Archive for the Interviews Category

Fuming Mouth: Ringing in a New Chapter

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , , , on 10/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“It doesn’t matter who you are – we’re all human, you know – even if you reach this point of victory and you conquer death and all that, the bell still tolls for thee.”

Those are some of the first words uttered by Fuming Mouth mastermind Mark Whalen. As Central Massachusetts as they come, Whelan is direct and blunt, and his concision is not only evident in what he says in conversation but what he pours into his hardcore-meets-death-metal project.

Fuming Mouth’s early recordings flaunted Whalen adeptness at guitar, bass and vocals — and, in the words of Whelan he knew he had struck gold “immediately.” Whelan divulges his trick as follows “The goal isn’t to be the heaviest band. It’s to make good songs. … And it was never even to build a fan base; it was about a scene and a community. I want to contribute to hardcore and add my little piece to it.”

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Exclusive Premiere: Desert-Rock Pioneer Crumpler Explores Love’s ‘Perpetual Mystery’ on New Song, Video With Califone Founder

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , , , , on 10/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Smooshing together desert-rock fuzz and surf-rock licks like peanut butter and jelly, the sandwich that Jacob Floyd Ross’ Crumpler project delivers in the form of Evolution Is for Lovers is a throwback to a more innocent and less drug-fueled era dominated by bands like Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, who ascended to the rock throne in California’s Palm Desert in the mid-’90s.

Crumpler, effectively a one-man project, actually originated in Chicago after Kyuss issued their debut, Wretch, in September 1991. Crumpler’s first release, the cassette-only Stramonium – an original score for Tom Kiehfuss’ play Stramonium: A Search for Grace – didn’t come out until four years later, at which point Ross formally established his project. Meanwhile, Kyuss guitarist Homme incepted QOTSA shortly thereafter in California’s Palm Desert and propelled the desert-rock sound into the mainstream. Ross went in a different direction, intending for Crumpler to serve as a generator (so to speak, for all you desert-rock fans) to make scores for films and theatrical productions.

That said, Crumpler’s many records are available on the project’s Bandcamp page. His most recent release is Evolution Is for Lovers, which came out digitally in June 2025 but will see a vinyl release on October 23. Ross, who currently resides in L.A. with his family, has also played with Low Skies, Ribbon Effect, The Warmbloods, Man Is Man and Judson Claiborne.

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On Tyranny: Maria BC Reflects on ICE’s Minnesota Murders as Trump’s Vigilante Goon Squad Still Goes Unchecked and Terrorizes American Communities

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

About a month ago, AllMusic rolled out our interview with Maria BC that mostly revolved around Marathon, an album that teems with more sincerity and human emotion than their past two releases, as it addressed Americans and the hardships they are currently experiencing. So as to focus on the trials and tribulations of the “average American,” we mostly avoided discussion of Trump, even though the majority of U.S. citizens are finally waking up to the reality that he is the source of so many of the country’s seemingly intractable problems.

Today, following the much-needed and frankly long-overdue “Power to the People” music festival/ extravaganza that Tom Morello hosted earlier this month, we bring you an excerpt from our interview with Maria BC that was left on the cutting-room floor but nevertheless deserves to be heard and read by those who care about the survivability of democracy; how Americans treat each other regardless of legal status; and what it will take for us to finally put a stop to the lawless, sociopathic atrocities that ICE is inflicting upon citizens, legal immigrants and other residents of the so-called “greatest nation on earth.”

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Top 10 Best Chinese Metal Bands, According to Homegrown Heathens Dehumanizing Itatrian Worship

Posted in Features, Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/12/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

When we launched what we’re unofficially calling The Bad Penny Passport earlier this year, we never would’ve imagined we’d get a submission from a Chinese heavy metal band listing what they consider to be the top 10 bands of their ilk who also hail from their country. (Frankly, we didn’t think we’d score one from a Russian musician either.) But thanks to the devoted efforts of one of our closest allies, Jon Asher of Asher Media Relations, the truly unlikely came to fruition. Think of it as our version of Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy gambit.

Lots more info on Dehumanizing Itatrian Worship – a brutal slamming death metal group founded in 2014 – is below. But first, let’s take a look at what they consider to be the top 10 best metal bands in their homeland of China.

