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Archive for the Interviews Category

Too Much Joy’s Bassist Cracks the Code to Chat Pile’s Success

Posted in Interviews, News with tags Chat Pile, Griffin Sansone, Luther Manhole, Sandy Smallens, Tim Quirk, Too Much Joy on 10/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

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When we had the pleasure of interviewing indie legend Too Much Joy this week, we talked a hell of a lot about their upcoming plans, a special reissue they have on the way, their take on Authoritarian America and much more.

We’ll be bringing you a couple of articles stemming from the 60-minutes-plus conversation with two of the Too Much Joy dudes, but as a way of whetting your palette, we present you today with an informative chunk of conversation with bassist/vocalist Sandy Smallens and vocalist Tim Quirk that wouldn’t have fit into the other stories.

Our exchange revolves around not just Too Much Joy but also Chat Pile. Specifically, Smallens addresses why he thinks other young bands should follow Chat Pile’s lead – not duplicating their sound, but learning how the best noise-rock band of the past five years interacts with their fanbase.

In the words of Ariel from The Little Mermaid, “It’s a whole new world,” and Smallens all but implores bands that want to build a strong fanbase to take note of how Oklahoma City giants Chat Pile have done so.

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On Tyranny: Scotland Grindcore Artist Chairmaker Channels Anger Over Fascism Toward Helping Immigrants

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Chairmaker, fascism, grindcore, immigration, Neil Erskine, On Tyranny, tyranny on 10/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Scottish multi-instrumentalist Neil Erskine pours his blood, sweat and tears into his band Chairmaker for two reasons: to create the best grindcore his impressive abilities will allow; and to use that music as the soundtrack to his assault on late-stage capitalism. So, naturally, The Bad Penny was morally obligated to invite Erskine to participate in our ongoing On Tyranny series. He accepted wholeheartedly and jumped on a provocative video chat with us a few days ago.

We caught up with Mr. Chairmaker about three weeks before the release of Leviathan Carcass, a record he’s self-releasing on his Bandcamp page on Nov. 14. Watch The Bad Penny‘s conversation with the hyper-enlightened Erskine, and maybe you’ll learn a thing or two – if nothing else, that the new wave of authoritarianism destroying America is causing similar destruction across the pond and elsewhere in the world.

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Exclusive: Trashy Annie Comments on 2 Killer Songs Ahead of New LP Release

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews with tags Trashy Annie on 10/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Tried-and-true rock musician Trashy Annie appears like a rock vet who has been through the grind for decades – she’s a true believer of the authentic rawk music she writes and performs. And yet she’s still fairly new to most devoted classic-rock fans, having only released her first full-length album, Sticks & Stones, through Cleopatra Records in May 2023.

While based in Austin, Trashy Annie’s happy place is in a bar where she can blast her punk-infused hard-rock laced with country soul – in essence, the core ingredients needed to cook up a surefire concoction of American rock ‘n’ roll. She’s got the image down pat too, as if she began studying how to be a character actor from the day she was born till now. Trashy Annie lives and breathes her sweaty, snide and yet also endearing style, 24-7. Imagine a female version of Lemmy, and you’ll get the drift.

Oh, and did we mention that she’s a contestant on the current season of Survivor?

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On Tyranny: Black-Metal/Hardcore Band Terzij de Horde Say ‘Gaza Is Waking People Up’ to Authoritarian Creep in Netherlands

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, autocracy, black metal, Church Road Records, fascism, gaza, hardcore, On Tyranny, Terzij de Horde, tyranny on 10/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

With the Netherlands’ general election taking place in exactly one week, The Bad Penny touches base with one of the country’s best underground bands, black-metal/hardcore sorcerers Terzij de Horde to discuss how they too are facing a potential authoritarian takeover similar to the one happening in the U.S. Specifically, bassist Johan van Hattum and vocalist Joost Vervoort.

“The situation is a little different here than in the U.S., but not by much,” Vervoort says early in the conversation. And as our talk ensues, his point is validated by the topics we touch upon: vitriol from rural communities directed at the government and immigrants, a bracing fear of technology and rampant individualism that – while once glorified as the embodiment of freedom, is turning against the good of collective societies. Specifically, bassist Johan van Hattum and vocalist Joost Vervoort.

