Looking at their photos, you could easily take Insane Voodoo Doll for a bunch of young hardcore kids having a laugh in the woods. Three people in colourful masks and graphic shirts, posing with a black-and-white striped guitar. They play straightforward, slogan-heavy hardcore punk out of Florence, although the friendships behind the collective go all the way back to the city’s underground scene in the early 1980s.
Some of them first started playing together as teenagers, sharing rehearsal spaces and getting involved in the local punk scene. They reunited under the Insane Voodoo Doll name in 2025, frustrated by the social and political changes they had watched over the years. Their first songs arrived in 2026, including “Fright”, a short, direct track about fear and social control.
More recently, they decided to remove their entire catalogue from Spotify over Daniel Ek’s investments in military technology company Helsing through Prima Materia.
It was a decision with a cost. According to their distributor’s figures, Spotify accounted for 3,078 of their 3,380 streams across mainstream digital platforms, just over 91 per cent. Their music had only entered digital distribution in May, and they were already reaching peaks of more than 150 streams a day, helped, according to the band, by independent radio stations and underground listeners in Europe and the US. The collective contacted DistroKid to request the removal, and the process has since been completed.
“We became aware of Daniel Ek’s financial investments in military technology and battlefield AI through the company Helsing only recently,” the collective told IDIOTEQ. “The information was brought to our attention within our immediate circle, and it immediately triggered a serious discussion among us.”
The members reached the decision together. They contacted their distributor in September, initially receiving confirmation that the request was being processed. By early October, DistroKid had completed the takedown. The band provided four screenshots documenting the removal, including the distributor’s final confirmation and entries marked “Album rimosso”, Italian for “Album removed”.
Their objection comes from a long-standing opposition to militarism, influenced partly by the Italian traditions of conscientious objection and anti-fascism that some members grew up around. Those convictions had been part of their political thinking long before they formed the present band.
The financial relationship behind the boycott needs explaining. Ek, Spotify’s founder and current executive chairman, is also a co-founder of Prima Materia, an investment company established with Shakil Khan. In June 2025, Prima Materia led a €600 million funding round for Helsing, the German company developing military artificial intelligence systems and drones. Ek moved from Spotify’s CEO role to executive chairman on 1 January 2026.
Prima Materia operates independently of Spotify. A stream on Spotify does not directly finance Helsing’s military equipment, and the investment was made through Ek’s separate investment company.
I.V.D. acknowledge this in their own explanation.
“We are fully aware that Spotify and Prima Materia are distinct entities and that one single stream cannot be claimed to directly finance military hardware. However, for our project, the personal, economic, and symbolic connection with Ek is significant enough to make us choose not to participate in that financial chain.”
Their concern is about the wealth and influence Ek has accumulated through Spotify, a business built around music and its audience, and his decision to invest some of that capital in military technology. The members consider that relationship sufficient grounds for withdrawing their work from the platform.
They are also careful about applying that position to other musicians.
“We do not intend to turn our choice into a moral judgment on other artists, whose personal and economic conditions might be completely different from ours.”
Other independent artists had already taken similar steps. Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Massive Attack are among the acts that have publicly challenged Ek’s military investments and withdrawn music from Spotify. Insane Voodoo Doll had begun considering their own position before becoming aware of some of those decisions.
The collective believe that smaller artists can contribute to the discussion even when their individual streaming numbers are tiny compared with those of established names. They hope more listeners will consider using independent distribution and direct artist-support channels.
In their own case, those alternatives are already fairly simple. Bandcamp is the main place to find their music, and they intend to keep digital downloads free for as long as the platform permits it. They still maintain limited availability on other digital services, partly to make the tracks accessible to independent radio programmers and listeners in different countries.
Spotify is the specific platform they have chosen to boycott. If they discover comparable direct connections to military technology investment at other streaming companies, they intend to reconsider their presence there too.
Their approach to physical releases follows the kind of small-scale DIY model the members have known for years. The collective have arranged a crowdfunding campaign through Diggers Factory for “We Are All Insane”, a limited red-vinyl edition with a gatefold sleeve. The proposed run is 200 copies, operating on an all-or-nothing basis. Enough people need to order the record for manufacturing to go ahead.
