Archive for Pet Sounds

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Pet Sounds #75: Brokedowns’ Drum Kit Player Can’t Get Enough of His Kitty Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 12/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

If you’re unfamiliar with the Brokedowns, a punk band out of Chicago, than shame on you. Less than three weeks ago, the band’s irrepressibly good-natured and good-humored guitarist/vocalist, Kris Megyery, bravely participated in our On Tyranny series, informing us how he had personally witnessed despicable ICE raids at his workplace. He also agreed to speak with The Bad Penny because the Brokedowns’ new record, Let’s Tip the Landlord, which just came out a few weeks ago through Red Scare Industries.

During the same interview, Megyery informed us that the Brokedowns’ drummer, Mustafa Daka, has limitless love for his pets, making him an ideal candidate for the Bad Penny’s other popular series, Pet Sounds. Megyery’s claims proved to be very well-founded, as Daka got back to us speedy, ready to gush over his cats.

“My precious angels, sisters Ava and Olive … are my favorite topics to talk about!” he gushed during an email exchange.

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Pet Sounds #74: Hooded Menace’s Pets Are Hardly Menaces to Society

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , on 12/11/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Harri and Touko

Finnish doom-metal cult band Hooded Menace can come across as, well, a wee bit intimidating. But the Finnish Grammy (equivalent)-nominated trio of vocalist Harri Kuokkanen, guitarist/bassist Lasse Pyykkö and drummer Pekka Koskelo temper those fears by throwing curveballs every so often. Look no further than the out-of-nowhere cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” that they surprised fans with three months ago.

Turns out all three members of Hooded Menace have a soft spot. For his own part, Kuokkanen touched base with The Bad Penny shortly after the October release of his band’s smoldering seventh record, Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration (Season of Mist), to talk about his coterie of cats (and one dog).

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Pet Sounds #73: Something Is Waiting’s Guitarist/Bassist Has Three Cats That Aren’t Also Aliens (We’re Pretty Sure)

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 11/27/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

rom the Jesus Lizard to Shellac to Local H to Rod Blagojevich, Chicago has produced some of the fiercest bands of the past 30 years. On fire right now is Something Is Waiting, who released a thoroughly raucous live record, Livelick, roughly a year ago via Learning Curve Records, which appears stronger than ever in its 25th year as a label.

As we’ve come to discover over the 13 months since The Bad Penny launched Pet Sounds, the most seemingly intimidating musicians tend to have the biggest hearts, especially toward cats (and dogs too, but it appears that cats have the edge). The latest example we’ve come across is Something Is Waiting guitarist/bassist William T. Fay, who has three cats: Sega (16 years old), Ripley (8) and Newt (7).

All three cats are domestic shorthairs; Sega is a calico, Ripley a quarter-trash-bag/ raccoon and Newt a tortoiseshell. We recently clawed at Fay for more info on his beloved buddies, and here’s how our conversation went.

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Pet Sounds #72: Sorry, Dudes and Dudettes – Your Dog Probably Doesn’t Appreciate You Playing Metal or Punk

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , on 11/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Taking a break from our normal routine of chatting with musicians and our pets, we shifted the focus of Pet Sounds to whether your dog likes the same music you do. If you’re into soft indie-rock or meditative sounds, you’re probably in the clear; if you think your pooch wants to head-bang or mosh along with you to metal or punk, brace yourself for some bad news.

The Bad Penny recently spoke with Natalia Shahmetova, CEO & founder of a new app called “Woofz,” about this subject. Try not to get upset, fans of heavy music, but Shahmetova disclosed that: “Small or anxious dogs settle with acoustic, soft indie and warm tones. In our playlists, we use tempo as the guiding principle: music that fits the dog’s natural energy level tends to work best.”

Read our full interview after the jump.

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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 , , , 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

—

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.

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Pet Sounds #69: Push Puppets Frontman Loves His Puppies

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 10/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

In the first video edition of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Pet Sounds series, in which musicians gush about their love for their pets, Erich Specht – frontman for Chicago indie-rock band Push Puppets – introduces us to his 7-month-old basset hound buddy, Grizz. The big-hearted lead vocalist and guitarist of the quintet also shares fond memories of his late companion Louie, to whom he pays tribute in Push Puppets’ song “Probably,” and also chats about his participation in yesterday’s No Kings 2 action to boot.

