Archive for the Interviews Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

From the Vault: Isis’ Aaron Turner Called Revolver’s Golden Gods Awards ‘Demeaning,’ ‘Ridiculous’

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

[This article was originally published on Indiepit on June 18, 2009.]

Methodical. Serious. Fulfilling.

Those are three words that aptly describe Isis, one of the best things to happen to prog-metal since Maynard James Keenan first shook hands with Adam Jones in 1989. The band’s carefully calibrated, efficient – read: not a single note gone to waste – songwriting and live presentation have, over the course of their dozen-year history, graduated Isis to untouchable status. It’s gotten to the point where fans talk about Isis’ music as if it were a religion: each album an obligatory mass, each song a sermon that feeds both the mind and soul.

Coming off a string of their biggest concerts to date – and with their new album, Wavering Radiant, still sitting pretty on Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” lineup (it’s been months) – the sludge-slingers are at the top of their game. And best of all, as they’ve proven with each subsequent release, they just might find a way to top themselves the next time around too.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Goya Get Reprieve From ‘Smelling ‘Farts’ in Tour Van to Clear Sinuses With Deafening Boise Gig

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 10/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Phoenix, Arizona’s sludge-doom destroyers Goya have been bringing the heat of a thousand suns to the world of American metal for almost 15 years, and if you want to challenge that statement, tonight’s your chances. They return to Boise for what is bound to be a barnburner of a show with like-minded Denver pals In the Company of Serpents.

Goya will stage their gig in support of In the Dawn of November, released in June via Blues Funeral Recordings, while the opening act will dip into their new LP, A Crack in Everything, which they issued the following month (and which features a guest spot by Goya frontman Jeffrey Owens).

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Deaf Club Guitarist Denounces Trumpists for Taking ‘Pride’ in Racism, Sexism

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 10/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In the latest installment of On Tyranny, Brian Amalfitano (Deaf Club, ACxDC) criticizes the right wing in America for abusing free speech to further their racist, sexist, anti-immigrant and fascist aims—including, shockingly, in quarters of the punk-rock underground. Amalfitano also provides insight into Deaf Club‘s newly released album, We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness (Southern Lord), what nihilism means in the guitarist’s point of view and how it might take longer than a generation to undo the catastrophic damage that the Trump regime continues to inflict upon America.

Following our Wednesday night conversation, Amalfitano touched base again with The Bad Penny to share sentiments expressed by a hero of his and of this website, Kurt Cobain: “If any of you, in any way, hate homosexuals, people of a different color or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the fuck alone.”

Additionally, Newsweek reported Thursday that the Trump administration indeed may double it’s “bailout” of Argentina to $40 billion, while the cost of extending the Obamacare subsidies that is apparently at the heart of the U.S. government shutdown would amount to about $35 billion for the next fiscal year. (Meanwhile, the same Congressional budget resolution has already granted $29 billion in new funding for ICE, swelling its budget to a size greater than the national military of all but 15 to 20 countries.)

Check out The Bad Penny‘s 43-part On Tyranny series, which The Bad Penny launched in the spring, here. Recent installments include interviews with Cosmic Reaper, MyVeronica, Planet on a Chain, Necrofier, Cheap Perfume, Bobby Conn and many more.

Leave a comment »

Scratch Acid and Suckling’s Brett Bradford: The Definitive Interview

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 10/08/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Read the interview to end all interviews with woefully underrated Brett Bradford, guitarist for Scratch Acid and frontman for Suckling. Check out previously unpublished photos of Bradford with his Scratch Acid bandmates, including David Yow, in my extensive feature for Post-Trash.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: MyVeronica’s Mia Lin Says ‘True Meaning of Punk’ Is ‘To Speak Out’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , on 10/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Mia Lin of L.A. DIY guitar band MyVeronica engages in a stimulating conversation about the impetus of real punk-rock artists meeting the moment and calling out authoritarianism and discrimination when they see it. We caught up earlier this week, following the early August release of Farewell Skylines, their split EP with Friend’s House.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Jonathan Richman ‘Votes Yes’ on Boise, Returns to Kick Off Tour Tonight

Posted in Interviews with tags on 10/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Jonathan Richman (credit: Driely S.)

To enter the genteel, childlike and joyous world of Jonathan Richman is, in many ways, to embrace the essence of the music-listening experience: true escapism in a world crafted by a master creator of art and fantasy. Formerly of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, the singer/songwriter returns to Boise tonight after gracing Treefort Music Fest with a buoyant and jovial set on a sunny afternoon in March 2017.

Richman returns to the City of Trees tonight to perform at Shrine Social Club to embark upon a fall tour in support of his album Only Frozen Sky Anyway, released July 4 via Blue Arrow Records. The Bad Penny recently caught up with the legend to talk about why he “votes yes” on Boise, the favorite concerts he’s ever attended – and why, surprisingly, he doesn’t think now is the right time for hope.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Deathcore Squad Signs of the Swarm See the World in a Whole New Light

Posted in Interviews with tags on 10/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Signs of the Swarm frontman David Simonich and drummer Bobby Crow explain how the band’s latest album, To Rid Myself of Truth, confronts personal adversity and evolves sonically to be their most progressive project in the last decade. Read my story on Knotfest.com.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Planet on a Chain Vocalist Says ‘A Lot of People Are Willing to Fight Hate in This Nation’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , on 10/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In the latest installment of The Bad Penny‘s series On Tyranny, we enjoy a comfortable conversation with Planet on a Chain vocalist Dave Ackerman about terrifying topics like Authoritarian America, censorship, and why it’s imperative for the punk-rock community to fight fascism immediately.

We also discuss Planet on a Chain’s bracing new album, Ritual Routine, which drops Friday on Revelation Records. Order a copy here and check out the Oakland punks’ Bandcamp page here.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Shiner Bassist Reveals His Favorite Bands: Tool, IDLES, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 09/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Shiner bassist Paul Malinowski talks about producing the Kansas City post-hardcore band’s new LP, BELIEVEYOUME, as well as dream collaborators and nightmare live show experiences. Read my Shiner interview on FLOOD.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Metal Band Malevich ‘Had a String of Shows Canceled for Some of Our [Pro-Palestinian] Activism’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 09/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

—

Last night, The Bad Penny had the distinct pleasure of catching up with one-half of Atlanta’s blackened post-death metal band Malevich: drummer/vocalist Sasha Schilbrack-Cole and guitarist Josh McIntyre. We talked a bit about Under a Gilded Sun, their new album, which hit the streets and the Interwebs late last month. But the bulk of our conversation revolved around how Authoritarian America is impacting musicians, as we had planned for the interview to be part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing series On Tyranny.

Little did we know that we’d be speaking to two individuals whose intellectual capacity is as profound as their crushingly righteous music. Enjoy perhaps the best installment yet in The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series by watching the entire video above or on YouTube, or reading an abridged version of the conversation after the jump.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »