Archive for the On Tyranny Category
On Tyranny: Jesus Lizard Vocalist David Yow Ditches US for Portugal
Posted in Essays, Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, David Yow, Eugene S. Robinson, the Jesus Lizard, trump, tyranny on 09/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
As our nation rapidly transforms into Authoritarian America, artists – who are typically among the first to be targeted when a dictatorship takes control of a country – are relocating to countries where their right to free speech is still protected.
One of the more prominent indie-rock artists to make the move is Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow, who relocated to Portugal earlier this year, according to multiple sources who recently confirmed the news to The Bad Penny. None of the sources said outright that Trump’s reclaiming of the presidency was their motivating factor for Yow fleeing the U.S., however.
When yours truly interviewed Yow and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison last year for a feature on FLOOD, the vocalist whose lyrics were historically apolitical admitted that he felt boxed in by the inexorable partisan strife in America and said he was compelled to address current events on the band’s comeback record, Rack.
“A larger percentage of the lyrics than I wished were based on the political climate in the U.S. for the last seven or eight years,” he confided in a video conference call.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Russia Sentences 5 Members of Pussy Riot to Prison
Posted in Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags On Tyranny, Pussy Riot on 09/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Five members of exiled feminist protest punk-rockers Pussy Riot are facing lengthy prison sentences after a Moscow court ruled them guilty for staging anti-war performances that criticized Russia’s military actions, the performance-art group’s website, Mediazona, reported Wednesday.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court handed down the ruling in absentia for Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova and Alina Petrova, who could face eight to 13 years apiece in prison, according to the website.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Eugene S. Robinson (Buñuel, Ex-Oxbow) Leaving US for Spain, Says ‘I’ve Had It’
Posted in Features, Interviews, News, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Buñuel, Eugene S. Robinson, On Tyranny, Oxbow, Whipping Boy, Zohran Mamdani on 09/07/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“My attitude used to be like, I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country.
And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why?’”
-Eugene S. Robinson
During a lengthy conversation I recently had with Eugene S. Robinson, one of the most uncompromising, forthright and no-bullshit rock musicians around, he revealed that he has joined a slew of other American artists exiting the United States to live in other countries.
“I don’t live in America anymore,” he told me in an interview last month. “I’m in Poland at this very moment, on my way to Spain, where I bought a house, and that’s where I’ll be moving and living.”
He added: “My attitude used to be like, ‘I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country. And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why? Why? Why? [There are] lots of places to live in the world. Why [should I continue to live] here?'”
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Inspired Musician Audrey Keelin of Artists United for a Free Palestine Discusses Relief Efforts
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Artists United for a Free Palestine, Audrey Keelin, human rights, MJ Lenderman, On Tyranny, Palestine, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, peace, Tonstartssbandht, villagerrr on 09/06/2025 by Kurt OrzeckAmid the rise of dictatorships across the globe, which is the focus of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, there are some signs of hope and remarkable individuals rising to the occasion to fight for justice, democracy and peace. One of those people is Audrey Keelin, guitarist and vocalist for Brooklyn band Hiding Places, who has helped create two music compilations benefiting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
The most recent one, Merciless Accelerating Rhythms – Artists United for a Free Palestine – Vol II, came out Friday via Brooklyn-based label HATETOQUIT and features contributions from an astonishing 64 artists, including Andy Boay (Tonstartssbandht), Colin Miller (MJ Lenderman), Landon George (MJ Lenderman), Prith/ The Coke Dares (members of Magnolia Electric Co.), villagerrr, Hiding Places, Andy Loebs, Renny Conti and more.
Watch the above video to learn about what motivated Keelin to undertake the ambitious endeavor, what inspires the Hiding Places captain during these dark times – and how you can create a project that, like the compilation albums, have the potential to make a major difference.
