Junkyard Empire - Recent Events

Recent Events

The band continues to operate on a national level, coordinating between distant members and working with activists and organizations across the country including having a track featured on the May 2012 release of “Occupy This Album”, a benefit album for the Occupy Movement featuring 99 tracks for the 99%. Junkyard Empire’s “Rebellion Politik” title track is featured alongside notable artists such as Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, Anti-Flag, Willie Nelson, Jackson Brown, Ani DiFranco among others.

Junkyard Empire was also featured in a chapter of the (2012) book Hip-Hop(e): The Cultural Practice and Critical Pedagogy of International Hip-Hop, edited by Brad Porfilio and Michael Viola. The chapter, “Rebellion Politik: A Tale of Critical Resistance Through Hip-Hop from St. Paul to Havana” was authored by Brian Lozenski and discusses the theoretical development of Rebellion Politik, which has become the band’s operating strategy. Junkyard Empire’s experience as a U.S. hip-hop band touring Cuba with a message of political dissent is also covered in the chapter.

Currently, Brian Lozenski is finishing his Ph.D at the University of Minnesota, while Christopher Cox is completing his MSc in Political Science, focusing on Radical Political Economy and Comparative Politics at Portland State University. Bryan Berry still lives in Brooklyn and is working as a Linux open-source developer for Liquid Galaxy. Graham O’Brien has opened his own music studio, The Bellows in Saint Paul, MN and continues to do world class production work while playing drums with the rootsy rock hip-hop trio No Bird Sing. Bassist Steve Hogan also works as a recording engineer and plays bass in numerous projects.