Morgan Y. Evans – photo credit Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gomez DaPena
Morgan Y. Evans is a nonbinary musician, activist, and writer from Woodstock, NY who has been in the scene since 1993. They live in SoCal now and record as Walking Bombs, an ongoing musical project based on solo songs and/or collaborations which has included team-ups with folx as varied as Garry Brents of Gonemage, industrial pop duo VOWWS, Lis from Filth Is Eternal, Gridfailure, and Jørgen Munkeby of Shining/Emperor (to name a few).
In 2025 Walking Bombs has been self-releasing lo-fi EPs and mixtapes that act as a current events style approach and way to deal with the hellishness of the world in a productive manner. While a new studio double album Blessings Bestrewn is on the way in a few months, the EPs are more immediate and chaotic. Song topics have included being pansexual in America, the demonization of homeless folx around Anaheim to sanitize Disney parks, trans activism, Genocide awareness, and more. This is between living as a serious type 1 diabetic, doing cat rescue with folk musician comrade/partner Globelamp (ex-Foxygen member Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gomez DaPena), working full time, and going to protests.
Ghost Cult checked in with Evans, who in addition to often contributing to our site also recently reactivated what was at one point for many years one of the few all-trans and enby-run blogs online – Metal Riot (now www.Metalriotnews.blogspot.com), to ask them what some of their all-time favorite protest songs are and to tell us about a few of their own recent Walking Bombs protest songs.
Morgan Y. Evans: “Hi and thanks. Lately for mental comfort I have been turning to bands I have loved for years like War On Women (who I recently saw crush it at the Glass House in Pomona, CA opening for Helmet) and I’ve taken a lot of inspiration lately from trans cyber grind band Thotcrime, who are so never say die! Below is a list of songs old and new by various acts, but mostly ones that have influenced me over the years which still nourish me. And a few I just wrote. These are in no particular order, fyi.”
1. Lamb Of God – “Blood Junkie”.
This will always be my favorite Lamb Of God song. From the post 9/11 era, Randy skewers the Bush corruption with the lyrics “Retribution or vengeance – it matters not which, As long as the pig stays on top of the ladder of bone his father has built.” Ladder of bone! What a killer summary of the truth being bent, in this case the WMD myth as an invitation to invade, kill, and resource grab, to serve the empire’s goals. I wish Lamb hadn’t toured with Pantera, cuz I don’t think Phil has donated to enough anti-racism orgs with all the “reunion” profits enough to balance the scales. I always loved Vinnie and the Hell Yeah dudes, though. But anyway, I saw Randy with Darryl from Bad Brains in CVS once in Woodstock and said hi to Daryl but didn’t want to come off like a crazy punisher to Randy. Love to talk to him someday, though.
2. Green Day – “American Idiot”
This is fairly entry-level and yet so essential. I am so pleased with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing a Palestinian flag recently, for being vocal about the Oakland A’s having to relocate and for just kicking so much ass helping to keep people invested in speaking out against Trump. He also personally donated funds to save Punkk and Metal club Eli’s from closure. American Idiot is as essential as Tommy from The Who, IMO. Honestly, more so now. I am covering a Green Day song from a different era, soon.
The first time I heard the song “American Idiot” actually was when Lyn-z…artist/musician Lindsey Way played it for me in her old apartment in NYC where she lived with one of my old friends. She was like “I love this bassline and lyrics. Check it out!” And we bounced around the room rocking out. She was always super cool to me and while Mindless Self Indulgence obviously the lyrics haven’t aged well at all, she personally always seemed well-intentioned to me in the brief time I knew her and was a complete powerhouse live. I can’t speak on any of the other awful Jimmy shit, but I am grateful for that fun day with her which made me trust that a mainstream band as big as Green Day might actually show up for the common people and not just worry about if your average KRock fan bro gets offended.
