Twenty years into Logan Lynn’s career as an artist and activist, the Portland resident trekked to Boise last week to screen his increasingly feted documentary The Pain and the Power. Presented by rock band Portugal. The Man’s KNIK Records’ PortuGAY Division, the film is touted as “a personal portrait tracing a 30-year career forged at the intersection of queerness, faith, addiction, trauma and self-reinvention.”
Continue reading
As the 100th band we’ve interviewed for our On Tyranny series, which we launched in February 2025, we couldn’t have found a more fitting subject than Southern California hardcore/metal/rap enthusiasts Throwlight. The young band is tearing it up in conservative Orange County without any hesitation whatsoever, spitting in the face of the most frustrating aspects of the era in which are suffering through: compliance, willful ignorance and inaction.
While many artists are gratuitously tossing a remark or two into their live performances about how they disagree with the fascist takeover of America, Throwlight – consisting of vocalist Rocom, guitarist Chris Ellis, bassist Kevin Betz and playfully nicknamed keyboardist King of Somewhere – are putting their hearts totally into the fight. Their passion for resistance is as intense as the fury they unleash on their latest single, “No Kings,” which came out last month on limited-edition cassette.
Continue reading
“It’s a difficult thing to be an artist, man. You use your brain and a lot of energy. It’s the same with us musicians. We are working a lot with our mind. Some people think we are lazy or that actors do nothing, but it’s a lot of mental work.”
-Nightrage’s Marios Iliopoulos
—
One of The Bad Penny‘s favorite people in the whole wide world is Marios Iliopoulos, a rare human being who has a heart so big that it’s perplexing how his body can contain it, who has zero ego even though he fronts the best Greek metal band of all time, and who has generously donated hours of his time to speak with us about everything under the sun.
Previously, we brought you our conversations with Marios about his band Nightrage, the scourge of authoritarianism and fascism spreading across the world and his heartwarming friendship with sorely missed At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg.
Now we present you with what might our most entertaining chat with Señor Iliopoulos, as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Favorite Films series. In case it’s not already obvious, the feature revolves around us speaking with musicians about movies that have won them over.
Without further ado, here’s our exchange with Nightrage innovator Iliopoulos about his flicks of choice.
Continue reading
Ringo Starr may always be regarded as the weakest link in the Beatles, but when it comes to music supervisor and debuting solo artist Gary Calamar, his dog Ringo is an invaluable source of strength, inspiration and silliness. A longtime music industry executive – and DJ, and author, and five-time Grammy-nominated producer and music supervisor, and songwriter – Calamar is teeing up his first-ever solo record, Odd Numb3rs and Slanted Rhymes, for release October 23 on Big Stir Records. It will feature guest spots by his famous musician friends including Robyn Hitchcock, Maria Taylor and Mark Mothersbaugh.
Continue reading
David Yow’s could very well lingering in obscurity without his iconic tenure as the frontman of the Jesus Lizard (and Scratch Acid) before that. But he’s also sprinkled in some bizarre side projects along the way, including his abstract-art “music” album Tonight You Look Like a Spider, released in June 2013 on Joyful Noise; a stint as the vocalist for L.A. underground rock trio Qui that culminated in their 2007 album Love’s Miracle; and guest appearances at concerts by Shellac, Melvins, the Dicks, Girls Against Boys and Cop Shoot Cop.
But one of the most notable excursions Yow – who self-deported from the U.S. for Portugal during the Trump regime – took in his equally florid and flatulent career was when he took on the role of vocalist for influential punk band and one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite groups, Flipper. After forming in 1979 and taking a decade-long break from 1994 to 2004, Yow filled in for ailing singer Bruce Loose during shows in 2015. Four years later, Yow reprised his role as substitute vocalist for Flipper’s 40th Anniversary Tour in 2019; at that point, Yow was effectively a member of the band, which advertised their shows as “Flipper with David Yow.”
But little do fans know – if any – that Yow wasn’t a shoe-in for Flipper’s replacement vocalist. Chris Spencer, frontman of Unsane – another hugely influential noise-rock band from decades past, along with the Jesus Lizard – recently revealed in an interview with this writer: “I was really a big Flipper fan, despite them having 30-plus members over the years. The ethos of that band was just great.”
Continue reading
This Q&A with The Format – an influential indie-rock duo consisting of Nate Ruess and Sam Means that reunited last year – was conducted on Friday, September 11, as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing On Tyranny series. The feature focuses on how fascism damages artists artistically, emotionally and personally; provides them with space to discuss their fear, anxiety and anger toward the Trump administration; increases solidarity among like-minded artists; and lets them set an example for other musicians (young ones in particular) that it is legal and just to criticize and protest.
Of the 100-plus artists with whom I’ve spoken for this series, you guys are actually putting your money where your mouth is and doing a lot of good work. Please tell my readership what you’ve been up to and the catalyst for getting involved helping immigrants.
Nate Ruess: We’re focusing right now on direct organization and “Saturdays in the Park.” When we’re on tour and in a city on a Saturday, we find a park and set up our PA system and let everybody come and watch us play for free. We’ll invite about eight to 12 different organizations to come and set up tables at this free show, and in between us playing a few songs acoustically, we’ll invite them onstage for five minutes to explain what their organization is all about and why people might want to join or get more information. It gives everybody an opportunity, instead of just feeling good about themselves for donating, to take more direct action.
