Archive for the On Tyranny Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

On 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 , , , , , , 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Inspired Musician Audrey Keelin of Artists United for a Free Palestine Discusses Relief Efforts

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/06/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Amid 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.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Bobby Conn Doesn’t Mince Words About ‘Con Man’ Donald Trump

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Canada’s Theo Vandenhoff Wonders If Touring Authoritarian America Is ‘Even Worth It’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Meatwound’s Mantra Is ‘Fuck the Cops – and the Government Too’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

On 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 , , , , , , , 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: John Lennon and Yoko Ono Were Wrong; Karma Does Not Exist

Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , 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’

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny Poll: Are You Afraid of Attending Concerts as the Military Patrols US Cities?

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, Polls with tags , , , , , , , on 08/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Leave a comment »

Exclusive: Mawiza Reveal Origin of Eco-Themed Collabo With Gojira Frontman

Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , 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 reading →

Leave a comment »

5 Reminders About Punk Rock’s Core Principles

Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny with tags on 07/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Say 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.

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »