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On Tyranny: Singer/Songwriter Gail Swanson Is Folking Sick About ICE Brutality, King Trump

Posted in Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags Annie Nelson, authoritarianism, fascism, Gail Swanson, ICE, On Tyranny, Particle Kid, Sheryl Crow, tyranny, Willie Nelson on 01/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Our parents and grandparents had Thurgood Marshall. Now it’s looking like we’re going to have martial law.

Earlier today, Gail Swanson – a cool, collected but also furious folk artist – participated in The Bad Penny’s tragically ongoing series called On Tyranny. As has been the case with almost every edition we publish, it seems like the Trump administration and MAGA have just terrorized or are about to terrorize the American populace with a calamity, catastrophe or cataclysm that may take decades, centuries or even longer to repair.

But while the majority of us seem to be in despair over our powerlessness, not just over the fascist regime that now rules over us, Swanson is refusing to give in to hopelessness and galvanize herself into action more than ever before.

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On Tyranny: Brokedowns Guitarist Says ‘Even Right-Wingers Can’t Abide ICE Brutalizing’ His Laborer Co-Workers in Chicago

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Brokedowns, fascism, ICE, Kris Megyery, On Tyranny, trump, tyranny on 11/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

It’s impossible to let a minute elapse without smiling during a conversation with the irrepressibly good-natured and good-humored Kris Megyery, guitarist/vocalist for Chicago punk band the Brokedowns. Except, that is, when he divulges how his fellow contractors are having to work through the night and on weekends due to their well-founded fears of ICE raids, which he has personally witnessed.

Learn, reflect and laugh during a wide-ranging conversation in the latest installment of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, which focuses on how artists are coping with Authoritarian America. And pick up a copy of the Brokedowns’ album Let’s Tip the Landlord, which just came out Friday on Red Scare Industries (also home to yesterday’s On Tyranny participants Elway), on their Bandcamp page.

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On Tyranny: Faith No More’s Roddy Bottum Laments Trans Exodus From US, Loves Zohran Mamdani, Details Witnessing ICE Brutality

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Faith No More, fascism, ICE, On Tyranny, police brutality, Roddy Bottum, trans, tyranny, Zohran Mamdani on 11/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“I feel, like, not so complacent, but enthused, honestly, in a great way. I feel good. It’s my job. I’m an artist, and that’s kind of what I need to do. I need to provoke and I need to demand answers and I need to challenge things.”
-Roddy Bottum

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With his new memoir The Royal We out now, I recently spoke with Roddy Bottum of Faith No More, Imperial Teen and Man on Man fame about a very wide range of topics. Read some of them in my FLOOD feature and my Bad Penny story (in which he recalled a bizarre incident involving his paranoid ex-girlfriend Courtney Love).

In this part of the interview, part of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, Bottum shares his first-hand accounts about the shameful and horrific acts occurring in the United States: the exodus of trans people leaving out of well-justified fear; and ICE attacks on immigrants, demonstrators and U.S. citizens.

But Bottum also discusses what he sees as a silver lining: The recent election of Democratic-Socialist Zohran Mamdani as the youngest-ever and first Muslim mayor of New York City. Here’s that portion of our wide-ranging conversation:

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