Archive for the Pet Sounds Category

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Pet Sounds #74: Hooded Menace’s Pets Are Hardly Menaces to Society

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , on 12/11/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Harri and Touko

Finnish doom-metal cult band Hooded Menace can come across as, well, a wee bit intimidating. But the Finnish Grammy (equivalent)-nominated trio of vocalist Harri Kuokkanen, guitarist/bassist Lasse Pyykkö and drummer Pekka Koskelo temper those fears by throwing curveballs every so often. Look no further than the out-of-nowhere cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” that they surprised fans with three months ago.

Turns out all three members of Hooded Menace have a soft spot. For his own part, Kuokkanen touched base with The Bad Penny shortly after the October release of his band’s smoldering seventh record, Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration (Season of Mist), to talk about his coterie of cats (and one dog).

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Pet Sounds #73: Something Is Waiting’s Guitarist/Bassist Has Three Cats That Aren’t Also Aliens (We’re Pretty Sure)

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 11/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

rom the Jesus Lizard to Shellac to Local H to Rod Blagojevich, Chicago has produced some of the fiercest bands of the past 30 years. On fire right now is Something Is Waiting, who released a thoroughly raucous live record, Livelick, roughly a year ago via Learning Curve Records, which appears stronger than ever in its 25th year as a label.

As we’ve come to discover over the 13 months since The Bad Penny launched Pet Sounds, the most seemingly intimidating musicians tend to have the biggest hearts, especially toward cats (and dogs too, but it appears that cats have the edge). The latest example we’ve come across is Something Is Waiting guitarist/bassist William T. Fay, who has three cats: Sega (16 years old), Ripley (8) and Newt (7).

All three cats are domestic shorthairs; Sega is a calico, Ripley a quarter-trash-bag/ raccoon and Newt a tortoiseshell. We recently clawed at Fay for more info on his beloved buddies, and here’s how our conversation went.

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Pet 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 , 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.

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Pet Sounds #71: Truculent Frontman/ Strange Mono Label Owner’s Dog Fears His Food Bowl

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , 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!

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Pet Sounds #70: Saxophonist for the Band Pets Adores His … You Guessed It …

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , on 10/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Pinky no thinky. Pinky is a spacey tuxedo cat who bonks really hard. She has a giant forehead.”
-Pets’ Chase Ceglie

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The spirit forces (or algorithms, or whatever) threw down the gauntlet at the proverbial feet of The Bad Penny by making us aware of a band called pets. Immediately, the challenge was on to embrace them as part of our ongoing series Pet Sounds, in which we talk with musicians about their often furry (but sometimes scaly or even feathery) frie nds. Lucky for us, pets agreed to let us befriend them – and they’re the focus of the 70th installment of Pet Sounds, which we launched just over one year ago. (If you think that’s a fast-moving series, be sure to check out On Tyranny, which is keeping pace.)

Adding to the kismet, pets – an ambient-electronic quartet based in New York – issued their latest album, the wryly titled 🌀❓(Spiral Question Mark), today. It’s catchy, freewheeling fun from start to finish, enough to make a cat hop up and down. Speaking of which, Chase Ceglie – who writes music and lyrics for the band; and plays tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, ewi, flute, synths, bass, vocals, string arrangement and effects to boot – was the pets member who volunteered to talk with us about his, you guessed it: cats.

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Pet Sounds #69: Push Puppets Frontman Loves His Puppies

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 10/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In the first video edition of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Pet Sounds series, in which musicians gush about their love for their pets, Erich Specht – frontman for Chicago indie-rock band Push Puppets – introduces us to his 7-month-old basset hound buddy, Grizz. The big-hearted lead vocalist and guitarist of the quintet also shares fond memories of his late companion Louie, to whom he pays tribute in Push Puppets’ song “Probably,” and also chats about his participation in yesterday’s No Kings 2 action to boot.

