After 5 years, co-ed feminist, post-hardcore punk-rock band War On Women is officially ready to rock. Their long awaited new single “Precious Problem,” dropped on November 12th and gave fans a snippet of what’s to come in their much anticipated new album, which is due to release in early 2026. In their much needed time off, the band got to come together on their own terms and conditions and produce, write and jam without any strings attached. From War On Women, here is mxdwn’s exclusive interview with the one and only, multifaceted, lead vocalist and band co-founder, Shawna Potter.

mxdwn: Hi, my name is Mikabella and I am a writer for mxdwn’s music features section. Today, I am here with Shawna Potter from War on Women. Hi, Shawna. How are you?

Shawna Potter: Hi, Mikabella. Thanks so much for having me.

mxdwn: It is my pleasure. Thank you so much for making the time.

SP: Happy to.

mxdwn: And so we are here to talk about the band’s new single “Precious Problem,” which came out a little less than two weeks ago on November 12th. But before we get into that, I wanna ask a little bit about you, because I saw that outside of War On Women, you are an author, you have your own podcast, But Her Lyrics, you run your own business, Big Crunch Amp Repair, and you’re also an intimacy coordinator and ordained to perform marriage ceremonies.

SP: Yeah.

mxdwn: Can you tell me a little bit about how you juggle it all and what life entails for each member of War on Women off stage? Because they’ve got these incredible careers as well, and how does that shape your guys’ approach to music?

SP: Well, I think it’s a result of music not paying our bills exactly. Really is what it comes down to. Yeah. Happy for that to change, uh, you know, with this new album, that’s fine. But also I have realistic expectations. Um, and we all do, we all just love to play music, and we’ve all been doing it a long time. Um, and we love this band and we love this new song and this new album. Uh, but we have to pay the bills and have something to do in between chores. So, um, most of my time these days is spent as an intimacy coordinator. That is the thing that I have been training for and concentrating on, and kind of, it’s a career shift for me. Um, so everything else I don’t do as much, but I’m still involved in managing the amp shop and still repair stuff sometimes. I’m there almost every Saturday. Um, I haven’t done a wedding in a long time, but I’d love to, if anyone’s listening, I actually really love performing, um, marriage ceremonies. Uh, I love, love. I think it’s really beautiful to take part. And there’s always like, you know, cake and champagne stuff too. Yeah. But the other members of the band, I mean, so the amp shop I run with our other guitar player, Brooks, Harlan. Um, he is the lead tech. He’s the main dude. Uh, he not only fixes stuff, but he designs and builds custom design amps. Um, and so that’s why if you see us playing Big Crunch Amps live, that’s why we sound so good and why everything’s always working. Um, Jenarchy, our other guitar player does a lot, a lot of different things, and so I actually feel ill-equipped to name them all, but Girls Rock Camp is one of those cool things. Um, Sue does something with computer science that is somehow related to Johns Hopkins. Um, she tells me about her job, and I don’t always totally understand it. Um, but I know she works with big data sets, whatever that means. Uh, I know it’s important and it’s like space related maybe. Yes. In the end.

mxdwn: I saw a NASA tie possibly, and I was like, this band’s the coolest!

SP: Um, and Dylan, our current drummer, um, does a lot of like writing, I think, uh, for hire. So, um, not as interesting in my opinion, and I hope he does hear that. No, I’m just kidding. Um, but, uh, no, the, the, it’s a joke, but, but it’s something he can do while on tour. Yeah. And I think for the rest of us, our jobs are almost impossible to do while we’re on tour, and which makes it interesting and, uh, and difficult, but also makes me work really hard in between tours. Yeah. And then when I’m on tour, it’s okay, well, time to have fun and do a good job and just worry about the music.

mxdwn: I mean, I just, you would think, you know, it’s so hard to, you know, obviously music doesn’t, isn’t gonna pay the bills every single time. But to have so much going on and still see the level of dedication, I was watching some of your guys’ live performances. You guys are so locked in and it’s like crazy to think that you’ve got all this other stuff going on. But I mean, it pays off. You guys sound incredible. The energy’s amazing. So thank you. It’s honestly so fascinating. Thank you for sharing that with me.

SP: Yeah, thank you.

mxdwn: Um, so speaking of tour and all that, it’s been five years since your band has released music, the last album being, uh, Wonderful Hell in 2020. Uh, what was it like coming back together again to create “Precious Problem?”And how does this song kind of set the tone for the band’s future?

SP: Yeah. Um, I think we, it was interesting to like, so, so Wonderful Hell was the last record that we were kind of like obligated to make for our last label, right? Like, we, we completed the contract. And we have nothing but love for Bridge Nine Records, just for just to be clear. Um, but we fulfilled the contract. So we were like, what if we tried something else? What if we went somewhere else? Um, but we had no pressure to, to write and no timetable. And clearly we took advantage of that.

mxdwn: I mean it paid off, it’s awesome.

SP: But it was, you know, so we could all just get in a room and, and work out together. Um, and it was a really cool, it, you know, just felt very songwriter, uh, versus piecemeal, which it can sometimes be like that, where everyone has a riff and we’re working from all these separate parts. Um, something about this felt a little more like a group effort, um, which was nice. So, uh, but yeah, I can’t believe it took this long. That’s not what you asked, but I can’t believe it took this long and I’m really ready. For people to hear the entire album, I think “Precious Problem.” I think that the first single, it still sounds like us. Um, hopefully it shows like this hint of growth, but I, I think there’s actually more growth and more surprises on the rest of the album that, that people might not be, uh, fully anticipating.

mxdwn: Yeah. I mean, I was, uh, I was like the intro in itself ’cause I was listening to like a ton of your guys’ other stuff, and it’s such a like, awesome contrast because I was waiting for like this sucker punching intro. You guys just go in off the rip and it was kind of like these lo-fi tones and then you like went into it. So I love what’s to come, you know, the fact you guys took your time, you can definitely tell you, you know, as you said, you had a little bit more freedom and you can make the time and choose, uh, what to write and everything. But, uh, I’m excited. I really love seeing your guys’ growth and I mean, the last five years, the world has-

SP: Oof.

mxdwn: Yeah and that’s what I also wanted to talk to you about too.

SP: Let’s oof it out. Mikayla, sorry, Mikabella

mxdwn: No, you’re fine. Uh, but before that I wanted to, uh, quickly, uh, mention that I saw this new New York Times, uh, Round Table where you kind of spoke about, uh, seeing Courtney Love – Hole, uh, Hole’s performance on MTV, “Doll Parts” and how she like seeing her, uh, change your kind of perception, perception of what a woman in music can kind of be like. So yeah. What about that performance influenced you specifically? Because, I mean, Courtney Love is, she’s everything.

SP: I Yeah. She’s a force. Yes, clearly. But I, I think maybe it’s because I just hadn’t seen anything like that on TV at the time. Like, I even kind of remember seeing, you know, I remember some of the music videos that I would watch just in case anyone’s listening under a certain age. