The Bad Penny (beta)

ICE is building “detention centers” (synonymous with concentration camps) across the U.S. this year thanks to an influx of $38 billion. ICE, CBP and other federal agencies are snatching kids from classrooms to the horror of their classmates. The same crew recently executed two U.S. citizens in broad daylight, onlookers be damned.

These horrors and others committed by the Trump Administration are enough to cause fear, resignation and paralysis among the populace. But while those feelings are understandable, history will not look kindly upon U.S. citizens who opted to stay on the sidelines, kept their head buried in the sand, denied reality and/or waited for democracy to naturally restore itself post-Trump.

Eric Crespo, guitarist/backing vocalist for cosmic doom metal band Abronia, seems to believe in that prognostication, even if he doesn’t judge others who are too afraid to act. Last summer, he organized a benefit concert in Portland, where Abronia are based, that raised money and increased awareness of the Immigrant Rights Coalition. As Crespo told The Bad Penny on Thursday, “America hasn’t gone full authoritarian [yet, but] for us as artists, especially if you have citizenship, this is a terrible time to be censoring yourself or backing down.”

Stay tuned to The Bad Penny for coverage of Abronia’s new album, Shapes Unravel, which drops Friday via Cardinal Fuzz & Feeding Tube.

Peruse more than 110 installments of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series here.

This entry was posted on 02/15/2026 at 11:34 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags Abronia. 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.