Continue reading
Welcome to the 20th installment of The Bad Penny‘s Bandcamp Freebie series, in which we handpick our favorite free songs on the platform and dish them up for your consumption. Are we gonna get out of this thing alive, dear readers? Let’s not think of that, shall we, even though I just asked you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we entreat you with our latest batch of free music of the highest quality. (And the lowest price.) Not as many full-lengths time around as in recent editions past. But we think you’ll survive. All the titles featured here are free. And yes, you ARE welcome.
(Note: If you’re financially capable of supporting any of these artists and/or labels, please consider doing so.)
1. Amarok’s self-titled debut (and splits with Hell, Pyramido and Enth)
If you’re asking whether two songs qualify as an LP, you’re living in the fuckin’ past. Speaking of which, Amarok – the best black-metal band ever to come out of Chico, California (go ahead, try me) – joined forces about 15 years ago, and this release was their first. But after COVID and some other delays, they’re roaring back like lion kings and ready to rip your anus straight out of your rear end with Overcome, the title of which clearly refers to the challenges the quartet has faced. Amarok – not to be confused with Agalloch or AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock” – rip their new record out of its sheath on September 25, and if you don’t pick it up, you’d better watch your back, because these no-nonsense dark lords will come after you. (PS: Amarok are playing with Hell on October 2 at Clock-Out Lounge in Seattle, so there’s a better chance than not that the bands will play the songs on their aforementioned split.)
Continue reading
(Alert for those allergic to sarcasm: Copious amounts of it are laced throughout the next paragraph or two.)
Latin-Irish electro-pop musician and music-sampling absurdist wasn’t born in a Vatican jail – or her current home city of Dublin, for that matter. Rather, the artist producer was birthed in Chile, a country whose best artists we recently ran down in the last installment – courtesy of heavy garage-rock band Niño Nuclear – of our massively popular, Grammy Award-winning series unofficially and succinctly referred to as The Best Bands in the World, as Decided by Musicians Who Live in the Same Places From Where the Bands on the Top 10 Lists Originate and, for the Most Part, Still Reside. (If you haven’t already noticed from The Bad Penny‘s ardent abstention from most social media – save YouTube – we’re really good at marketing.)
All that’s stated above provides a seamless segue into the next edition in our still-fresh series. Through it, we hope to “visit” as many countries as we can, and listen to native artists themselves rather than Spotify as to what we should be pumping into our ear holes.
Continue reading
Most musicians namecheck their heroes from time to time, out of common courtesy. Others cover their songs to drive the point home that their influence was instrumental in the development of their careers. Still more go the extra mile by immortalizing those cover songs on their studio albums or as staples in their concert set lists.
Power-pop throwback artist Kurt Baker – whose motto is “Have a good time all the time,” a line that should call Spinal Tap to your mind – is taking reverence and respect for his elders the extra mile. Make that two extra miles. Or three, even.
Last month, the likable singer/songwriter from New York saw his previously out-of-print Got It Covered compilation of tribute songs to Blondie, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and others re-released in remastered vinyl and digital form, courtesy of Oglio Entertainment. Earlier this month, he paid another salute, this time to Slade and their song “When Fantasy Calls,” on the B-side to his Wicked Cool Records digital single, “Wonder Woman.”
Completing his trifecta of tributes, Baker will take his salutes from wax to stage when he heads up the Beauty Bar 30th Anniversary Bash in New York on Sunday. At the event staged by Little Steven’s Underground Garage., he’ll perform alongside the likes of more of his heroes, including Jon Spencer, Daddy Long Legs and Lenny Kaye.
The Bad Penny recently caught up with Baker to pick his brain about what made the other aforementioned musicians so impactful on his own career.
Slade
“Slade have always represented a lot of what I love about rock ’n’ roll,” Baker says. “Big hooks, loud guitars, tons of personality and songs that are just fun to listen to. They could be heavy and raw, but underneath all of that, they were an incredible pop band. That combination definitely connects to what I’ve always tried to do with power pop: You want the melody and the chorus, but you also want it to sound like a band plugging in and making some noise. I recently covered ‘When Fantasy Calls,’ which is a bit of a deeper Slade cut, and that song really shows another side of what made them so great. Once you dig beyond the huge hits, there are so many great melodies and songs in their catalog.”
Continue reading
Seasoned musician Daniel Hines launched his band Left Arm Tan (RIYL Calexico, the Jayhawks) in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2010 with relatively modest ambitions. The charming alt-rock crew also includes Brian Lee (lead vocals, piano, guitar); Mark Belding (horns, steel guitar, guitars, harmonies); Jeff Scroggins (bass, harmonies); Shawn Light (guitars, mandolin, keys, harmonies); and Tim Manders (drums, harmonies).
Hines underwent a series of surgeries last year but also wrote a gobsmacking 57 songs, breathing new life into his band, which had split for a short period. The resulting record, When Tigers Smoked (which means “once upon a time” in Korean, and was produced by Old 97’s and Damnwells collaborator Salim Nourallah), comes out October 9.
Arguably even trustier than Hines’ band, though, is his Australian Shepherd, Goose, who entered Hines’ life during COVID and just turned 6 years old. Enjoy our exchange with Hines and, of course, the pics of him and his pooch (yes, we know you well, dear readers).
Continue reading
