10 Best Bay Area Bands, According to Death-Thrash Hometown Heroes Absolute Darkness (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/15/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

It’s always cool to get positive feedback from readers, especially those of you who keep tabs on what some lame-ass AI tool referred to as “the iconoclastic website The Bad Penny.” Hell, we’ll take it – and much more importantly, we’ll take your liking of this consummately non-mainstream and non-corporate hub for news, interviews, games, reviews and more about rad bands that mostly lurk underground.

Aaaaaanyway, it’s even more flattering to get kind words from musicians; after all, none of us would be on this website, writing and reading any of the posts, engaging in discussions and finding fulfillment in music in general were it not for those who actually make it. All of which is to say that the new series with the loose title The Bad Penny Passport is attracting so much excitement from artists that it feels like getting blindsided by a tsunami. And that enthusiasm is showing in the bands’ submissions, none better exemplified by this golden treasure of a contribution from Bay Area death thrashers Absolute Darkness.

The band began 10 years ago fueled in part by their love of death metal but also thrash metal, the genre du jour in their San Francisco hometown. We try to never pass up an opportunity for a laugh, so feast your eyes on the cover art of their first single, and you’ll get a pretty sharp insight into Absolute Darkness’ personality:

The band consisting of drummer/vocalist/guitarist Ron Dorn (drums, vocals, guitars), bassist Orson Sojo, guitarist Douglas Vetter Guitars and drummer Scott Russell are putting out their second album, Witness to a Dying World, on October 23. There’s more on that below; but first, let’s get schooled by Absolute Darkness and what they believe to be the 10 best Bay Area bands of all time.

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Pet Sounds #94: Tiger Bear Wolf’s Frontman Shares the Touching Tale of His Sorely Missed Wonder Dog, Robo

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , on 09/15/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Jon’s daughter kissing Robo on his head

“The moral of the story is: Say yes to every dog.”

-Jon Moore of Tiger Bear Wolf

It would be sacrilege, blasphemous, a crime worthy of punishment by death were The Bad Penny not to rabidly pursue a band named Tiger Bear Wolf to participate in our ongoing – and, thanks to our rad readership, very popular – Pet Sounds series. In keeping with that thought, we chased down the post-hardcore math-rock band from Greensboro, North Carolina – and wouldn’t you know it, they were immediately into the idea.

Tiger Bear Wolf consists of four human beings – Jonathan Moore (guitar, vocals), Noah Howard (guitar, vocals), Matt Bostick (bass) and Lawrence Holdsworth (drums) – who recently released a self-titled album 17 years in the making. (Yes, you read that right.) In a story that will pull at your heartstrings, the pink-cheeked punks found themselves on a roll after putting out their first two records in 2002 and 2005. But Tiger Bear Wolf’s third effort was not the charm. Hard drives containing the songs intended to be on that next record went awry, and the band wasn’t able to recover the material until much later.

A source of solace and comfort for Moore during those trying years when the Tiger Bear Wolf recordings were lost was, no doubt, his dog Robo. You might want to keep a box of issues handy for this very special installment of Pet Sounds, as Robo is no longer with us and the rare photos that Moore so generously shared with us are rather breathtaking. Either way, here is the story of Robo the dog, unwavering companion to the frontman of the band Tiger Bear Wolf.

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Cheetah Chrome, Guitarist for Rocket From the Tombs and Dead Boys, Dead at 71

Posted in In Memorium, News with tags , , , , on 09/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Cheetah Chrome, guitarist for revered underground punk bands Rocket From the Tombs and Dead Boys, has died, his PR company announced Monday night.

The punk-rock underground legend, whose real name was Eugene Richard O’Connor, died Sunday in Nashville at age 71, according to Reprobate Media.

