Cindy Lawson is done playing Minnesota nice.
Lawson’s new EP, ¡LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! delivers a powerful punk rock payload that documents the anger of a Minnesota community under siege during ICE’s Operation Metro Surge.
“At this point in my life, I have no fucks left to give. I’ve realized I only have one life and one voice, and it’s important to use it to speak the truth.”
Released through Rum Bar Records in October 2026, this four-song EP takes aim at misogyny, billionaire influence, immigration enforcement, and political violence. Its lead track, “The Reckoning”, was previously released in September 2025 through Hygh Tension/Virgin Records.
The songs are tight, grimy garage rock, recorded with the kind of sneaky lo-fi production that tricks you into thinking you’re in a sweaty basement club watching the band live. Lawson’s vocal delivery steers between energetic menace, playful cheekiness, and visceral, bullhorn-shouted rebukes of the government.
Guitarist Jerry Lefkowitz unleashes a fuzzed-up barrage of crunchy chords, dirty bends, and feedback bursts, all locked into the propulsive, groove-heavy foundation laid down by drummer Mark Devaraj and bassists Pony Hixon Smith and Dave Randal. With Lawson on rhythm guitar, the band channels the dirt-under-the-fingernails ferocity of The Stooges and MC5 while maintaining the kind of locked-in precision that makes Queens of the Stone Age a must-see live act. The net effect is a ragged sense of danger heard in bands like Mannequin Pussy, The Bobby Lees, and Die Spitz.
Lyrically, the songs provide the type of intelligent moral clarity you hear with Bad Religion, Rage Against the Machine, or Bruce Springsteen, but the EP is more than an exercise in setting up political targets and knocking them down. It’s an audio documentary about a time in Minnesota history that demanded an active response from the community.
The EP’s lead track, “The Reckoning”, connects private betrayal to public abuses of power while personalizing the all-but-extinct process of holding people accountable. “Burn” takes to task right-wing nostalgia fantasies about a “past that never existed” and invokes Orwell to warn the community about how easy it is to miss the advances of fascism. “Eat the Rich” calls out the powerful wealthy sociopaths who have advanced the MAGA agenda and take joy in watching the innocent suffer, while the closer, “Howard Zinn Died for Your Sins”, describes how language is used to rewrite history and disguise political violence.
Lawson’s activism is part of her life as a musician, with her community work including benefit releases and fundraising performances. Her grief about the broader state of the union under Trump and a desire to help a hurting local community contributed to her returning to protest music after stepping away for several years.
“I think of how hurt this community was after what ICE did, and is still trying to do, and think the music creates a positive shared experience where we can connect”. Cindy Lawson.
¡LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! works because it comes from a real place. Lawson isn’t chasing trends, building a brand, or trying to become an influencer. She’s doing what punk rock has always done at its best: documenting the world as it is, calling out bullshit, and giving people a reason to feel less alone. For all its talk of fascism, billionaires, ICE raids, and community trauma, ¡LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! never forgets to be a rock and roll record. It’s a roaring set of fast, nasty, righteous punk rock bangers that leaves you wanting more.
“You’re the poison to avoid.
I’ve got a wicked case of Schadenfreude”.
— Cindy Lawson, “The Reckoning”
Upcoming Shows
Cindy Lawson with the Spit Takes & Shannon
Saturday, November 7th @ 7:00 PM-Treedome Records, Broadway Ave, Rochester, MN
Listen to and follow Cindy Lawson on: bandcamp | youtube | spotify