The band say they do not intend to make a profit from the campaign. Their aim is to cover the costs of producing a physical record and keeping the project going. If the target isn’t met, they’ll consider another crowdfunding arrangement or a different way of releasing it themselves.
The current group may be relatively new, but the people involved have a much longer history together.
Some were studying together in Florence during the early 1980s, when they were around 14 or 15. They were discovering punk records, picking up instruments and beginning to find their way into the local underground. Rehearsal spaces were scarce, so they spent a great deal of time in a multi-room basement on Via dell’Oriolo.
Different groups used the rooms, and musicians regularly crossed between bands, line-ups and collaborations. It was somewhere they could practise and spend time with other people making music, including musicians of different genders who were active in the scene.
Over the following years, members of what would eventually become Insane Voodoo Doll played in two separate bands, with connections to the broader Tuscan hardcore scene and the independent, self-managed spaces active through the late 1980s and 1990s. They have chosen to keep the names of those earlier bands private.
In 2025, the old friends started making music together again. Their conversations had been turning towards the changes they had seen in Italy, particularly the increasing pressure on ordinary families, healthcare and public education.
They were troubled by older people struggling to cover their living costs after years of work, and by what they saw as a growing indifference towards the difficulties faced by working-class communities. They also talked about smartphones and screen dependence, social isolation and people becoming disconnected from one another.
“Seeing elderly people who made immense sacrifices to bring us where we are today unable to make it to the end of the month, treated with indifference or pushed aside, is the literal definition of human bankruptcy.”
Those conversations eventually led them back to music. They wanted somewhere to express their anger about what was happening around them, while drawing on the punk and hardcore ideas they had grown up with.
The masks arrived as part of the new group’s identity. In their photographs, the members wear brightly coloured, cartoon-like face coverings, sometimes with matching shirts and graphics. The voodoo doll imagery represents their view of people being manipulated or subjected to pressure by outside forces.
There is a good reason for the anonymity too. They want to keep individual identities, professions, ages and earlier musical histories out of the band’s public presentation.
“By removing our faces, names, and ages from the equation, we prevent personal images, current professions, or generational brackets from becoming more important than the music itself.”
The music itself is fairly direct hardcore punk, with short, repeated vocal lines and lyrics built around political slogans. The band’s first releases appeared in June 2026, including “Fight for Justice” on 9 June, the Italian-language “La ragione del male” the following day, and “Fright” on 11 June.
“Fight for Justice” attacks political hypocrisy, warfare and the abuse of power.
Its lyrics repeatedly demand freedom and challenge people who use authority for their own benefit. “La ragione del male”, or “The Reason for Evil”, deals with hatred and the divisions the collective see growing around them. The Italian lyrics return to the desire to understand why people continue repeating the same destructive behaviour.
“Fright” is a two-minute-and-nineteen-second hardcore punk track built around a handful of repeated phrases. “Pay attention” and “They control your life” lead into the central refrain, followed by calls to “Smash the system” and “Join the fight”. The band recorded, mixed and mastered the track themselves, without an external studio.
The song deals with fear as a method of social control. I.V.D. associate it with the spread of anxiety, pressure to remain silent and the willingness to hand authority over to people who claim to know what is best for everybody else.
There is also the repeated line “Take your life enjoy the ride”, which the band connect with personal independence, empathy and enjoying life without constantly giving in to fear.
When they decided to remove their music from Spotify, the song acquired another meaning for them.
Independent musicians often worry about losing visibility if they leave the biggest streaming services. I.V.D. had been gaining listeners through Spotify, yet their song was also receiving attention from an entirely separate radio audience.
In September, they announced that “Fright” had reached No. 5 on the Itisnow Radio Station Top 40. The ranking subsequently moved to No. 2, and on 4 October the band forwarded a new dated screenshot showing the track at No. 1.
Itisnow is an independent radio station whose Top 40 is based on listener voting, according to the collective. The ranking should be understood in that context. It is separate from the UK’s official national singles chart and does not establish worldwide commercial success.
Still, reaching the top of that station’s list while leaving Spotify gave the band some encouragement about what independent outlets could offer.
They had also received attention from underground media including Texas-based Thomas’s Extreme Metal Review and the British Keltstache Music Promotion network, which had supported their music and publicised their position.