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Queer Artist Logan Lynn Reflects on ‘Incredibly Meaningful’ Boise Screening of Award-Winning Documentary

Posted in Interviews with tags on 09/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Twenty years into Logan Lynn’s career as an artist and activist, the Portland resident trekked to Boise last week to screen his increasingly feted documentary The Pain and the Power. Presented by rock band Portugal. The Man’s KNIK Records’ PortuGAY Division, the film is touted as “a personal portrait tracing a 30-year career forged at the intersection of queerness, faith, addiction, trauma and self-reinvention.”

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On Tyranny: Hardcore-Meets-Metal SoCal Crew Throwlight Throw Shade on ICE, MAGA, Anti-Immigrant Hate in Incendiary Interview

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

As the 100th band we’ve interviewed for our On Tyranny series, which we launched in February 2025, we couldn’t have found a more fitting subject than Southern California hardcore/metal/rap enthusiasts Throwlight. The young band is tearing it up in conservative Orange County without any hesitation whatsoever, spitting in the face of the most frustrating aspects of the era in which are suffering through: compliance, willful ignorance and inaction.

While many artists are gratuitously tossing a remark or two into their live performances about how they disagree with the fascist takeover of America, Throwlight – consisting of vocalist Rocom, guitarist Chris Ellis, bassist Kevin Betz and playfully nicknamed keyboardist King of Somewhere – are putting their hearts totally into the fight. Their passion for resistance is as intense as the fury they unleash on their latest single, “No Kings,” which came out last month on limited-edition cassette.

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The 10 Best Swiss Bands, According to Native Dark-Jazz-Grind-Doom Experimentalists Convulsif (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Ever since we got our ears on Anatomy of Rage, the fourth studio album by Switzerland experimental brain scramblers Convulsif, we’ve listened over and over again trying to wrap our heads around its brilliance. (We almost covered every part of the human anatomy in that last sentence.) An offshoot of bassist Loïc Grobéty’s far-out Convulsif Bigband, Convulsif continue to – for lack of a better phrase, even though it’s over-used – push the boundaries of dark jazz, grind, doom, drone and noise. We’re already anticipating Convulsif’s next album, when they’re to incorporate remaining music genres smooth jazz, blue-eyed soul and neo-classical.

Convulsif’s music is badass in its own right, as you’ll discover on Anatomy of Rage or the quartet’s Bandcamp page. But much to our delight and humility, the gentlemen – Christian Müller (bass, clarinet and voice); Jamasp Jhabvala (violin); Loïc Grobéty (bass); and Maxime Hänsenberger (drums) – graciously decided to participate in The Bad Penny‘s latest series, in which we ask musicians from non-U.S. countries what they consider to be their own homeland’s top music offerings. Why embark upon this globetrotting adventure? Because fuck Spotify.

So, without further ado, say hello to Convulsif and the bands they hand-selected as Switzerland’s crème de la crème (fun fact: The Swiss use that turn of phrase the same way the French do!).

The 10 Best Swiss Bands, Per Convulsif

The Swiss music that has influenced us is very often pioneering. With Convulsif, we continue to offer the kind of avant-garde rock music that is our country’s trademark.

1. Voice Crack

We’ll start with the Swiss avant-garde scene and this duo. They come from a free jazz background and have continually evolved their sound and sound systems. They have released many collaborative albums.

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Favorite Films: Nightrage Frontman Marios Iliopoulos Is Enthralled by King Kong, ‘Dark Knight,’ ‘Wild at Heart’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“It’s a difficult thing to be an artist, man. You use your brain and a lot of energy. It’s the same with us musicians. We are working a lot with our mind. Some people think we are lazy or that actors do nothing, but it’s a lot of mental work.”

-Nightrage’s Marios Iliopoulos

One of The Bad Penny‘s favorite people in the whole wide world is Marios Iliopoulos, a rare human being who has a heart so big that it’s perplexing how his body can contain it, who has zero ego even though he fronts the best Greek metal band of all time, and who has generously donated hours of his time to speak with us about everything under the sun.

