The Bad Penny (beta)

As marginalized Americans continue to get hammered by a new upper-class uppercut every day, at least so it seems, visionary composer/bassist/singer David Roush is turning his idealistic vision into a reality by directly helping those most in need. Roush is the frontman of Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock), a five-piece art-rock band now in its 15th year. They describe their sound as “one part pop music, another part classical music, and a third part punk music.”

Rousch is one of the 100-plus musicians profiled in The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series who are taking action during the most perilous time for U.S. democracy in recent decades, if not centuries. Specifically, Roush is tirelessly trying to help get poet/philosopher Keith LaMar off death row, where he was relegated to an Ohio prison 30 years ago for crimes he allegedly didn’t commit.

Roush discusses LaMar’s case and shares his analysis about the abysmal state of America, Ecce Shnak and much more in the latest installment of On Tyranny.

Check out all the editions of On Tyranny here.

To get a taste of the band’s personality and artistic sensibilities, watch this video for its song “Vincent,” released last week:

Don’t miss Ecce Shnak on tour in North America and the United Kingdom starting Friday. Here are all the dates:

5.7: Philadelphia, PA, USA – Nikki Lopez
5.8: Buffalo, NY, USA  – Town Ballroom
5.9: Toronto, ON, Canada – Dance Cave
5.10: Montreal, QC, Canada – Bar Le Ritz
5.11: Boston, MA, USA  – City Winery
5.13: New York, NY, USA  – Sony Hall
5.14: Millersville, PA, USA  – Phantom Power
5.15: Baltimore, MD, USA  – Metro Gallery
5.16: Hamden, CT, USA  – Space Ballroom
6.2: Manchester, UK – Gorilla
6.3: Worthing, UK – The Factory Live
6.4: Portsmouth, UK – Kola
6.5: Southend, UK – Chinnerys
6.6: London, UK – The Garage
6.7: Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club

For more on ​Ecce Shnak⁩, visit the band’s website and peruse their profiles on Instagram, Bandcamp, Facebook and YouTube.

Watch The Injustice of Justice, a film about LaMar’s struggle that won the grand prize for best animated short film at the Golden State Film Festival, here.

This entry was posted on 05/04/2026 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, Davey Roush, David Roush, Ecce Shnak, fascism, Keith LaMar, On Tyranny, 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.