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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 authoritarianism, Cheap Perfume, Christian Donaldson, fascism, feminism, Jane No, MAGA, On Tyranny, punk rock, Stephanie Byrne 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.

5 Reminders About Punk Rock’s Core Principles

Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny with tags punk rock on 07/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Say what you will about the new identity of punk rock and the renewing of marriage vows between punk rock and corporate enterprise, here are a few reminders about what still lies at the heart of the movement:

1. Subservience, complacency and inaction in the face of authoritarianism, now the governing force in the United States — and its myriad and once-unimaginable horrors — is not punk rock.

2. Engaging in pay-to-play schemes that pads the pockets of music venue owners and managers, magazine editors and publishers, agents and promoters and publicists, and other industry types who profit off musicians, is not punk rock.

3. Propagating, platforming or even permitting racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and all related forms of hate and discrimination is not punk rock.

4. Increasing one’s personal gain at the expense of punk-rock bands and fans, whether it be through inflated ticket prices, ad revenue largesse and opportunistic financial benefits is not punk rock.

5. Taking advantage of or profiting unjustly off sincere, well-intentioned and therefore often vulnerable people who support punk-rock ethics is not punk-rock.

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