3. Triz Nathaniel – “Liberals Like These”
I grew up in Woodstock, NY and so I have a lot of opinions some people disagree with. I think Joan Baez smokes Dylan when she covers his songs and that you can’t have a proper reckoning of his work without accountability for the horrible Infidels era. Same goes for, so sadly, one of my greatest heroes Chuck D teaming up with butcher Blinken of the genocidal Biden administration recently for a music program that aimed to defang radical music in service of the State Department under the guise of an American award. Or Flava Flav posting on Bluesky in support of Hillary Clinton, like…wtf, bro! Anyway, I am a leftist and my first ever concert was Rage Against The Machine…so I was thrilled to discover the brilliant album Date Night In Gaza City recently. Along with Macklemore, it renewed my faith in political hip-hop entirely. “Liberals Like These” is my favorite track from the album, a slow-burning soulful plea to not turn your eyes away from inflicted pain.
https://triznathaniel.bandcamp.com/track/liberals-like-these
4. Bad Brains – “The Youth Are Getting Restless”
Growing up in Woodstock, again Bad Brains members who lived around town were like mentors and appreciated community members. They were an essential part of the fabric of the nineties scene I grew up in and we were so lucky. “The Youth Are Getting Restless” to me is such a great song title and live album title. It reminds how each generation must find their way to protest and tap into a righteous PMA. I love Doc and Darryl so much. I have to also add that I have seen a lot of people talk in anti-fascist spaces about the one homophobic song on Quickness they wrote when HR was bugging out on that trip decades ago and I really think people need to zoom out and be forgiving. Dudes are not like that and are chill as fuck and much older. They were always very accepting of me as a longtime out bi (now pansexual) person around them and Doc/Gary even signed and co-produced my old band Divest and was part of my extended family before. They are legends and everyone has cultural bias or moments to overcome that maybe they aren’t proud of. Doc told me “each one teach one” and I truly cherish that. We are all part of a complex fabric of growth as a human race and I treasure all they taught me and hope they see I always tried to fight for what I think is right, if people agree,or not. We need to pick one another up in this world and build a PMA rainbow coalition of class war to lightning-bolt the corrupt White Houses that keep us down, y’all!
5. Hether Fortune – “This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb”
Hether Fortune (ex-Wax Idols) to me is like one of the truest “punk” artists of the last decade. She does not fucking take bullshit and made (hopefully makes again) all killer music every release. One of the best frontpeople in all of rock. I love her voice and really admire her as a person and talent. She is one of the small group of folks who in a roundabout way helped me get fully sober finally by being real with me. I remember talking to her about how psyched I was to interview Kim Gordon once. Sonic Youth is my favorite band ever and “Youth Against Fascism” changed my life. It has been really cool to see Kim Gordon speak up for Palestine, especially since Kim has had Zionist actress friends. Hether speaks truth to power and educated a lot of people about Gaza recently. I admire that in facetious indie circles full of bought-off cunts fighting over scraps. She was, IMO, horribly mistreated by the new iteration of Creem Magazine when she argued with them about censoring her for being against the genocide in Gaza on their Insta. She wrote for them and then got shit on and I am super not down with that cuz she fucking rules. Like, I will fight y’all. Her Massive Attack meets Beat Poet jazzy version of Thursday’s “This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb” with Cremation Lily is chilling and experimental. I like it better than the original, no shade. What an eerie prediction to the last year and a half of mass bipartisan-sponsored indiscriminate murder.
https://hetherfortune.bandcamp.com/track/this-song-brought-to-you-by-a-falling-bomb
6. ICU – “Subhuman Underground”
Perry Masco is a New York City activist and one of my longest punk friends. ICU was her old Radical Records punk band and O No No Ozone is such a killer melodic punk album from ICU. The street energy and electric force of “Subhuman Underground” and Perry’s unique banshee cry over the catchy yet pushy riffs stuck with me for years. I think it might’ve been on two of the records in different forms? I have so many great memories with her. The first vegan I ever really knew. Helped set up a free store and record store in Brooklyn Pass Out Records. Worked crazy construction jobs together and then would go out dancing until like 2 am then work the next day. The first person to introduce me to recycled blue jeans as insulation! I got to meet the late, great Dean Johnson of Velvet Mafia via Perry. She taught me so much more of New York City and what it means to be really true to your message as a punk.