The members connect the timing of the chart result with the lyrics of “Fright”. They had written a song about resisting fear and surrendering personal decisions to outside authorities, then found themselves confronting their own concerns about what leaving a dominant music platform might cost.
For them, the result showed that a small audience could continue to find their music through independent channels.
Their opposition to military technology investment also raises a question that goes beyond Spotify. Military equipment can be used to defend communities against external aggression. How does their anti-militarist position account for that?
The collective accept that protection against aggression is a real concern.
“The argument for deterrence and defensive military technology addresses a real and complex geopolitical reality, and we do not dismiss the necessity for communities to protect themselves against external aggression.”
Their criticism focuses on the expansion of the arms industry and the financial interests involved in developing military technology. They worry about the amount of private capital being directed towards rearmament and the possibility that commercial incentives may contribute to further conflict.
They would prefer to see greater investment in civilian needs, particularly public healthcare, education, diplomacy and the conditions that help people live securely.
“As an independent artistic collective, our role is not to dictate state defense strategy, but to question the financial logic behind rearmament.”
Their own family histories have played a part in developing those views. The members refer to earlier generations who experienced fascism, war and political conflict, and to the difficult choices people faced between personal conscience, political allegiance and the use of weapons.
They remain concerned about younger generations growing up amid many of the same arguments.
The collective have now turned their attention to another release.
IDIOTEQ can exclusively announce that Insane Voodoo Doll will release a new five-track EP, “Anthropo–cenere“, on 1 November 2026.
The title brings together the Anthropocene, a term associated with humanity’s impact on the planet, and the Italian word cenere, meaning ash.
The EP deals with environmental degradation, exploitation of natural resources, political borders and the growing influence of military and corporate interests. The band are also writing about solidarity and the friendships that develop through underground music.
Straight Edge appears among those subjects, with the collective approaching it as a form of personal discipline and mental clarity. They associate that outlook with resisting alienation and maintaining control over their own choices.
Alongside the environmental and political criticism, they want to leave room for hope, survival and the possibility of rebuilding after destructive events.
The artwork shows a green-and-black wooded setting with a skeletal, tree-like figure and glowing green eyes beneath the group’s circular symbol. The image differs considerably from the brightly coloured masked figures used for their earlier releases.
The five-song tracklist will remain private until the official release.
The decision to release “Anthropo–cenere” on 1 November is closely connected to the members’ family histories.
In Italy, 1 November is All Saints’ Day, followed by All Souls’ Day on 2 November. The period is associated with remembering deceased relatives, visiting graves and spending time thinking about earlier generations.
For the members of Insane Voodoo Doll, whose political views are partly connected to the experiences of their parents and grandparents, the date carries a personal meaning.
“In Italy, November 1st opens the days deeply dedicated to honoring the memory of our grandparents, our families, and the loved ones who came before us.”
They want younger people to understand those histories, particularly the consequences of war and the damage caused by political decisions that continue to affect families long afterwards.
“For this collective, releasing ‘Anthropo-cenere’ on this specific date is a passionate choice: history and family memory must serve as a shield to prevent us from repeating the same devastating mistakes today.”
The new EP brings together several subjects the members have been discussing since they reconnected in Florence. Their concerns about elderly people struggling financially, public services under pressure and the future awaiting younger generations sit alongside their objections to militarisation and environmental damage.
They are continuing to release music through the small network of independent outlets they have chosen to use.
As for Spotify, the band have no immediate plans to reconsider their decision. The catalogue removal is complete, and they regard that as the first practical result of their protest. Over the next six months, they hope to demonstrate that they can continue operating independently, with listeners accessing their music through Bandcamp, YouTube and other available channels.
“Under current conditions, we see no reason to return to Spotify.”
The collective acknowledge that a return would require a fundamental change in the relationship between Spotify’s leadership and investments in military technology, something they consider unlikely under present conditions.
Their attention now is on finishing preparations for “Anthropo-cenere”. The five-track EP is scheduled for release on 1 November 2026.
Their existing songs remain available through Bandcamp and their official website, while details of the limited 200-copy red-vinyl edition of “We Are All Insane” can be found on Diggers Factory.