On Tyranny: Bobby Conn Doesn’t Mince Words About ‘Con Man’ Donald Trump
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Bobby Conn, fascism, On Tyranny, trump on 09/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“The goal of fascism is control and power. That’s the whole thing. That’s it. There’s no ideology beyond that. … Maybe we’ll make it through this. But I don’t know for sure.”
-Bobby Conn
Chicago’s own Bobby Conn is a king among troubadours, a musician’s musician, and yet also a musician who fights for the people, á la Billy Bragg. His last name is perfectly ironic, as Conn is best known for speaking truth to power and dutifully serving as a protest musician since he started playing music in 1989 with the avant-garde group Conducent. Five years later, that band broke up and Conn embarked upon his journey as a solo artist, which resulted in eight studio albums.
His ninth, Bobby’s Place, just arrived in late August. It’s pretty far out there, dubbed a “split-personality” record in which the first half tells a fantastical story about him living on an astral plane, while the second half imagines him as the star of an alternative-reality workplace sitcom named “Bobby’s Place.” The project captures and sustains the eccentric personality that Conn has embraced throughout his career, which has showcased him as a performance artist, glam-rock devotee and unabashedly outspoken critic of American politics and culture.
When The Bad Penny interviewed Conn via video before the release of Bobby’s Place, he noted that it is his least political record to date. That said, he told Splendid Magazine in 2008 that “All the records that I’ve done are a critique of what’s going on in contemporary America.” And with that in mind, Bobby’s Place can’t be considered detached from reality, even if some of the storylines he tells take place in an alternate reality.
That debate aside, we invited the highly politically opinionated legend to participate in our ongoing series On Tyranny, and he graciously and enthusiastically obliged.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Canada’s Theo Vandenhoff Wonders If Touring Authoritarian America Is ‘Even Worth It’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Theo Vandenhoff on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“Hearing stories of other bands paying for their visas and still being unceremoniously detained at the [U.S.] border and denied entry makes us wonder if it’s even worth it. As a band with leftist political affiliations, we’re becoming increasingly wary of the risks.”
-Theo Vandenhoff
The news reports are piling up. ICE agents arresting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal U.S. resident without any criminal record or allegations in any country, and sending him to a Venezuelan gulag for months without due process.
An Australian woman held in federal prison and deported simply for visiting her husband, a U.S. Army officer, at the base where he is stationed in Hawaii.
A U.S. citizen detained at the border after trying to return to the States after visiting Canada.
If you’re ignoring the news or looking the other way, you might want to refresh yourself on the definition of “Stockholm Syndrome.” Or admit you’re a lousy citizen and bad American unwilling to fight to preserve democracy. Or under the delusion that it’s not just alleged criminals who are losing their freedoms, when in fact all Americans are (with the potential exception of the super-rich).
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Meatwound’s Mantra Is ‘Fuck the Cops – and the Government Too’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Daniel Wallace, dictator, disappeared, Donald Trump, Meatwound, On Tyranny, police state, trump on 09/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Acerbic. Snotty. Sarcastic. Ruthless. Hard-hitting. There are a lot of adjectives that could be applied more gently to the ear than the name of the band in question, Meatwound. Spawned 10 years ago ago in one of the crappiest cities in the country, Tampa, Florida, The Bad Penny has wanted to catch up with this band since the release of their 2015 debut, Addio.
The skronky, snarky, snarly – have we exhausted our cache of descriptors yet? – crew immediately drew comparisons to a lot of our favorite bands. But we’re gonna show Meatwound some respect by saying they are a uniquely awesome slab of protein-rich noise-rock and encourage you to listen to the many songs of theirs embedded in this post. Most are housed on their latest record, Macho, which they coughed up in mid-July.
The Bad Penny talked with Meatwound vocalist Daniel Wallace in mid-May, just two months after the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and before shit got even crazier – you know, the deployment of the U.S. Marines to the streets of L.A., Trump bombing Iran, Mahmoud Khalil was finally freed, the U.S. blocked global agreements for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, all that good stuff.
