The Bad Penny (beta)

It’s premature to say “don’t sweat ICE”; after all, the masked thugs continue to terrorize American cities and their residents without impunity. But on Wednesday night, The Bad Penny caught up with Justin Smith – guitarist/vocalist for hardcore-punk band Sweat – who alleviated some of our concerns, if only for the time being.

In a relaxed and reasonable conversation, Smith reflected on some of the lame acts of wanna-be aggression he witnessed when agents invaded Los Angeles, where he and his Sweat-y bandmates live. Smith also stated that “I don’t think the U.S. has a stomach for another forever war,” which we all need to hear as the increasingly demented lunatic living on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. involves our country in a criminally absurd war with Iran.

We also delve deep into Sweat’s Tear It on Down, a barnburner of an LP that arrives April 3 on Smith’s own Vitriol Records. If you’re in need of reassurance that all is not lost, look no further than this simultaneously optimistic and down to earth conversation that The Bad Penny was lucky to have with the eminently likable Smith.

Go here to peruse more than 100 interviews with artists who have bravely participated in The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, including Sadness, The Locust, Low Cut Connie, Lucid Express, Thalia Zedek, Fuck Money, Too Much Joy, Mylo Bybee, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver and many more.

Go to Sweat’s Bandcamp page for more information about the band. Check out Vitriol Records here.

This entry was posted on 03/05/2026 at 10:25 am and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, fascism, Justin Smith, On Tyranny, Sweat, 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.