Archive for the Interviews Category

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Pet Sounds #58: Sally Anne Morgan’s ‘Circle’ of Friends Includes Sheep, Chickens, Cats

Posted in Interviews with tags on 07/31/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Anyone silly enough to believe that artists only live in cities in the U.S., we bring you Exhibit A in refutation of that erroneous claim: exceptional music talent Sally Anne Morgan. The thoroughly relatable musician and artist refers to her music as “psychedelic Appalachian folk drone,” which might seem tough to understand – until the moment she begins to play.

Signed to one of the most respected indie labels of the past 30 years, Morgan has a home at Thrill Jockey Records that is almost as comfortable as the 3-acre pasture she shares with her husband in North Carolina. While it’s true that The Bad Penny has mostly interviewed urban-dwelling artists about their animals for our ongoing Pet Sounds series, we had the pleasure of learning how a musician surrounded by animals at all times finds their creations inevitably impacted by nature and the creatures that dwell in it.

Earlier this year, we caught up with Morgan ahead of the release of her tranquil, meditative and soothing new album Second Circle the Horizon before it came out late last month. What follows is a condensed version of our invigorating conversation.

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Far Caspian Guru Admits: ‘I Wish I’d Called the Band Something Else’

Posted in Interviews with tags on 07/31/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

With his latest LP Autofiction out now, Far Caspian’s Joel Johnston discusses the headspace he was in as the project came together—as well as when he initiated the project in 2014. Read my interview with him via FLOOD.

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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.

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Pet Sounds #57: BC Camplight Talks About His Buddy Canine

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 07/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the debut installment of the ongoing Pet Sounds series on The Bad Penny, after it migrated here from a previous website. In this special edition, alt-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian James Christinzio – a.k.a. BC Camplight – provides us with startling reflects on trauma, along with extremely well-considered insights into life as a pet owner.

For those familiar with BC Camplight – who was born in New Jersey but now resides in Manchester – it actually comes as no surprise that he took so much time and care with his responses to our questions about his relationship with Frank, his 9-year-old “Jug” (a Jack Russell and Pug mix). Similar clarity, delivered with both heart and precision, is the tie that binds the songs on BC Camplight’s new album, A Sober Conversation, which arrived late last month.

Throughout the record, the multi-hyphenate musician fearlessly opens up about recently getting sober while also working through childhood trauma. Clearly, his pet helped him build up the courage, and provided him with support during the trying two-year period leading up to the release of A Sober Conversation. That BC Camplight maintains a somewhat subdued but ultimately sunny mood throughout the record is a testament to how gracefully he must treat his adoring buddy, Jug.

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Månegarm Celebrate 30 Years; Frontman ‘Can’t Picture Life’ Without Band

Posted in Interviews with tags on 07/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The general consensus among historians is that the Vikings, led by King Cnut the Great and subsequently his sons, ruled England from 1016 to 1042 during a relatively peaceful reign after the Dane brutally mutilated Anglo-Saxon hostages. Hey, no one’s perfect. 

Månegarm–the Swedish band named after a mythological Norse wolf–have “ruled” in the Viking black/folk‐metal sense of the term for an even three decades as of this year. And they just dropped a hefty bag of silver, their 11th studio record, to represent the spoils that the technically proficient band has gathered over the course of its formidable existence.

“Thirty fucking years. That’s strange, man,” says vocalist/bassist Erik Grawsiö, pondering the seemingly unexpected achievement aloud. “When I think back to those days, I get a great big smile on my face. It was a great time in my life. I was 16, 17. Once the first lineup was complete, to make a long story short, we got together, played our first song, and it was fucking great.”

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Bask on Pouring Their Souls Into Hopeful LP After Hurricane Helene

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 07/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Self-help charlatans, fitness freaks, and corporate advertisers will have you believe that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But those blustering boobs typically omit a rather critical part of the equation: Often times, the most trying challenges in life befall us when we least expect it, before we have the time to steel ourselves in preparation for such trials and tribulations. It’s why sucker punches are strictly prohibited in every imaginable form of a so-called “fair fight.”

Psych-rock outfit Bask learned this lesson by facing a challenge that no one should have to face: a devastating natural disaster—specifically, the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in almost two decades. Hurricane Helene obliterated the band’s rehearsal space when it ripped through their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, in September of last year. Fortunately, the band members didn’t suffer devastating physical injuries that threatened to put a halt to their careers, as kindred spirits Baroness experienced in an unforgettably devastating bus crash in 2012.

Bask certainly had their work cut out for themselves as they tried bouncing back from their own horrific twist of fate. The band relied on charitable donations from a GoFundMe campaign they launched to replace gear and rehearsal space furniture they lost in the flood. But during a March check-in with Bask, longtime friends Zeb Camp (guitar/vocals) and Scott Middleton (drums) already had perspective on overcoming what could quaintly be referred to as an “adversity.”

“We can’t complain too much,” Middleton said at the time. “A lot of people had it way worse than us.”

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Chris Adler Admits Leaving Lamb of God for Firstborne Cured His Depression

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , 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.

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Sooper Records Pursues ‘Authentic Expression[s] of the Human Experience’

Posted in Interviews with tags on 07/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Sooper Records cofounder Glenn Curran speaks elaborately with conviction and altruism about what drives him and his partners to pour their heart and soul into the super-duper Sooper Records—and release albums they believe in, as art for art’s sake. Read my profile on the bespoke Chicago label for Music Connection.

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On Tyranny: Haggus Frontman Blasts Punk Bands’ Silence on Gaza, ICE

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags 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.

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Austere Say Their DIY Decision Spawned LP They Had Always Wanted to Make

Posted in Interviews with tags on 07/11/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If there’s one thing we’ve to come to expect from a studio album by black-metal duo Austere, it’s that it’ll be a no-nonsense affair that eschews humor in favor of maintaining a laser-like focus on cerebral, emotional, and even spiritual growth. In our recent exchange with the Australian duo–consisting of Tim Yatras (drums/keyboards/vocals) and Mitchell Keepin (guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals)–we discovered that, as human beings, they as direct as their no–frills music.

The symmetry between art and the personality of the artist who created it is not to be confused with what corporate suits call “on brand.” Those shysters insist that artists, in order to make a living, must prove their artistic mettle in tandem with their ability to socialize and hock their wares–honest advertising be damned.

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