Seattle singer-songwriter Robert Deeble has a lot on his mind these days, and it isn’t just his seventh record, The Space Between Us, which is planned for release Feb. 6 through his own Mind Bomb Publishing imprint. Nay, the socially attuned, voracious reader, prolific musician and contemplative in the truest sense of the world is trying to gather what he gained from spending four years mostly in isolation – but with some help with trusted collaborators. They include bassist Viktor Krauss (Allison Krauss/Robert Plant), drummer Lacey Brown (Damien Jurado) and producer Ric Hordinski (producer, string arrangements, guitar).
Archive for the Features Category
On Tyranny: Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum Laments Trans Exodus From US, Loves Zohran Mamdani, Details Witnessing ICE Brutality
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Faith No More, fascism, ICE, On Tyranny, police brutality, Roddy Bottum, trans, tyranny, Zohran Mamdani on 11/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
“I feel, like, not so complacent, but enthused, honestly, in a great way. I feel good. It’s my job. I’m an artist, and that’s kind of what I need to do. I need to provoke and I need to demand answers and I need to challenge things.”
-Roddy Bottum
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With his new memoir The Royal We out now, I recently spoke with Roddy Bottum of Faith No More, Imperial Teen and Man on Man fame about a very wide range of topics. Read some of them in my FLOOD feature and my Bad Penny story (in which he recalled a bizarre incident involving his paranoid ex-girlfriend Courtney Love).
In this part of the interview, part of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, Bottum shares his first-hand accounts about the shameful and horrific acts occurring in the United States: the exodus of trans people leaving out of well-justified fear; and ICE attacks on immigrants, demonstrators and U.S. citizens.
But Bottum also discusses what he sees as a silver lining: The recent election of Democratic-Socialist Zohran Mamdani as the youngest-ever and first Muslim mayor of New York City. Here’s that portion of our wide-ranging conversation:
Continue readingPet Sounds #72: Sorry, Dudes and Dudettes – Your Dog Probably Doesn’t Appreciate You Playing Metal or Punk
Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags dogs, Pet Sounds on 11/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Taking a break from our normal routine of chatting with musicians and our pets, we shifted the focus of Pet Sounds to whether your dog likes the same music you do. If you’re into soft indie-rock or meditative sounds, you’re probably in the clear; if you think your pooch wants to head-bang or mosh along with you to metal or punk, brace yourself for some bad news.
The Bad Penny recently spoke with Natalia Shahmetova, CEO & founder of a new app called “Woofz,” about this subject. Try not to get upset, fans of heavy music, but Shahmetova disclosed that: “Small or anxious dogs settle with acoustic, soft indie and warm tones. In our playlists, we use tempo as the guiding principle: music that fits the dog’s natural energy level tends to work best.”
Read our full interview after the jump.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Walking Bombs Goes Off (for Good Reason), Says Nazis Need to Be Afraid to Be in Public
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, David Brenner, fascism, Gridfailure, Morgan Y. Evans, On Tyranny, Tad, tyranny, Walking Bombs on 11/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Hello, Bad Penny readers. Surely you are familiar with and have probably read some installments of our ongoing On Tyranny series, which focuses on how Authoritarian America is damaging artists, their careers and their personal lives. This writer has been somewhat surprised at how tame and mild some of the editions are in this series, which is closing in on 65 installments.
This is not one of those installments.
Today’s entry comes courtesy of Morgan Y. Evans, who resides in Orange County, California, and whose Walking Bombs project is a solo and collaborative vehicle for Evans, writer Morgan Ywain Vink-Lainas Evans, and other compatriots of theirs. Yesterday, Walking Bombs issued a new single, a lo-fi version of the song “Barbaric Balconies,” which you can purchase for a buck and a half on Bandcamp here.
Much of Walking Bombs’ material conveys Evans’ rage against the machine, for lack of a better phrase, so what he shared with us for On Tyranny didn’t exactly come out of left field. We edited Evans’ submission a bit to make it a smoother read but left the artist’s message fully intact, as one of the core missions of this website is to defend and fight for freedom of speech, arguably the most important right in a democratic society. Just be forewarned that much of what follows is, as the kids say, “NSFW.”
That said, it’s real, unrestrained and from the heart. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that the rage expressed in this missive of sorts should be awakened in the hearts of each of us who are gravely concerned that democracy – which has already left the building, if you haven’t noticed – might never come back. As The Bad Penny says on the On Tyranny index page and often reiterates in entries, thank you to Evans and others for mustering the courage to speak out and inspire others to do the same when we realistically may lose the right to do so in the blink of an eye.
Continue readingPet Sounds #71: Truculent Frontman/ Strange Mono Label Owner’s Dog Fears His Food Bowl
Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags Dan Timlin, Strange Mono, Truculent on 11/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Bad Penny readers met Dan Timlin, the folk-punk connoisseur who performs as the artist Truculent and also owns and operates record label Strange Mono, when he participated in a stand-out installment of our On Tyranny series almost exactly a month ago. We had a heavy discussion about the current state of affairs in the U.S. – and, at least from our own part, learned a hell of a lot from it.
Much to our delight, Timlin was up for talking with us again, this time about a much lighter (and softer … and more loving) subject: his three cats and one dog. Just as Timlin didn’t disappoint with his insightful remarks about Authoritarian America, he also exceeded our expectations in wanting to know about his animals and the critical role they play in his life.
So, without further ado, here is Dan Timlin’s installment of Pet Sounds. Enjoy!
Continue readingThe Bad Penny’s Top 10 Music Books of 2025
Posted in Features, Lists, What You Readin' For? with tags Die Kreuzen, Elvis Presley, Faith No More, Joni Mitchell, Neko Case, Ozzy Osbourne, Patti Smith, Paul McCartney, Randy Blythe, Roddy Bottum on 11/19/2025 by Kurt OrzeckMost music fans can’t read music. But they can read about music – the larger-than-life personalities, the history of various genres, the often-times truth-is-stranger-than-fiction dynamics that keep one of the entertainment industry’s least profitable yet universally beloved pillars standing.
For the first time ever, The Bad Penny shares what we consider to be the most essential nonfiction books about music that came out in a year during which citizens across the country tolerated book bans and censorship in Authoritarian America. Mark these words: What happened this year and is still happening in libraries and schools in the U.S. will go down as one of the most shameful “chapters” in this country’s history.
Read whatever books you want to read, and enjoy doing so, because in this unpredictable hellscape, who knows what rights we might lose next.
1. Patti Smith – Bread of Angels: A Memoir (McNally Jackson)
Buy here.
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Palm Ghosts Say ‘7 Million People on the Street Doesn’t Even Make a Dent’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, Joseph Lekkas, On Tyranny, Palm Ghosts, trump, tyranny on 11/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Palm Ghosts’ Joseph Lekkas was all smiles when The Bad Penny caught up with him a little under a year ago. We connected with the bassist/singer in his residence via video conference call, and he was surrounded by his trio of devastatingly adorable dachshunds. Additionally, his long-running Nashville band, Palm Ghosts, were giddily on the verge of releasing new songs.
Fast-forward to roughly a month ago, when we checked in again with Lekkas and Palm Ghosts bandmate Benjamin Douglas (vocals, guitar, keyboards). We immediately noticed that they were burned out emotionally – and likely spiritually and physically as well – thanks to the terror that the Evil Empire Trump Administration is inflicting on the American public.
On Tyranny: Locust’s Bobby Bray Says Bands Have ‘Responsibility’ to Tour Red States, Recalls Yeah Yeah Yeahs Solidarity
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Bobby Bray, censorship, fascism, Justin Pearson, Locust, On Tyranny, Three One G, tyranny, Yeah Yeah Yeahs on 11/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
“Perhaps this new panopticon is leading us further down the path to a modern-day banality of evil.” -The Locust’s Bobby Bray
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A conversation about iconoclastic, antagonistic musicians subverting authority wouldn’t be complete without input from Bobby Bray, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for The Locust. For that reason – and because his convictions about politics are as fierce, thoroughly considered and perfectly executed as his artistic vision – The Bad Penny could not be more grateful that he agreed to participate in On Tyranny, our ongoing series about how authoritarianism directly affects artists.
We carried out our exchange about tyranny, fascism, censorship and related topics with Bray last month. In the end, Bray delivered some of the most eloquent, cogent and sensible comments voiced thus far by any of the 50-plus musicians who have participated in the series we launched roughly a year and a half ago, when ICE assaults, a third Trump term and blowing up boats in international waters more than 1,000 miles away from U.S. shores seemed inconceivable to most Americans.
Without further ado, here is what Bobby Bray had to say about the current state of affairs in the U.S.
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