On Tyranny: Inspired Musician Audrey Keelin of Artists United for a Free Palestine Discusses Relief Efforts

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/06/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Amid the rise of dictatorships across the globe, which is the focus of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, there are some signs of hope and remarkable individuals rising to the occasion to fight for justice, democracy and peace. One of those people is Audrey Keelin, guitarist and vocalist for Brooklyn band Hiding Places, who has helped create two music compilations benefiting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

The most recent one, Merciless Accelerating Rhythms – Artists United for a Free Palestine – Vol II, came out Friday via Brooklyn-based label HATETOQUIT and features contributions from an astonishing 64 artists, including Andy Boay (Tonstartssbandht), Colin Miller (MJ Lenderman), Landon George (MJ Lenderman), Prith/ The Coke Dares (members of Magnolia Electric Co.), villagerrr, Hiding Places, Andy Loebs, Renny Conti and more.

Watch the above video to learn about what motivated Keelin to undertake the ambitious endeavor, what inspires the Hiding Places captain during these dark times – and how you can create a project that, like the compilation albums, have the potential to make a major difference.

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On Tyranny: Bobby Conn Doesn’t Mince Words About ‘Con Man’ Donald Trump

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 09/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“The goal of fascism is control and power. That’s the whole thing. That’s it. There’s no ideology beyond that. … Maybe we’ll make it through this. But I don’t know for sure.”
-Bobby Conn

Chicago’s own Bobby Conn is a king among troubadours, a musician’s musician, and yet also a musician who fights for the people, á la Billy Bragg. His last name is perfectly ironic, as Conn is best known for speaking truth to power and dutifully serving as a protest musician since he started playing music in 1989 with the avant-garde group Conducent. Five years later, that band broke up and Conn embarked upon his journey as a solo artist, which resulted in eight studio albums.

His ninth, Bobby’s Place, just arrived in late August. It’s pretty far out there, dubbed a “split-personality” record in which the first half tells a fantastical story about him living on an astral plane, while the second half imagines him as the star of an alternative-reality workplace sitcom named “Bobby’s Place.” The project captures and sustains the eccentric personality that Conn has embraced throughout his career, which has showcased him as a performance artist, glam-rock devotee and unabashedly outspoken critic of American politics and culture.

When The Bad Penny interviewed Conn via video before the release of Bobby’s Place, he noted that it is his least political record to date. That said, he told Splendid Magazine in 2008 that “All the records that I’ve done are a critique of what’s going on in contemporary America.” And with that in mind, Bobby’s Place can’t be considered detached from reality, even if some of the storylines he tells take place in an alternate reality.

That debate aside, we invited the highly politically opinionated legend to participate in our ongoing series On Tyranny, and he graciously and enthusiastically obliged.

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Did David Yow Tell His Version of ‘The Aristocrats’ on The Jesus Lizard’s ‘Lady Shoes’?

Posted in Comedy, Essays with tags , , on 09/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If you’re even fairly familiar with raunchy comedy, “The Aristocrats,” an ever-evolving running joke so dirty that comics used to only tell it to each other behind closed doors, probably rings a bell. The jape varies in length, vulgarity, structure, plot and tone, depending on whichever comedian is telling their version of it. But baked into the joke are, unwaveringly, graphic scenes of a family engaging in scatological, sordid and smutty behavior during an audition in a misguided effort to win over an agent to book their stage act. And the punch line always remains the same, with the family revealing at the end of the audition that their stage name is “The Aristocrats.”

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Pile Frontman Hoping ‘Putting Out Content’ Trend Will Fade Away Soon

Posted in Interviews with tags , , on 09/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

As Pile continue to tour their new album, Sunshine and Balance Beams, across North America, Rick Maguire talks about its recording process, the band’s signing to Sooper Records and more. Go to FLOOD for my full feature on Pile.

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Heavy Halo’s Minimalist, Arty New Video Puts Electronic-Music Duo on the Map

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Halo, one of the most popular video games ever, features monstrous characters each named Unggoy Heavy whose hideousness is often overlooked because of their formidable strength in combat. Despite the respect they earn, though, if you’re looking for love on Tinder and are matched with one of these behemoths, remember to swipe left immediately. Fer chrissakes, tattoo it on your arm in case you’ve had too many drinks.

An Unggoy Heavy wearing the standard Unggoy combat harness.

Meanwhile, an alt-industrial duo from Brooklyn who reference the character in their moniker, Heavy Halo, are much easier on the eyes. Vocalist/guitarist McKeever and producer Gosteffects opt for a slacker-chic look that won’t haunt your nightmares and make them appear almost approachable.

