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Samaritanmag Q&A With Skye Wallace

"I tend to gravitate towards women in history. There are just so many untold stories, especially in Canadian history..."

Samaritanmag Q&A With Skye Wallace

By Kim Hughes

It’s not widely known, but the story of Angelina Napolitano is a flashpoint in the early development of women’s right in Canada.  And it is the cornerstone of “Swing Batter,” the intense new single by Toronto’s Skye Wallace, who unveiled the track and video, rather fittingly, with a local performance on International Women’s Day. (Scroll down for details).


Napolitano was the first woman in Canada to cite her status as a battered woman as a defence against the murder of her husband, Pietro, who was, by all accounts, a nasty piece of work. Not only did Pietro savagely and regularly beat his wife — who bore him four children and was pregnant with their fifth at the time of the murder — Pietro also insisted Angelina turn tricks for profit.

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It was all too much on Easter Sunday in 1911. As Pietro napped in their Sault Ste. Marie home, Angelina killed him with an axe. The ensuing media hoopla — exacerbated by the death sentence meted out to Angelina and her status if you can call it that, as a female murderer and an Italian immigrant (read: outsider) in prim Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario — drew global interest in the case.

Angelina Napolitano’s battered woman defence proved persuasive, galvanizing petitioners across North America and highlighting the unfairness of the original court ruling. She was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death. But her life after serving 11 years was doubtless ruined. The baby she was carrying at the time of the murder died shortly after its birth and her other children were placed in foster homes. Angelina reportedly died in 1932.

Such drama fires the swooping, kinetic “Swing Batter,” Wallace’s first new material since 2016’s Something Wicked and a tantalizing suggestion of what’s to come from the singer/songwriter described, rather aptly, as “what happens when a classically trained singer with East Coast roots discovers punk rock in [her] youth.”

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Samaritanmag chatted with Wallace about the new single’s harrowing backstory and why Wallace, with those traditional roots and a keen eye for lyrical detail, is ideally suited to giving voice to the cruelly subjugated Angelina Napolitano more than a century after her tragic crime – continue reading on Samaritanmag

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Kneecap including Mo Chara and Moglai Bap perform onstage during Day 1 of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 18, 2025 in Indio, Calif.
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella

Kneecap including Mo Chara and Moglai Bap perform onstage during Day 1 of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 18, 2025 in Indio, Calif.

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Kneecap Respond to Sharon Osbourne Calling For Visa Revocation Over Coachella Anti-Israel Messaging: ‘That Happens At All of Our Gigs’

After blowback for their "F--k Israel" graphics, the Northern Irish group said they've spoke about Palestine at every gig since their formation.

Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap have responded to calls from Sharon Osbourne to have their U.S. work visas revoked following their airing of anti-Israel messages during the trio’s second Coachella weekend appearance. In an email to Rolling Stone, group member Mo Chara (born Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) said that the messaging was in keeping with their career-long views on Palestine.

He said the group have talked about Palestine “at every single gig since the band’s formation, long before [the deadly Hamas attack on Israeli civilians] October 2023 as the oppression and brutal occupation of Palestine has been ongoing for 77 years.”

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