Archive for On Tyranny

On Tyranny: Sound Off on No Kings 2: A Communiqué About Community

Posted in Sound Off with tags , , , , , , on 10/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

This article was originally published in 2009 but, on what could be one of the most consequential days in America in the 21st century, if not in the entire history of the nation, it is now back online for your reading — and, hopefully, galvanizing — pleasure. Find your local No Kings rally here and, for the sake of free speech and freedom itself, please attend. Need further convincing? Read my 43-part series called On Tyranny, in which artists of every stripe tell me how they are being damaged and fear even more atrocious reprisals if the Trump regime and the right-wing scourge plaguing our country continues to run roughshod, unchecked, over the Constitution we have so woefully taken for granted for far too long.

Week four of the IndiePit Blog is coming to a close. And what a month it has been. From interviews galore to liberal doses of commentary throughout to some wacky features, hopefully the content has been as much a treat to read as it has been to write.

If you’ve noticed, each week has closed with an installment of a series called “Sound Off” – in which, like the back end of a newspaper’s op-ed section, some closing thoughts on the week are provided.

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On Tyranny: Cosmic Reaper’s Frontman Says ‘This Is a Class War … We Can Take the Power Back’

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 10/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The honorable Thad Collis, guitarist and vocalist for surging doom-metal squad Cosmic Reaper from Charlotte, North Carolina, blasts the oligarchy and warns that the metal underground will not be spared in Authoritarian America if we all don’t act immediately to stop the Trump regime. The band’s new album, Bleed the Wicked, Drown the Damned (Heavy Psych Sounds), is already a contender for best metal album of the year. Buy it here. Check out The Bad Penny‘s 42-part On Tyranny series, launched roughly around March, here.

On Tyranny: Planet on a Chain Vocalist Says ‘A Lot of People Are Willing to Fight Hate in This Nation’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , on 10/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In the latest installment of The Bad Penny‘s series On Tyranny, we enjoy a comfortable conversation with Planet on a Chain vocalist Dave Ackerman about terrifying topics like Authoritarian America, censorship, and why it’s imperative for the punk-rock community to fight fascism immediately.

We also discuss Planet on a Chain’s bracing new album, Ritual Routine, which drops Friday on Revelation Records. Order a copy here and check out the Oakland punks’ Bandcamp page here.

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On Tyranny: Feminist Punk Band Cheap Perfume Declares ‘White Supremacy Is Not Punk Rock’

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/30/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Cheap Perfume don’t know how to talk cheap. Ahead of their new album dropping Friday, feminist punk quartet Cheap Perfume discuss Authoritarian America with rock journalist Kurt Orzeck as part of his ongoing series On Tyranny. Vocalist Stephanie Byrne and guitarist/co-vocalist Jane No open up about threats they’ve received, how the LGBTQ+ community is under attack and needs to band together now more than ever, and how they “implore artists to just say ‘fuck that’ to self-censorship.”

Preorder Cheap Perfume’s Don’t Care. Didn’t Ask, which comes out Friday on Snappy Little Numbers, here.

Check out the archive of The Bad Penny‘s ever-growing and increasingly popular On Tyranny series here.

On Tyranny: Metal Band Malevich ‘Had a String of Shows Canceled for Some of Our [Pro-Palestinian] Activism’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 09/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Last night, The Bad Penny had the distinct pleasure of catching up with one-half of Atlanta’s blackened post-death metal band Malevich: drummer/vocalist Sasha Schilbrack-Cole and guitarist Josh McIntyre. We talked a bit about Under a Gilded Sun, their new album, which hit the streets and the Interwebs late last month. But the bulk of our conversation revolved around how Authoritarian America is impacting musicians, as we had planned for the interview to be part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing series On Tyranny.

Little did we know that we’d be speaking to two individuals whose intellectual capacity is as profound as their crushingly righteous music. Enjoy perhaps the best installment yet in The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series by watching the entire video above or on YouTube, or reading an abridged version of the conversation after the jump.

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On Tyranny: Weakened Friends’ Secret to Battling MAGA? Community Involvement

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , on 09/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“As someone who is a queer individual, my safety came from a lot of people dying and protesting and fighting for my rights to feel safe. … I’m willing to have a boot on my neck for the people that I love and care about. I’m here for the fight.”
–Sonia Sturino

Only about 69,500 people live in Portland, Maine, which is one of the least-populous states in the U.S. (and is the only one in the Lower 48 to share a border with just one other state). But let’s drop the Cliff Clavin act and get to the most salient fact of interest to you, dear reader of The Bad Penny: Portland is home to one of the most red-hot indie-rock bands in the Northeast: Weakened Friends.

Led by impossible-not-to-love married multi-instrumentalists Sonia Sturino (who has a green card) and Annie Hoffman, this year marks the 10th anniversary since Weakened Friends cranked out their first release: The crunchy, power-chord song “Won Yet,” which proved from the git-go that the group had the sharpest of ears for melody, harmony and chorus. In a mere 12 days, the sumptuous songsmiths will unveil Feels Like Hell on the inimitable Don Giovanni records.

When The Bad Penny caught wind of the topics that Weakened Friends address on their third record – resisting the temptation to succumb to “deep nihilism in the face of global capitalism” and instead refuse self-censorship and embrace the freedom to speak out, we quickly invited them to participate in our ongoing On Tyranny series – and both Sturino and Hoffman merrily obliged. 

We staged a video chat with them about three weeks ago, as we all hunkered down in our kitchens (theirs is far more decorative than mine) to share our thoughts and feelings about the state of the U.S., and the impact Authoritarian American is having on musicians.

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On Tyranny: Ex-U.S. Navy Captain-Turned-Psych-Rock Musician Jeremy Moore Warns of Fascism

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , on 09/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Jeremy 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‘On Tyranny hub.

On Tyranny: Metallica Teaches Trump Foe Gavin Newsom a Lesson – Fight Fire With Fire

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , on 09/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
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On Tyranny: Russia Sentences 5 Members of Pussy Riot to Prison

Posted in Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , on 09/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Five members of exiled feminist protest punk-rockers Pussy Riot are facing lengthy prison sentences after a Moscow court ruled them guilty for staging anti-war performances that criticized Russia’s military actions, the performance-art group’s website, Mediazona, reported Wednesday.

Moscow’s Basmanny District Court handed down the ruling in absentia for Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova and Alina Petrova, who could face eight to 13 years apiece in prison, according to the website.

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On Tyranny: Eugene S. Robinson (Buñuel, Ex-Oxbow) Leaving US for Spain, Says ‘I’ve Had It’

Posted in Features, Interviews, News, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , on 09/07/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

My attitude used to be like, I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country.
And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why?’
-Eugene S. Robinson

During a lengthy conversation I recently had with Eugene S. Robinson, one of the most uncompromising, forthright and no-bullshit rock musicians around, he revealed that he has joined a slew of other American artists exiting the United States to live in other countries.

“I don’t live in America anymore,” he told me in an interview last month. “I’m in Poland at this very moment, on my way to Spain, where I bought a house, and that’s where I’ll be moving and living.”

He added: “My attitude used to be like, ‘I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country. And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why? Why? Why? [There are] lots of places to live in the world. Why [should I continue to live] here?'”

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