7. Globelamp – “Refugees (Human Beings)”
Lizzie Globelamp is my best friend and ride or die. Her psych-folk and activism mean a lot to me. She has faced a lot of smears and bullshit galore. I have seen her survive sepsis, bullies, and wealthy-backed Darvo and deal with chronic PMDD and PTSD, but still stay strong and grow. I am so proud of her. Recently we went together to Aliso Viejo to speak about stopping the city from banning LGBTQ flags. Chris Kluwe even showed up to help the queer community. Lizzie gave an amazing speech that mentioned how she helped start Gay/Straight Alliance in her high school years ago and we aren’t going backwards just because of Maga bigots. She also spoke about her heritage and how Puerto Rico had their flag banned once and Puerto Ricans served in the military but couldn’t vote. The LBTQAI community defeated the bad guys and we won! We stopped the ban.
We will often talk about songs we love together. She loves Bright Eyes, even though it has been hard because they signed to a label affiliate associated with her own former bandmate and abuser’s record label umbrella that shielded him. But she can zoom out more now and still loves Conor Oberst and his work, which hugely influenced her. We tried to tell Conor, but he probably doesn’t know how bad she was treated, idk. Lizzie got me to believe “When The President Talks To God” is a bop, ha. And I will like play her Tribe 8 songs or we talk about Le Tigre.
Anyway, my point is punk activism takes many forms. Her song “Refugees (Human Beings)” is gentle but powerful. It was inspired by spending time with a Kurdish refugee family who fled from Syria after their house was bombed. It is one of my favorite human rights songs from her.
https://globelamp.bandcamp.com/track/refugees-human-beings
8. Walking Bombs – “Fuck The Powers That Be” (ft. Lis Di Angelo)
Filth Is Eternal is one of my favorite bands and Lis, the vocalist, is a dear friend. They are so brilliant and so I was honored Lis agreed to collab. This song really stemmed from me being inspired by Luigi after the ptsd of how much my dad’s cancer cost my family. I also wanted to do a rap-style vocal song paired with a hardcore scream from Lis. It is one of my favorite tracks I ever made. I made it on my phone and Lis yelled the chorus into the phone like when HR was in jail and did “Sacred Love”, ha! I was inspired to rap again by the passing of my friend Bobby Delicious. He used to be in this duo Newborn with Josh Eppard from Coheed and Cambria and also made rap songs with me back in the day. We would smoke mad blunts and watch Sanford and Son and make beats in Rosendale, NY and then go walk to Stewart’s for munchies. Anyway, “Fuck The Powers That Be” is a universal sentiment.
https://walkingbombs.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-the-powers-that-be-feat-lis-di-angelo
9. Walking Bombs – “Bright Sun”
Garry Brents of Gonemage/Sallow Moth, etc. is a musical maniac and we made a cool three-song EP recently called All Rise. Garry did all the music for me and I loved our collabs! A great person and Mavs fan.
I just self-release stuff when I don’t have labels smart enough to back me, lol. Anyway, while not an overt “protest” song I think our song “Bright Sun” counts. It was written about stan bullying as a tribute to Chester Bennington. Chester was so dismayed by the cruel response to Linkin Park’s One More Light era that it added to his depression that killed him. Bands try different shit sometimes. Cope! I do it constantly.
It also takes heavy influence from Godflesh’s Us and Them era. You might not see the connection, but it was also unjustly hated as an album when it came out for being different. Fuck, One More Light was better than the Scientology XeNu metal they are doing now!
https://walkingbombs.bandcamp.com/track/bright-sun
10. Walking Bombs – “American Pansexual”
I wrote this song after I was inspired by Chappell Roan. As a pansexual, it is easy to be misconstrued as “greedy” or to feel demonized and like you don’t fit. Double as a demi flux enby. This is my experimental lo-fi pop song saying that YOU matter and it is ok to be myself. People that try to ban what they don’t understand are sad little fascists or jealous.
https://walkingbombs.bandcamp.com/track/american-pansexual