The Bad Penny (beta)

When The Bad Penny embarked on its On Tyranny project more than a year ago, we initially interviewed artists residing in countries controlled by authoritarian regimes in order to learn how they are still able to pursue their vocation despite fears of retaliation including censorship, imprisonment and even death. We conversed with musicians in Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hungary.

About six months later, the Trump regime began deploying military forces into U.S. cities, deported U.S. citizens without due process to countries they had never resided nor visited, and ordered masked “authorities” with no visible identification to kidnap and disappear people with no criminal records off the street. Thus, we turned our focus to how U.S.-based musicians are coping with previously unimaginable atrocities and how Authoritarian America is damaging the careers and personal lives of artists and dissenters.

Today we bring you a different perspective on the growing power of autocracy as the governing force across the world via a short-and-sweet interview with grindcore band Rotten Sound from Finland. While the vast majority of artists we’ve interviewed for On Tyranny have expressed fear, disgust and despair over the direction that the U.S. – and, by extension, the world – is headed, The Bad Penny was surprised to learn that some artists are not worried about being persecuted for their stances, whether they be creative or “political” (whatever that term actually means anymore).

Our On Tyranny series is dedicated to presenting all viewpoints on what the majority of Americans believe is an erosion of democratic values and norms that is occurring at this very moment. But Rotten Sound reside in Finland, so their perspective is a wee bit different. Here’s full the exchange we had with the band, whose new Mass Extinction EP came out Friday via Season of Mist.

When did you become so concerned about misinformation, conspiracy theories and censorship to the point you felt obligated to make it a focus of your art? Was there a single event or a tipping point?

I think that these issues have concerned me for some decades, but COVID changed things quite drastically. Writing lyrics about these issues is not an obligation to me. They just match the way our music sounds. 

To what extent did politics, social issues, etc. play a role in your lyrics, music-making, etc. when you started as a band? When did it escalate?

Always with Rotten Sound. We’re grind. Nothing escalated, it was there to begin with.

How have you managed to keep yourself together as the aforementioned trends have worsened severely over the past 10 years?

I have no problems with keeping myself together. Being concerned doesn’t mean that I’m struggling. But being silent isn’t an option either, at least for me.

Do you see an end in sight?

We all die someday. There’s again a threat of nuclear conflict. But somehow, I actually believe that we are lucky and find ways to go towards a better future. 

How has the fear of censorship affected your artistic process? Are you mindful of obeying in advance and, when you find yourself at such a crossroads, does that compel you to oppose the forces that would censor you even more so?

The lyrics are based on humanism and equality, which are not risky topics. So, there’s no reason to fear.

Have you been the target of any harassment, doxxing, abuse or otherwise inappropriate criticism or attacks as a result of the work you’ve made as an artist?

No.

How are you preparing to survive as an artist and deal with whatever repressive efforts authorities may try to extract on artists and people who volunteer or work for nonprofit organizations with which they don’t agree?

We live in a democratic country and continent, so I have no reason to fear such things. 

Do you believe violence or violent acts are ever a legitimate recourse, and if so, under what circumstances?

No. All violence should be illegal. Including wars.

A musician told me the other day that those of us who want humanity to survive are obligated to be optimistic. Do you agree?

Yes, I’m definitely optimistic as a person. But bringing topics that worry us into the lyrical content matches how it sounds. Some movies and books are very dystopic too, but I never thought that the creators are only pessimistic.

Learn more about Rotten Sound on their Bandcamp page.

Read more installments in the On Tyranny archive, which features conversations with The Locust, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Deaf Club, Cosmic Reaper, MyVeronica, the Gunshy, Planet on a Chain, Necrofier, Cheap Perfume, Bobby Conn, Truculent and many more.

This entry was posted on 12/16/2025 at 8:03 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, On Tyranny, Rotten Sound, trump, tyranny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.