The Bad Penny (beta)

As the 100th band we’ve interviewed for our On Tyranny series, which we launched in February 2025, we couldn’t have found a more fitting subject than Southern California hardcore/metal/rap enthusiasts Throwlight. The young band is tearing it up in conservative Orange County without any hesitation whatsoever, spitting in the face of the most frustrating aspects of the era in which are suffering through: compliance, willful ignorance and inaction.

While many artists are gratuitously tossing a remark or two into their live performances about how they disagree with the fascist takeover of America, Throwlight – consisting of vocalist Rocom, guitarist Chris Ellis, bassist Kevin Betz and playfully nicknamed keyboardist King of Somewhere – are putting their hearts totally into the fight. Their passion for resistance is as intense as the fury they unleash on their latest single, “No Kings,” which came out last month on limited-edition cassette.

We recently had a long, compelling conversation with Rocom – which we’ll get to in a second – but a mission statement that the band issued in tandem with the release of “No Kings” is so eloquent that it deserves reprinting here:

“As a band made up of first-generation immigrants and American citizens, we care for our friends and families that live here. Immigrants built America, and now they’re being attacked to distract from daily evils being done by the 1 percent. We are devastated by the current administration’s actions aimed to instill fear and terror on the people that live here. The people have always been stronger than the people in power. Our song was made to vent our own frustrations with what’s going on currently in the US, and give our audience a soundtrack for the revolution. No Kings, not then, not now, not ever. Fuck ICE.”

Here is our extensive, two-part conversation with Rocom. Buckle up.

For more on Throwlight, go to their website, Bandcamp page, YouTube channel, Instagram feed and Facebook profile.

Check out The Bad Penny‘s ever-growing On Tyranny archive, which includes interviews with J. Robbins, The Locust, Angel Du$t, Ratboys, Low Cut Connie, INDECLINE, Too Much Joy, Brokedowns, Diles Que No Me Maten, Elephant Stone, Jacob the Horse, MyVeronica, Low and dozens more artists.

This entry was posted on 09/14/2026 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, fascism, ICE, immigration, MAGA, No Kings, On Tyranny, Throwlight, 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.