And yet, Wallace’s remarks, stances and predictions all still, terrifyingly, hold up as true for the most part.
(Meatwound also features guitarist Ari Barros, bassist/programmer Mariano Iglesias and drummer Dimitri Stoyanov.)
Continue readingOn Tyranny: ‘You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book?’ Author Andrew Laties Rails Against Book Bans
Posted in Features, On Tyranny, What You Readin' For? with tags Andrew Laties, authoritarianism, censorship, Donald Trump, fascism, First Amendment, On Tyranny, trump on 08/31/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“The majority of Americans are angry about this idiocy. There will come a tipping point.
The majority will fight back and win.”
-Andrew Laties
Andrew Laties isn’t your typical free-speech advocate. The decorated author co-founded the annual Easton Book Festival in Pennsylvania, The Children’s Bookstore in Chicago, the Chicago Children’s Museum Store and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Bookstore in Massachusetts. In some respects, he is Donald Trump’s greatest nemesis: He is omnipresent thanks to the aforementioned institutions he established across the country, he won’t be bullied (as he was in the past), he doesn’t mince words or self-censor but rather speaks from the heart with unfiltered ferocity, he is an outspoken champion of free-speech who refuses to be silenced, and he is prepared to battle the Trump administration’s book bans to the bitter end.
In other words, Laties is one of us. Even if you don’t place censorship and book bans high on your list of priorities, whether you deem the issues to be political or not, he’s fighting for your rights too. His previously detailed his crusade in the book Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight For – From Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities. Last month, he unveiled his latest work, the very timely You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book? Our Hundred-Year Children’s-Literature Revolution and How We’ll Keep Fighting to Support Our Families’ Right to Read.
When Laties reached out to The Bad Penny, it was a no-brainer to invite him to participate in our ongoing series On Tyranny, inspired by the Timothy Snyder handbook of the same name. Here is the exchange in which we thoroughly enjoyed partaking today with Laties, a hero in the sickening, unbelievable and yet very real battle to save democracy for us all, and not just the livelihoods of artists and dissenters, but their right to exist in American society.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: John Lennon and Yoko Ono Were Wrong; Karma Does Not Exist
Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags Donald Trump, John Lennon, karma, Plastic Ono Band, Power to the People, trump, Yoko Ono on 08/30/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Today marks the 53rd anniversary of “Power to the People,” a performance by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band. As a nation, we are thirsting for our own contemporary music megastars (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, etc.) to re-create such an event at a time even more perilous than when the peace activists of yore performed at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Side note: The whole “karma” concept that Lennon and Ono preached? Yeah, that’s proven to be a fallacy. No amount of suffering that could befall Donald Trump from here on out would be commensurate with the amount of damage he’s done to our country, which will take many decades to repair.
Fortunately, Lennon isn’t around to bear witness to the atrocities that are occurring every day in the U.S.
Check out these previous installments of The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny series:
• Poll: Are You Afraid of Attending Concerts as the Military Patrols US Cities?
• Haggus Frontman Blasts Punk Bands’ Silence on Gaza, ICE
• As US Citizens Get Disappeared and Terrorized, Chile’s Mawiza Reflects
• Punk Legends UK Subs Denied Entry Into US Due to Alleged Trump Criticism
• Kuwaiti Metal Artist Abzy Calls Hate ‘A Black Hole’
• Hungarian Black-Metallers Sear Bliss Lost ‘Freedom’ In Orbán’s Autocracy
• Necrofier Frontman Wonders ‘Is It Going to Be Like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?’
• ‘People in America Have Blinders On,’ Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe Says
• Musicians Living Under Authoritarian Rule Speak Out
• Mark Mallman Says ‘Suffering Artists’ Are a Myth, Making Art Isn’t a ‘Job’
• Cellista: ‘Creating and Existing Under Trump’s America Is My Act of Radical Resistance’
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