Archive for The Big Takeover

Big Takeover #97: Too Much Joy Says ‘Nowadays, It’s as Good as It Ever Was’

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 12/21/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The newest print edition of The Big Takeover – for which its publisher, editor, and perhaps the best person on earth, Jack Rabid, has graciously allowed me to contribute for 23 years – is now available for purchase. If you believe in punk rock and for which it stands, buy it. Among my 10 contributions is an interview with Too Much Joy, who are having the times of their lives after reuniting 10 years ago. (Read their installment in my On Tyranny series here.) Buy the damn mag; it’s 170 pages long, a work of art in its own right and only costs seven bucks.

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Big Takeover #96: Michael Gira and Todd Trainer Interviews, Bernie/AOC Rally Coverage, More

Posted in Album Reviews, Essays, Features, Interviews, Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 06/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The special 45th anniversary edition of The Big Takeover, one of the oldest and last-surviving punk-rock magazines, is now available here. The special issue features more contributions from yours truly than every before–and they’re exclusively featured in the magazine:

• a deep conversation with Michael Gira of Swans
• my second feature with drummer Todd Trainer, stemming from the first interview he gave after the passing of his beloved Shellac bandmate Steve Albini
• a dispatch from a “Fighting Oligarchy” event in Idaho that featured Built to Spill, Bernie Sanders and AOC (and drew national attention)
• my reviews of new releases by Airport 77s, Dez Dare, Librarians With Hickeys, Mdou Moctar, mssv, Onsetter, Pleasure Pill, Plight, Royal Chant and Unstable Shapes

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Lemon Twigs Profile, Reviews of High Vis and Trauma Kit LPs in New ‘Big Takeover’ Issue

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 12/05/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Pick up the latest copy of the last great punk-rock magazine, The Big Takeover, which features my profile of sweet-and-not-sour indie-pop brothers The Lemon Twigs, and my reviews of the latest albums by the red-hot High Vis and Boise’s own Trauma Kit.

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Mikaela Davis Talks ‘Predetermined’ Pairing With Circles Around The Sun

Posted in Interviews with tags , , on 06/11/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Instrumentalists Circles Around the Sun and singer/harpist Mikaela Davis may appear to be unlikely collaborators on the surface. But the former’s affinity for psych-rock and the latter’s proclivity for folk and country mesh to their mutual advantage on the recently released After Sunrise.

Read my joint interview with both parties in the latest edition of The Big Takeover, the last great indie-rock publication. Issue #94 just went on sale at bookstores and record shops (the cool ones, that is). But if you’re not in the mood to leave the house, snag a copy here and it’ll magically arrive in your mailbox.

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Meatbodies Frontman: ‘Kim Gordon Is The Shit’

Posted in Interviews with tags , , , on 06/10/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Behold, the latest and greatest issue of The Big Takeover, the last great indie-rock publication created by inimitably cool dude Jack Rabid. In it you’ll find one of three feature pieces scribbled by yours truly, including a profile on long-running garage-rock gurus Meatbodies.

The magazine features our wide-ranging conversation with frontman and Ty Segall collaborator Chad Ubovich, who transparently opens up about achieving sobriety, the new Meatbodies album Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom (In the Red) and bouncing back after losing his ability to walk.

Issue #94 of The Big Takeover just went on sale at bookstores and record shops (the cool ones, that is). But if you’re not in the mood to leave the house, snag a copy here and it’ll magically arrive in your mailbox!

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