Archive for the On Tyranny Category
Exclusive: Mawiza Reveal Origin of Eco-Themed Collabo With Gojira Frontman
Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags environment, Gojira, Mawiza on 07/30/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Solidarity is hardly a new concept to Mawiza, an indigenous metal/folk group born and bred in sacred Mapuche Nation lands in Chile. In 1861-’83, the military staged campaigns and an occupation of the Araucanía Region in central Chile under the Orwellian-sounding “Pacification of Araucanía.” The indigenous community had to band together if they wanted a chance to survive the military incursion. Nevertheless, the brutal invasion paved the way for notorious, U.S.-backed Augusto Pinochet’s military coup about 100 years later.
Formed in 2014, Mawiza’s stated goal — beyond concocting an entirely original sound that fuses metal with Mapuche folk music — is “to preserve ancestral roots, rescue indigenous moral values and to promote biodiversity conservation, guided by the indigenous worldview and struggle.” (Read more about the band and its mission in an interview with Mawiza vocalist and rhythm guitarist Awka, as part of our ongoing series On Tyranny.)
As Mawiza’s career progressed, the band found that another critical issue is inherent in indigenous communities valiantly attempting to preserve their culture and land: the environment. Fortuitously, the band drew attention and, subsequently, ardent support, from a band more than 7,000 miles away that is considered metal royalty across the globe: Gojira. In its lyrics for songs ranging from “Global Warming” to “Toxic Garbage Island” to the entirety of 2005’s From Mars to Sirius, the French progressive-metal band makes it a top priority to educate their fans about eco-awareness.
Mawiza and Gojira bonded even more closely when the latter band took the former one under their wing and performed together live. Cementing their friendship and admiration for each other, Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier traveled to the Mapuche community to record his featured spot on “Ti Inan Paw-Pawkan,” the first single from Mawiza’s new album ÜL, which Season of Mist issued 12 days ago.
Around the same time, The Bad Penny communicated exclusively with Awka to learn more about “Ti Inan Paw-Pawkan” and how it came about.
Continue reading5 Reminders About Punk Rock’s Core Principles
Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny with tags punk rock on 07/29/2025 by Kurt OrzeckSay what you will about the new identity of punk rock and the renewing of marriage vows between punk rock and corporate enterprise, here are a few reminders about what still lies at the heart of the movement:
1. Subservience, complacency and inaction in the face of authoritarianism, now the governing force in the United States — and its myriad and once-unimaginable horrors — is not punk rock.
2. Engaging in pay-to-play schemes that pads the pockets of music venue owners and managers, magazine editors and publishers, agents and promoters and publicists, and other industry types who profit off musicians, is not punk rock.
3. Propagating, platforming or even permitting racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and all related forms of hate and discrimination is not punk rock.
4. Increasing one’s personal gain at the expense of punk-rock bands and fans, whether it be through inflated ticket prices, ad revenue largesse and opportunistic financial benefits is not punk rock.
5. Taking advantage of or profiting unjustly off sincere, well-intentioned and therefore often vulnerable people who support punk-rock ethics is not punk-rock.
Cool? Cool.
Chris Adler Admits Leaving Lamb of God for Firstborne Cured His Depression
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Chris Adler, Firstborne, Megadeth on 07/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
The look on Chris Adler’s face says it all. One of the best rock drummers known to man is sitting in a tranquil environment in his studio, located in his family’s awe-striking home in Richmond, Virginia. It’s the same general vicinity where the 52-year-old Adler grew up and where he and a few pallies developed so-called “American Made Metal” purveyors Lamb of God.
In fact, one could argue that the drummer’s ardent fans are currently witnessing Peak Adler, who found inner peace during a meditation retreat. He has a new record coming in less than one month—Lucky, the first created by the new configuration of supergroup Firstborne. Adler is not about to, isn’t currently and doesn’t face any prospects in the near future of throttling himself to death like he used to during his Lamb of God days.
“I stopped listening to music,” Adler divulges in a mid-June conversation.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Haggus Frontman Blasts Punk Bands’ Silence on Gaza, ICE
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Haggus on 07/11/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“If you use weak-ass, purposely offensive artwork or lyrics just to ‘shock’ people, or stay silent during times like this in attempt to walk the fence in fear that your reputation might be tarnished, then fuck you. We don’t want or need you as a peer.”
-Haggus’ Hambone
Haggus is the band leading the charge for “mincecore,” a form of “grindcore,” to be accepted by the punk underground community. But founder Hambone doesn’t mince words when it comes to Nazis, racists, bigots, sexists and other propagators of hate. To paraphrase the admirable musician, they can all fuck off.
Three weeks ago, shortly after the Oakland band released its new album Destination Extinction on Tankcrimes, Hambone spoke in great length with The Bad Penny about Haggus, the band’s history, his views on punk music, and just about every other issue under the sun.
Buckle up, kiddos. You’re able to hear the straight dope from a wicked talented musician who has no tolerance for dopes.
Continue readingMark Mallman Says ‘Suffering Artists’ Are a Myth, Making Art Isn’t a ‘Job’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Mark Mallman on 07/09/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“This myth of the ‘suffering artists,’ the myth of Van Gogh and ideas like this—perpetuated by Hollywood—have become abstracted. It guilt-trips us all into thinking that if our art is our job, it lacks purity, and purity is the highest art form. But really, all we’re doing is trying to manifest joy, or insight, or translate the human experience.” Read more of my interview with Mark Mallman on New Noise.
On Tyranny: As US Citizens Get Disappeared and Terrorized, Chile’s Mawiza Reflects
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Mawiza, On Tyranny on 04/30/2025 by Kurt OrzeckThe frontman for band Mawiza, who blend metal with Mapuche folk music, reflects on the horrific treatment of his indigenous ancestors by the Chilean military as U.S. citizens are getting disappeared and terrorized by the Trump administration. Read my New Noise interview.
Cellista: ‘Creating and Existing Under Trump’s America Is My Act of Radical Resistance’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Cellista on 04/25/2025 by Kurt OrzeckIf you read one story about the role of artists in our lovely new authoritarian America, please let it be my interview with cellist, composer, aerial performer and resistance artist Cellista. Props to New Noise for publishing this critical interview.
Dusk Sees Hope for Metal in Homeland of Saudi Arabia
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags Dusk on 04/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck“Trading CDs is illegal. Metal music was illegal in (Saudi Arabia). Music in general (was outlawed) by what was called ‘the religious police.’ ” So says Dusk in New Noise‘s latest installment of On Tyranny, a series about artists making music under authoritarian regimes.
On Tyranny: Punk Legends UK Subs Denied Entry Into US Due to Alleged Trump Criticism
Posted in Essays, Features, News, On Tyranny with tags On Tyranny, trump, UK Subs on 03/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
A new chapter in Trump’s war on free speech has apparently begun, with members of punk legends UK Subs denied entry into the U.S. and detained after traveling to play a concert Stateside, according to The Guardian. The U.K. news outlet cites accounts purportedly posted on the band’s Facebook page. (The Bad Penny does not utilize or endorse social media.)
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