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Pet Sounds #68: Temple of Love Open Their Hearts to Fulci the Cat

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , , on 09/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Lest you think Austin, Texas, is only comprised of psych-rock bands these days, The Bad Penny brings you Temple of Love, a goth-rock/dark-wave band whose debut, Songs of Love and Despair, drops November 7 on Reptile House. Fans of The Black Angels and Killing Joke, take note.

Husband-and-wife duo Steve Colca and Suzy Bravo incepted Temple of Love way back in 2018, intending it to be a “pet” recording project all their own. But the two musicians – who hail from touted doom bands Destroyer of Light and Witchcryer, respectively – decided to aim for loftier ambitions after their 2019 demo earned them heaps of praise.

Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Colca, vocalist Bravo, drummer Patrick Pascucci and bassist Joseph Maniscalco, there’s also an honorary member of the band: Colca and Bravo’s beloved black cat, Fulci. We’ll have plenty more to say about Temple of Love and their maiden release in the future, but first, let’s give the hat-wearin’, snow-bearin’, self-brushin’ Fulci some affection and attention.

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Pet Sounds #67: Miracle Blood Draw Love From Their Guinea Pigs, Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags on 09/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Noise punks Miracle Blood are road dogs – but it’s cats (and two guinea pigs who sadly passed away) that are the Boston-area band’s animal spirits. Guitarist/vocalist Andrew Wong, bassist Garrett Young and drummer Anthony Bollitier, in a rare break between playing gigs, were game to talk about their love for their furry friends as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Pet Sounds series.

Miracle Blood’s latest album, Hello Hell, came out in November via esteemed label Nefarious Industries. But it’s their past releases that are littered – pun very much intended – with references to creatures of various sorts. There’s their August 2022 song “Pomeranian,” and then three double-single releases from 2019 on which animals are featured on their pastel covers: “Roses”/”Nurses,” “Swollen/Sentinel” and “Bloom/Polite and Calm.”

We chatted up Miracle Blood about their animal fixation, and here’s what they had to say. Or purr.

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Pet Sounds #66: Sangre de Muérdago Frontman Lives in Paradise With His Dogs

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Back in mid-July, we introduced you to Sangre de Muérdago, the only Galician Folk band you have heard of. The group uses Galician lyrics and a litany of instruments used in the Galician tradition to reflect on nature, mysticism and other themes.

We also exclusively debuted “O Abismo,” the first single from Sangre de Muérdago’s full-length album O Xardín, which came out 13 days ago. The band is led by Pablo Caamiña Ursusson, who handled almost too many roles to count on O Xardín. In addition to providing vocals, he also played classical guitar, hurdy-gurdy, music box, pandero cuadrado de Peñaparda, bells, pandeireta, shaker, and steel string guitar.

Another fact about Ursusson, and probably the reason you clicked on this article: He has some of the most gorgeous dogs you’ll see (at least today). We chatted up our favorite Galician musician about his pets and how much they mean to him.

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Pet Sounds #65: Friendship Commanders’ Cats Are a Boxer and a Drummer … Sort Of

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , on 09/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If Nashville band Friendship Commanders sounds familiar, it could be because you’ve visited this website before (and if that’s the case, we’re very grateful). We met the melodic post-metal doomsters in May and interviewed one-half of the band, Buick Audra, about her new solo endeavor. During the conversation, we learned about the guitarist/vocalist’s affinity for cats, and tucked away that knowledge for future use as part of The Bad Penny‘s Pet Sounds series.

Well, now is the time we’ve decided to use that card and crown Friendship Commanders as the 65th participant in our ongoing series (which launched less than a year ago, if you can believe it). The timing of this installment is even more appropriate, as the band – which also features Audra’s partner, drummer/percussionist/bassist/synth player Jerry Roe – is releasing a new album, titled BEAR, on Oct. 10 through Magnetic Eye Records.

While a couple of weeks stand between Friendship Commanders and the celebration of their bottom-heavy beast of a record, today we introduce you to two of the band’s biggest, and by far furriest, supporters.

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