Less than three weeks ago, The Bad Penny connected with our favorite new rocksteady/punk band Big Special, who famously played their first headlining gig at Dublin Castle in 2023 and haven’t looked back since. Now playing for crowds running as high as 2,300 attendees and the like at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, they’re still pushing their second album, the consummately wryly titled National Average, which came out July 4.
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On Tyranny: Rocksteady Blokes Big Special Get Hammered While Hammering Out Views on MAGA, Farage and Autocracy
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, Big Special, Callum Moloney, dictator, Joe Hicklin, On Tyranny, rocksteady, tyra, tyranny on 11/10/2025 by Kurt OrzeckOn Tyranny: Ex-U.S. Navy Captain-Turned-Psych-Rock Musician Jeremy Moore Warns of Fascism
Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, dictator, Donald Trump, fascism, Jeremy Moore, On Tyranny, trump, tyranny, Zabus on 09/24/2025 by Kurt OrzeckJeremy Moore, originator of Washington, D.C., avant-garde/psychedelic-rock collective Zabus, takes part in The Bad Penny‘s “On Tyranny” series to talk with music journalist Kurt Orzeck about the relationship between authoritarianism and societal inaction, and how his time serving as a U.S. Navy captain gives him a unique perspective on the rise of fascism in the U.S.
Go here for The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny hub.
On Tyranny: Orchestra Gold’s Erich Huffaker Talks Impacts of Authoritarianism on Artists
Posted in Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags authoritarianism, dictator, Donald Trump, Erich Huffaker, On Tyranny, Orchestra Gold, trump on 09/02/2025 by Kurt OrzeckFor more on The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny series, go to this hub.
On Tyranny: Meatwound’s Mantra Is ‘Fuck the Cops – and the Government Too’
Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Daniel Wallace, dictator, disappeared, Donald Trump, Meatwound, On Tyranny, police state, trump on 09/01/2025 by Kurt OrzeckAcerbic. Snotty. Sarcastic. Ruthless. Hard-hitting. There are a lot of adjectives that could be applied more gently to the ear than the name of the band in question, Meatwound. Spawned 10 years ago ago in one of the crappiest cities in the country, Tampa, Florida, The Bad Penny has wanted to catch up with this band since the release of their 2015 debut, Addio.
The skronky, snarky, snarly – have we exhausted our cache of descriptors yet? – crew immediately drew comparisons to a lot of our favorite bands. But we’re gonna show Meatwound some respect by saying they are a uniquely awesome slab of protein-rich noise-rock and encourage you to listen to the many songs of theirs embedded in this post. Most are housed on their latest record, Macho, which they coughed up in mid-July.
The Bad Penny talked with Meatwound vocalist Daniel Wallace in mid-May, just two months after the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and before shit got even crazier – you know, the deployment of the U.S. Marines to the streets of L.A., Trump bombing Iran, Mahmoud Khalil was finally freed, the U.S. blocked global agreements for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, all that good stuff.
And yet, Wallace’s remarks, stances and predictions all still, terrifyingly, hold up as true for the most part.
(Meatwound also features guitarist Ari Barros, bassist/programmer Mariano Iglesias and drummer Dimitri Stoyanov.)
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