Previously, we brought you our conversations with Marios about his band Nightrage, the scourge of authoritarianism and fascism spreading across the world and his heartwarming friendship with sorely missed At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg.

Now we present you with what might our most entertaining chat with Señor Iliopoulos, as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Favorite Films series. In case it’s not already obvious, the feature revolves around us speaking with musicians about movies that have won them over.

Without further ado, here’s our exchange with Nightrage innovator Iliopoulos about his flicks of choice.

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Pet Sounds #93: Music Supervisor and New Solo Artist Gary Calamar’s Dog Ringo Is the Star(r) of the Show

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Ringo Starr may always be regarded as the weakest link in the Beatles, but when it comes to music supervisor and debuting solo artist Gary Calamar, his dog Ringo is an invaluable source of strength, inspiration and silliness. A longtime music industry executive – and DJ, and author, and five-time Grammy-nominated producer and music supervisor, and songwriter – Calamar is teeing up his first-ever solo record, Odd Numb3rs and Slanted Rhymes, for release October 23 on Big Stir Records. It will feature guest spots by his famous musician friends including Robyn Hitchcock, Maria Taylor and Mark Mothersbaugh.

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Top 10 Best Post-Rock Instrumental Bands: Godspeed, Caspian, Russian Circles, Explosions in the Sky, Mono

Posted in Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

With last week’s announcement that Caspian (not to be confused with Far Caspian, who formed 14 years after the much better band mentioned earlier in this sentence) are coming back after a six-year break, it seemed somewhat fitting to remind those of you who aren’t terribly familiar with instrumental post-rock to get educated. Not only is the subgenre all too often overlooked – because the bands feature neither lyrics nor a shamelessly self-promoting frontman to promote them – it’s also a cohort whose music is both ensconcing for picky underground-music enthusiasts but also generally appealing for grandparents, regardless of they wear hearing aids.

With the longest sentence ever written this side of James Joyce’s Ulysses, one note before we begin: Mogwai would’ve topped this list without a second thought had the Glasgoweenies not introduced vocals later into their career. Same goes with Trans Am, The Album Leaf, Battles and Hella. Now that we’re done venting, here’s The Bad Penny‘s list of Best Post-Rock Instrumental Bands, which our recommended album noted in each entry:

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)

2. Red SparowesAt the Soundless Dawn (2005)

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Like David Yow, Unsane’s Chris Spencer Almost Filled the Role of Vocalist for Punk Legends Flipper (Exclusive)

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
David Yow of the Jesus Lizard (photo credit: Josh Pelta-Heller for Phawker)

David Yow’s could very well lingering in obscurity without his iconic tenure as the frontman of the Jesus Lizard (and Scratch Acid) before that. But he’s also sprinkled in some bizarre side projects along the way, including his abstract-art “music” album Tonight You Look Like a Spider, released in June 2013 on Joyful Noise; a stint as the vocalist for L.A. underground rock trio Qui that culminated in their 2007 album Love’s Miracle; and guest appearances at concerts by Shellac, Melvins, the Dicks, Girls Against Boys and Cop Shoot Cop.

But one of the most notable excursions Yow – who self-deported from the U.S. for Portugal during the Trump regime – took in his equally florid and flatulent career was when he took on the role of vocalist for influential punk band and one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite groups, Flipper. After forming in 1979 and taking a decade-long break from 1994 to 2004, Yow filled in for ailing singer Bruce Loose during shows in 2015. Four years later, Yow reprised his role as substitute vocalist for Flipper’s 40th Anniversary Tour in 2019; at that point, Yow was effectively a member of the band, which advertised their shows as “Flipper with David Yow.”

But little do fans know – if any – that Yow wasn’t a shoe-in for Flipper’s replacement vocalist. Chris Spencer, frontman of Unsane – another hugely influential noise-rock band from decades past, along with the Jesus Lizard – recently revealed in an interview with this writer: “I was really a big Flipper fan, despite them having 30-plus members over the years. The ethos of that band was just great.”

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