The Bad Penny (beta)

Ten years ago, four multi-instrumentalists from Zürich, Switzerland, came together to form the we-dare-you-to-try-to-categorize-because-you-will-fail band District Five. “Intriguing” is probably the word that encapsulates the band, but in reality, District Five require – and are worthy of – much longer descriptions. This is one of those rare bands that can’t be figured out cerebrally; instead, District Five’s goal is to penetrate your heart and soul, making you remember what it’s like to feel the a human being again in an increasingly anti-human world.

Paul Amereller (drums, percussion), Tapiwa Svosve (vocals, synth, sax), Vojko Huter (vocals, guitar, synth) and Xaver Rüegg (bass) have reached a new pinnacle of musical proficiency and prowess with GLUT, the new District Five full-length that dropped in late May. (It’d be a cardinal sin not to mention that the esteemed Saul Williams appears on one of the songs.) Proving their enormous talents aren’t limited to just playing music, the band attached a manifesto of sorts to GLUT, and while The Bad Penny typically steers clear from quoting promotional materials, the missive is not only profound but explains the new District Five album and why the band is so well-suited for On Tyranny.

Here is the aforementioned manifesto, in slightly abridged form:

“Glut can mean excess, but also warmth — the kind that offers hope amid the catastrophes of the present. All these meanings resonate in the songs of Glut: We hear the warmth and affection in the interplay of the opening track ‘Seed’; we hear the flood of impressions from a late-capitalist world in flames, colliding in furious songs like ‘Company Man’ and its tender counterpart ‘Strict Circumstances’; we hear the crackling glow in what was once an instrumental jam track, Push — transformed, through a feature from the great spoken-word artist Saul Williams, into a manifesto against resignation and escapism.

“Like its predecessor, Come Closer (2024), Glut is released on the label Stone Pixels, with whom District Five share an independent work ethic and a curious, exploratory approach to music. Because Glut is not a ‘product’ — not just another piece of ‘content’ for quick consumption. It’s an album crafted with care and intricate arrangements. And it came into being without detours: after years of making music together, District Five have become a first-take band. Recorded and produced by the group themselves in Vojko Huter’s own studio, Glut captures the immediacy of their live sound — with minimal cuts and overdubs. Once again, on Glut, District Five move through vast musical spaces, staying open yet never vague — thanks to a music that continues to glow long after it ends.”

As captured in the above video, Rüegg and Svosve graciously gave The Bad Penny a considerable amount of time to discuss how their aforementioned philosophy is woven throughout GLUT – and, of course, talked with us plenty about the state of global affairs, how they are coping with the catastrophic tumult as artists, and how you can too.

If you happen to be in Zürich on Sunday, witness District Five’s riveting and raucous strain of experimental music when they play Helsinki (not to be confused with the capital of Finland). Perhaps even more excitingly, District Five will grace the Haldern Pop Festival in Rees, Germany, on Aug. 5.

Check out much more info about District Five on their website and Bandcamp page – and sign up for their nifty newsletter.

If you enjoyed District Five’s On Tyranny installment, these editions might appeal to you as well:

• Fuck Money Drummer Tells ICE and Billionaires to Fuck Off

• Grasshopper Lies Heavy Guitarist/Vocalist Preps for ‘Dealing With the Fallout of New American Fascism’ Till He Dies

• Ecce Shnak Leader Says ‘White European Plutocrat Supremacist Psychosis’ Has Gripped US

• Convulsing Claims Trump Temporarily Sabotaged Fascist Growth in His Australia Homeland

• Weakened Friends’ Secret to Battling MAGA? Community Involvement

The On Tyranny archive is here.

This entry was posted on 06/21/2026 at 9:25 pm and is filed under Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, District Five, fascism, On Tyranny, Saul Williams, Tapiwa Rüegg, trump, tyranny, Xaver Rüegg. 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.