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Dying Remains Debut With a Vengeance, Are ‘Meaner’ Than Bolt Thrower

Posted in Interviews with tags Dying Remains, Maggot Stomp on 10/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Talking with a band on the day their album comes out is exactly the same as talking with a 10-year-old ripping wrapping paper off boxes of gifts on Christmas Day. It’s unadulterated joy. Unless maybe the band found a defect in the packaging, or that the tracks were listed out of order, or that the artwork is wrong. Anyway, you get the drift.

The Bad Penny had the good fortune of catching up with the gleeful gang that comprise the similarly jovial-filled band named Dying Remains, death-metal darlings who hail from Calgary, Alberta, on the day their new album came out. In fact, Merciless Suffering isn’t just their latest record: It’s their first-ever full-length, following warm-up releases Entombed in Putrefaction (an EP from 2023) and the split Dead & Buried: A Death Metal Compilation that appeared in mid-June.

California death-metal label Maggot Stomp – which has also released records by 200 Stab Wounds, Frozen Soul, Coffin Rot, Vomit Forth, Ossuary, Tribal Gaze and Internal Bleeding – have been the Mickey to Dying Remains’ Rocky Balboa throughout the entirety of their still-nascent career.

Maggot Stomp is championing them as TNBT on their label if not across the death-metal scene on the whole, and it doesn’t take more than a listen to Merciless Suffering to understand why. Guttural, deliberate and catchy through and through, the record is the soundtrack to the lives of those of us who can’t wait for ours to end.

On that note, enjoy our whimsical, innocent and uplifting conversation with Dying Remains’ vocalist/guitarist/bassist Damon MacDonald, conducted a month ago while they cradled their new baby in their arms.

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Lush’s Miki Berenyi: ‘I Don’t Think AI Will Ever Really Work for Me’

Posted in Interviews with tags Lush, Miki Berenyi on 10/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Read my interview with Miki Berenyi, the vocalist/guitarist for Lush whose lyrics candidly taught me at a young age about the ups and downs of romantic relationships, on FLOOD. Conducting this interview with one of the dreamiest musicians in dream-pop was a lifelong dream realized, and it was perhaps one of the last chances to do so, given that she’s now through touring the States.

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On Tyranny: ‘Being Trans in Louisiana, My Very Existence Is Political. Just Merely Existing Is Resistance,’ Spiritiste Singer Says

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, hardcore, On Tyranny, Spiritiste, tyranny on 10/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Think you have it rough living in America in 2025? Imagine what a trans singer fronting an occult hardcore band in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, must go through on a daily basis. Hell, don’t just imagine it – watch this interview with vocalist Jade and guitarist Yann from the crushingly melodic hardcore band Spiritiste.

Learn all about the maddeningly brilliant band’s resistance to Authoritarian America, standing up for marginalized groups no matter what,the trials and tribulations of maintaining a profoundly affecting metal band in the Deep South – and the makings of their debut record, Excommunication Hymns, which comes out on Halloween via Protagonist Records and Tor Johnson Records.

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On Tyranny: Grasshopper Lies Heavy Guitarist/Vocalist Preps for ‘Dealing With the Fallout of New American Fascism’ Till He Dies

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, On Tyranny, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, tyranny on 10/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

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“Just existing here in a red state is an act of resistance.”
-The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’s James Woodard

Of all the artists we’ve invited to participate (and who have accepted to be) in The Bad Penny‘s ongoing series On Tyranny, probably no other musician has been more clear, direct and uncompromising than James Woodard, guitarist/vocalist for post-metal/doom/sludge chaos agents The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. The band from San Antonio, Texas, is now in its 20th year but is showing no signs of crying uncle, as a listen of their upcoming record, HEAVY, both purports to be and actually is.

Just as with the album, which will arrive Nov. 14 on Learning Curve Records, our conversation with Woodard about Authoritarian America isn’t for the faint of heart. But you know what else isn’t, sadly? What is happening in the country so many of us claim to be proud of. So, as the right likes to say, put your big-boy pants on and read the unvarnished truth, straight from the mouth of a metal madman who makes total sense.

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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 cats, Chase Ceglie, Pet Sounds, pets 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.