On Tyranny: Jesus Lizard Vocalist David Yow Ditches US for Portugal
As our nation rapidly transforms into Authoritarian America, artists – who are typically among the first to be targeted when a dictatorship takes control of a country – are relocating to countries where their right to free speech is still protected.
One of the more prominent indie-rock artists to make the move is Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow, who relocated to Portugal earlier this year, according to multiple sources who recently confirmed the news to The Bad Penny. None of the sources said outright that Trump’s reclaiming of the presidency was their motivating factor for Yow fleeing the U.S., however.
When yours truly interviewed Yow and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison last year for a feature on FLOOD, the vocalist whose lyrics were historically apolitical admitted that he felt boxed in by the inexorable partisan strife in America and said he was compelled to address current events on the band’s comeback record, Rack.
“A larger percentage of the lyrics than I wished were based on the political climate in the U.S. for the last seven or eight years,” he confided in a video conference call.
When The Bad Penny reached out to Jesus Lizard’s publicist for comment after hearing about Yow’s move to Portugal, the answer we received was terse. “It was planned long before the elect[ion,] so no story here,” read the statement.
That very well may be true, but there’s no denying that an increasing number of American artists are self-deporting amid rapidly accelerating fear that the First Amendment is on the way out. Moreover, anyone who might dissent from the Trump Administration’s notoriously bullheaded and uncompromising is no longer paranoid in thinking such opposition could send them behind bars.
To put it in simpler terms, American artists are having to seriously consider for the first time since the McCarthy Era whether it’s worth pursuing their creative endeavors and expressing themselves the best way they know how – through their art. Because, faster than most if us anticipated the Trump Administration would illegally choose to do, the result could be state-sanctioned harassment, legal detention, deportation to another country or a military black site – even charges of treason, which carry a punishment of death in the United States.
Earlier this month, we brought you part of our recent interview with iconoclastic underground art-rock legend and brainiac Eugene S. Robinson, in which he revealed that he has joined a slew of other American artists exiting the United States to live in other countries.
“I don’t live in America anymore,” he said in the interview. “I’m in Poland at this very moment, on my way to Spain, where I bought a house, and that’s where I’ll be moving and living.”
He added: “My attitude used to be like, ‘I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country. And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why? Why? Why? [There are] lots of places to live in the world. Why [should I continue to live] here?’”
The Bad Penny is committed to following the rapid rise of tyranny that is sweeping across the country at breakneck and breathtaking speed. If you are an artist who would care to express your thoughts about this topic, even if you prefer to do so anonymously, contact The Bad Penny here.
Go here for The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny hub.
Most recent On Tyranny installments:
• Metal Band Malevich ‘Had a String of Shows Canceled for Some of Our [Pro-Palestinian] Activism’
• Weakened Friends’ Secret to Battling MAGA? Community Involvement
• Ex-U.S. Navy Captain-Turned-Psych-Rock Musician Jeremy Moore Warns of Fascism
For more Jesus Lizard and David Yow stories, check out:
• The Jesus Lizard’s 103 Songs, Ranked From the G.O.A.T. to the … Just Don’t
• Labyrinth: The History Of The Jesus Lizard
• Did David Yow Tell His Version of ‘The Aristocrats’ on The Jesus Lizard’s ‘Lady Shoes’?
• David Yow Gets a Droplet of Good News Amid L.A.’s Fire Hellscape
• CONSPIRACY REVEALED: Tool’s Maynard James Keenan And David Yow Are Lizard People!
• The David Yow Interview To End All David Yow Interviews
• Looking Back: Steve Albini, David Yow, Rob Crow Chat About Touch and Go’s 25th Anniversary
• The Jesus Lizard: A Racket of a Resurrection (Extended Version)
• Jesus Lizard Interview and Exclusive News: The Naked Truth, Pt. 1
• Jesus Lizard’s Duane Denison: ‘I Can’t Imagine Ever Doing A Reunion Tour’
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