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On Tyranny: Canada’s Theo Vandenhoff Wonders If Touring Authoritarian America Is ‘Even Worth It’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Hearing stories of other bands paying for their visas and still being unceremoniously detained at the [U.S.] border and denied entry makes us wonder if it’s even worth it. As a band with leftist political affiliations, we’re becoming increasingly wary of the risks.”
-Theo Vandenhoff

The news reports are piling up. ICE agents arresting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal U.S. resident without any criminal record or allegations in any country, and sending him to a Venezuelan gulag for months without due process.

An Australian woman held in federal prison and deported simply for visiting her husband, a U.S. Army officer, at the base where he is stationed in Hawaii.

A U.S. citizen detained at the border after trying to return to the States after visiting Canada.

If you’re ignoring the news or looking the other way, you might want to refresh yourself on the definition of “Stockholm Syndrome.” Or admit you’re a lousy citizen and bad American unwilling to fight to preserve democracy. Or under the delusion that it’s not just alleged criminals who are losing their freedoms, when in fact all Americans are (with the potential exception of the super-rich).

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Pet Sounds #61: Jeromes Dream, Deadguy Give Rescue Dogs ‘Hope’ on Iodine Benefit Comp

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Everyone involved in this effort isn’t making a penny. It’s so humbling, it’s hard for me to get over it, to be honest. It makes up for the times when the record industry and the music industry are an absolute shit show. It restores my faith in it a bit.”
–The Dogs of Hope compilation creator Tom Bejgrowicz

Punk-rock can save human lives, providing catharsis and community to young people in particular who struggle with being ostracized, anger issues and mental health problems. But just last month, Boston’s Iodine Recordings – which Casey Horrigan founded 30 years ago and is one of the most legendary indie labels in the Northeast – demonstrated that punk can save the lives of dogs too.

The label proved as such by teaming with Tom Bejgrowicz, an industry vet who worked on projects for artists ranging from Quicksand to Johnny Cash, for a uniquely laudable compilation called The Dogs of Hope. Consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased songs exclusive to the collection, participants include Jeromes Dream, Deadguy, Killswitch Engage, Snapcase, Enforced, Walter Schreifels of Quicksand, and other bands Iodine devotees would eat up. All proceeds from sales of the collection support the Randolph County Animal Shelter in rural Alabama.

Bejgrowicz started volunteering for the no-kill, privately run facility five years ago and decided to pursue his Dogs of Hope project as a way to offset the total lack of funding the shelter receives from the public or Randolph County region. To make matters worse, the county has zero public animal control or spay/neuter programs, and the shelter is four years into being at full capacity.

When The Bad Penny caught wind about The Dogs of Hope project, we immediately got in touch with Iodine and Bejgrowicz, as it appeared to be – and, it turns out, certainly is – supremely fitting for our ongoing Pet Sounds series. Here’s what Bejgrowicz had to say about the impact volunteering at the shelter has had on his life, his motivations for making the compilation and the tsunami of support Bejgrowicz didn’t expect to receive for giving a hand to man’s best friend.

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Pet Sounds #60: Nick Oliveri of QOTSA, Kyuss, Dwarves Finds Peace With His Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , on 09/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Frisky” is a mild way to describe, Nick Oliveri, one of the most prominent rock bassists of the past 30 years. “Feral” or “untamed” would be much more accurate. The eminently talented Oliveri, who was the bottom-heavy-playing backbone of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, and now Dwarves and his own Mondo Generator project, would likely react to even the wildest stories of John Bonham, Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe with a shrug – and his trademark laugh and smile.

Indeed, there is a tender side to the 53-year-old, Palm Desert-based musician who sometimes goes by the aliases Rex Everything, Pierre Pressure, the Great French Manipulator, Rock & Roll Komodo Dragon and Nikolai Svetlana. Don’t take our word for it: Hear about his deep affinity for felines and check out these photos he sent us for proof.

The Bad Penny recently caught up with Oliveri via video to talk not about the times he played gigs in his birthday suit, his still-intact friendships with QOTSA’s Josh Homme and Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, or how he won over Dwarves’ Blag Dahlia by smashing a vase, but rather about his love for cats.

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Jobber’s ‘Jobber to the Stars’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags , , on 09/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

With its 11 catchy grunge-pop tunes each referencing pro-wrestling culture, Brooklyn band Jobber’s full-length debut, Jobber to the Stars, prioritizes fun in its escapist return to the slacker-rock charm of the ’90s. Read my FLOOD review here.

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On Tyranny: Orchestra Gold’s Erich Huffaker Talks Impacts of Authoritarianism on Artists

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 09/02/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

For more on The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny series, go to this hub.

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