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Pet Sounds #68: Temple of Love Open Their Hearts to Fulci the Cat

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , , on 09/28/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Lest you think Austin, Texas, is only comprised of psych-rock bands these days, The Bad Penny brings you Temple of Love, a goth-rock/dark-wave band whose debut, Songs of Love and Despair, drops November 7 on Reptile House. Fans of The Black Angels and Killing Joke, take note.

Husband-and-wife duo Steve Colca and Suzy Bravo incepted Temple of Love way back in 2018, intending it to be a “pet” recording project all their own. But the two musicians – who hail from touted doom bands Destroyer of Light and Witchcryer, respectively – decided to aim for loftier ambitions after their 2019 demo earned them heaps of praise.

Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Colca, vocalist Bravo, drummer Patrick Pascucci and bassist Joseph Maniscalco, there’s also an honorary member of the band: Colca and Bravo’s beloved black cat, Fulci. We’ll have plenty more to say about Temple of Love and their maiden release in the future, but first, let’s give the hat-wearin’, snow-bearin’, self-brushin’ Fulci some affection and attention.

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Pet Sounds #66: Sangre de Muérdago Frontman Lives in Paradise With His Dogs

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Back in mid-July, we introduced you to Sangre de Muérdago, the only Galician Folk band you have heard of. The group uses Galician lyrics and a litany of instruments used in the Galician tradition to reflect on nature, mysticism and other themes.

We also exclusively debuted “O Abismo,” the first single from Sangre de Muérdago’s full-length album O Xardín, which came out 13 days ago. The band is led by Pablo Caamiña Ursusson, who handled almost too many roles to count on O Xardín. In addition to providing vocals, he also played classical guitar, hurdy-gurdy, music box, pandero cuadrado de Peñaparda, bells, pandeireta, shaker, and steel string guitar.

Another fact about Ursusson, and probably the reason you clicked on this article: He has some of the most gorgeous dogs you’ll see (at least today). We chatted up our favorite Galician musician about his pets and how much they mean to him.

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Pet Sounds #62: Wolves Bassist Is Obsessed With His … You Guessed It: Cat

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , on 09/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Earlier this month, post-rock and post-metal heathens Wolves dropped their latest record, which is self-titled but features snarky artwork referring to the effort as This Is a Record Called Self-Titled by a Band Called Wolves. Issued through Ripcord Records (whose mascot features a cat’s face), it finds the five-piece gnawing at the confines of genre with a ferocity that commands a feral-like instinct to pay attention on both carnal and cerebral levels.

Wolves, founded in 2016, consist of Mark Howes (vocals, guitar); Andrew “Beard” Rodger (guitar, vocals); Ryan Tyrrell (guitar, vocals); Andy Price (bass, vocals); and Robbie Tewelde (drums). They’re based throughout the Coventry in the Midlands County of England. If you just overlooked the fact that four of the five dudes contribute vocals, you won’t when you hear their seismic onslaught of a sound, which will reel in fans of Dillinger Escape Plan hook, link and sinker:

Incidentally, it’s not just Ripcord that’s obsessed with cats; so are the musicians who comprise Wolves. And many of their names are equally colorful and hilarious. Among Tewelde’s cats is Pharrell Williams, Howes’ cat is named Chairman Meow, (nicknamed “The Chairman” or “Mr. Bitey”). Price has one too, and in celebration of Wolves’ new, certifiably and quantifiably insane beast of a record, we invited him to participate in the latest edition of our long-running series, Pet Sounds.

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Pet Sounds #57: BC Camplight Talks About His Buddy Canine

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 07/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the debut installment of the ongoing Pet Sounds series on The Bad Penny, after it migrated here from a previous website. In this special edition, alt-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian James Christinzio – a.k.a. BC Camplight – provides us with startling reflects on trauma, along with extremely well-considered insights into life as a pet owner.

For those familiar with BC Camplight – who was born in New Jersey but now resides in Manchester – it actually comes as no surprise that he took so much time and care with his responses to our questions about his relationship with Frank, his 9-year-old “Jug” (a Jack Russell and Pug mix). Similar clarity, delivered with both heart and precision, is the tie that binds the songs on BC Camplight’s new album, A Sober Conversation, which arrived late last month.

Throughout the record, the multi-hyphenate musician fearlessly opens up about recently getting sober while also working through childhood trauma. Clearly, his pet helped him build up the courage, and provided him with support during the trying two-year period leading up to the release of A Sober Conversation. That BC Camplight maintains a somewhat subdued but ultimately sunny mood throughout the record is a testament to how gracefully he must treat his adoring buddy, Jug.

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