1. Tumourboy

One of my favorite Chinese thrash metal bands. Some punk influence makes the songs really aggressive; I lean toward fast riffs, and the arrangement and vocals are both well done. 

2. Zuriaake

This is probably one of the most famous black metal bands in China. Perfect fusion of black metal and Eastern aesthetics.

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Favorite Films: Radio Karma Dig ‘Evil Dead,’ ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,’ Multiple Tim Burton Flicks, ‘Stopmotion’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the latest installment in our Favorite Films series, in which we chat up musicians about the movies they treasure the most. Today we host Radio Karma, a power-pop/rock project led by lyricist/songwriter Richard Rossi and multi-instrumentalist Joe Giddings, who was previously a member of Star Collector and has his own solo material to boot. Radio Karma recently released a three-song EP, We Were Gods, which we’ll tell you more about in the near future. But as it’s the weekend, when we bring you new installments of Favorite Films, we’re rolling out this part of our conversation with the gentlemen first.

Enjoy learning about Rossi’s and Giddings’ most treasured movies … we can virtually guarantee at least a couple of them will be new to you.

Joe Giddings’ Favorite Films

Evil Dead (1981): “I watched that in the theater 13 or 14 times. I started doing call-outs during the movie, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In one scene, the lady’s being dragged across the floor, drenched and covered in blood. And you see her from top to bottom, and there’s barely any blood on her. So there’s a continuity [issue] there, and as that’s happening, I’m yelling, “Got a tough stain?” which at the time was [a commonly used phrase in laundry detergent] commercials. Everybody in the theater cracked up. (2:45) Apart from that silliness, I appreciated the practical effects, the stop motion and the comedy that was involved.”

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Phoenix’s Midvale Park to Scream Their Way Through Boise for the First Time Tonight at Realms Arcade

Posted in Concert Previews, Interviews with tags , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Well, thanks, eardrums. It’s been real. Unfortunately we’re going to have to part ways at this point, as there’s a certain band from Phoenix playing Realms Arcade in Boise tonight, and they’re gonna rip you out of the ear holes of all in attendance. Why, you ask? Well, let’s let vocalist Alex explain …

Congrats on the release of your Pursuing One’s True Identity EP. How long was it in the making?

The EP was in the making since around February after we got off our first run of out-of-state shows. We took “Frail” and put it on the EP with the other four songs we made.

Did the EP turn out as you envisioned, or did it evolve in unexpected ways?

Not really. We wanted to make an album, but we slacked too long on making more songs, so it turned into an EP of the collection of songs we had made in those six months (plus “Frail”).

It seems to me that the EP really speaks to the pain that people – young people in particular, I imagine – are facing in this day and age, given that the world is so fucking hostile and cruel. “Frail” seems especially powerful because, at least in my interpretation, you’re empathizing with people who feel hopeless yet swaying them away from suicidal ideation. Is that at least somewhat accurate?

The EP name came from my issue with knowing who I am as a person, but the songs are were really just my emotions at the time – besides Frail. “Frail” is actually speaking about those who hold higher status than others and how they abuse it, the end is just saying how much I hate it.

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Unto Others Frontman Delivers Definitive Interview: ‘The Answer That I’ve Reached as I Get Older Is There Is No Answer. And if There Is No Answer, Then You Are God.’

Posted in Concert Reviews, Interview Transcripts, Interviews, Reviews with tags , , , , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“I don’t like not being able to control my destiny.”

-Unto Others frontman Gabriel Franco

—

Portland, Oregon’s Unto Others are no strangers to Boise, having graced stages in this city in November 2021, May 2022 and November 2024. Tonight marked the retro rock band’s fourth performance in the City of Trees and its first time playing at the Shrine Social Club. Unto Others set the table for Castle Rat‘s rousing, hallucinatory, medieval-fantasy performance – while simultaneously erasing all memory of superfluous opening act Wraith Knight, which refers to itself as “dungeon synth,” whatever the hell that is.

