saxophonist and Jazz Pioneer, Dead at 95
Posted in Features with tags jazz, Obituary, Sonny Rollins on 06/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Sonny Rollins, widely considered to be one of the greatest saxophonists of all time, has died, according to a Sunday post on his Facebook page. He was 95 years old.
“It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins,” read a statement posted on the page at approximately 10 p.m. ET. “The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY, at the age of 95.”
The post continued with a 2009 quote from Rollins, a jazz tenor saxophonist known as a jazz music purveyor and improvisational extraordinaire.
“I think when the creative person ends, he continues in the next existence,” the Rollins quote read. “I’m a person who believes this life isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. A spiritual person doesn’t feel like that.”
As of 11:15 p.m. ET, Rollins’ website contained no information about the legend’s passing.
Continue readingLed Zeppelin Officially Broke Its Post-Breakup Vow — and Set a Ticket-Sales Record
Posted in Features with tags Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant on 06/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
When Led Zeppelin’s founding drummer, John Bonham, died due to an alcohol overdose in 1980, the classic-rock band broke up, and its three surviving members vowed to never reunite. Guitarist Jimmy Page, vocalist Robert Plant, and bassist John Paul Jones did so informally a few times, mostly for tribute events.
But it wasn’t until a 2007 concert celebrating the life of music executive Ahmet Ertegun – who signed Led Zeppelin to his Atlantic Records – that Page, Plant, and Jones played a full set for the first time in almost three decades. The show was so historic, and demand to attend it was so high (with 20 million ticket requests tallied), that Led Zeppelin set a new Guinness World Record.
Continue readingGreen Day’s Blacklisted Hit Was Banned From Radio – and It Wasn’t Due to Profanity
Posted in Essays with tags Green Day, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool on 06/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
In the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, radio station conglomerate Clear Channel Communications banned a slew of unlikely songs from the airwaves, including Simon & Garfunkel‘s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” John Lennon‘s “Imagine,” Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven,” and many more. Another band that fell victim to the reactionary crackdown on free speech during a terrifying time in America was Green Day and their song “Brain Stew.”
The spirit of punk rock is to scream truth to power, no matter what the cost. Bands of that ilk tend to gravitate to the underground and indie record labels, where they can fully exercise their creative freedom and execute their vision without fear of corporate interference. Green Day is one of the rare – and undeniably most popular – punk-rock bands that, despite their fearless and sometimes controversial outspokenness, have spent the majority of their career on a major label (the Warner Bros. Records-owned Reprise).
Continue readingQueens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme Owes His Fame, in Part, to Heavy-Rock Amigos
Posted in Features, Interviews with tags Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters, Kyuss, Nick Oliveri, Nirvana, QOTSA, Queens of the Stone Age on 06/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
As the only remaining original member of Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme is synonymous with the band that boasts substantial critical repute, commercial success, and peer respect. But as QOTSA proceeds deeper into their 30th year, they’re preparing for two of their highest-profile tours yet this summer, with Foo Fighters in the U.S. and System of a Down in Europe, respectively. Since QOTSA’s inception, fans of heavy rock have always regarded Homme as the leader of the group, due to his authorship of the vast majority of its songs and his role as the project’s mainstay member as its cast rotated routinely over the years.
Indeed, Homme’s imposing presence and distinct appearance as a 6’4” red-haired front man adds to his band’s singularly striking presence in the rock universe. But not only are there well-founded doubts that QOTSA may not have lasted as long as it were it not for the other musicians who have membership in the band on their resumes, Homme’s ever-growing list of collaborations with the creme de la creme of mainstream music has boosted his prominence even higher than his often unconventional take on rock music alone would have accomplished.
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