The Bad Penny (beta)

“If I have a purpose in life, it’s to make music.” That’s a powerful statement from a young man named Damián Antón Ojeda, whose solo blackgaze project Sadness exudes the sincerity, intensity and deep emotion of an artist proving his credo through his art. All those factors combined make him an ideal entrant in The Bad Penny‘s new series “The Visionaries,” in which we interview introverted musical savants who typically don’t do many interviews. Following Aaron Turner and Jute Gyte, Ojeda is in very good company.

While Sadness has crafted dozens upon dozens of releases over the past decade or so – most recent the exquisite EP Shimmer – 2024 marked the first live performance for the project. But now, having really broken out of his shell, Ojeda is ready to tour next year and – while he’s too humble to say so himself – is well-positioned for global domination.

Get to know the eminently likable, thoughtful and kind Ojeda in the above interview, conducted late last week, then take note of the below tour dates so you can plan to catch Sadness in concert. Also on the bill is Ojeda’s screamo project Life and the mighty Dawn of Ouroboros.

1.2: Los Angeles, CA @ Post-Everything Fest (no Dawn of Ouroboros)
1.3 – San Diego, CA @ Brick by Brick
1.4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rosetta Room
1.6 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Griffin
1.7 – San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
1.8 – Roseburg, OR @ Rosebud Theatre
1.9 – Seattle, WA @ Substation
1.10 – Portland, OR @ Twilight Cafe and Bar
1.11 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt

For more on Sadness, go to the project’s Bandcamp page.

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This entry was posted on 12/16/2025 at 8:18 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, The Visionaries with tags Damian Ojeda, Life, Sadness. 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.