One of the many reasons Unto Others were the band that should’ve drawn the biggest crowd in Boise this evening – even with Iron and Wine playing at the Knitting Factory and lovable death-metal goofballs Nekrogoblikon hunkering down at the Shredder – is that Unto Others are a truly one-of-a-kind band in a music climate that seems to subsist on copycats. Unto Others’ sound is a blast from the past; no other band is busting out throwback dark rock with the acumen and authenticity that frontman Gabriel Franco and his pals are producing.

Last year, this writer penned a story about Unto Others for New Noise in which Franco rejected the lazy and inaccurate labeling of Unto Others as a “goth” band. While the article possibly helped deflate the erroneous pigeonholing, it presented just a small fraction of the extensive conversation Franco granted to yours truly. In honor of Unto Others’ fourth performance this evening in Boise, The Bad Penny now brings you the entire – dare we say definitive – conversation that Franco graciously granted to us on November 8, 2024.

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On Tyranny: Burner Vocalist Scolds ‘Rage Bait’ Addicts for Using Misogyny, Charlie Kirk to Divide Us

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/10/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Roughly five years after their inception in London, post-metal unit Burner are quickly drawing the attention of fans of heavy music who have big hearts and big brains. Vocalist and lyricist Harry Nott recently checked in with The Bad Penny after last month’s release of Burner’s second full-length, No One Is Coming to Save Us (anyone else notice the Send Help reference?).

Nott’s prerogative could not be clear: to combat the cycles of violence and hate that all of us need to break in order to progress toward a more hopeful future across the world as authoritarianism continues to gain a foothold virtually everywhere. “We’re going through this horrible, horrible game where [social media] engagement is becoming this … end goal, and the means are just continuously being justified [to promote] rage bait and reactionary, racist content and stuff that is purposefully inciting hate of a certain people or harmful stereotypes,” the consummately articulate Nott says.

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On Tyranny: Absolute Darkness Leader Blasts Trump for Making Life More Difficult for Bands, Says ‘Fuck That Guy’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/09/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“If you love metal … there’s a reason to care about politics,” Absolute Darkness guitarist/ lead vocalist Ron Dorn says, voicing dismay at the authoritarian takeover of the U.S., in a recent interview.

Not only does Dorn lead the aforementioned Bay Area death/thrash metal band, he also develops 70K Bands, an unofficial app used by passengers of the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise/festival. In the latest installment of On Tyranny, he discusses the effects of the Trump regime’s obliteration of international relations, pointing to a decline in the proportion of Canadian users in the app’s data.

“By the time we sail, we get about over 2,000 to 3,000 people on the ship,” Dorn says. “With all the stuff going on with Trump attacking Canada, calling it ‘the 51st state,’ the tariffs …. Canada went from 12 percent of the cruisers to 8 or 9. And I don’t blame them. Why should [they] spend my money in the U.S. when all this is going on? [There are] real world consequences [happening], and now the event is having a harder time selling out.”

(The Canadian percentages Dorn cites are based on users of his unofficial app, rather than official passenger figures from the cruise.)

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Black Moon Cult Rising to the Occasion for First Boise Show, a Must-See for Fans of The Sword

Posted in Concert Previews, Interviews with tags , , on 10/07/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Black Moon Cult bleed heavy psych rock. If you don’t believe that statement and live in Boise, your chance to prove us wrong is to catch them tonight at Neurolux, where they will be part of a loaded bill also featuring Kal-El and Goya (who are also pals of The Bad Penny).

While we typically don’t repeat accolades bestowed upon bands by rival websites, it’s worth noting that The Obelisk named Black Moon Cult’s self-produced Ophidian Future: The Children of Yig the best debut record of 2025. Expect the trio from Toledo, Ohio, to tap heavily into that record, issued by Atlanta’s Black Doomba Records, during their set.

Founded by guitarist and vocalist Kaleb Riser five years ago, Black Moon Cult – who are signed to Atlanta’s Doomba Records (Megaton Communion, Thunderbird Divine) – also features bassist and synth player Kevin Lewis, along with drummer and percussionist Jeff Vandebussche.

The Bad Penny caught up with Black Moon Cult en route to Boise on Wednesday and chatted them up about what they have in store for tonight’s sure-to-be-thunderous gig. Here’s what Riser had so say:

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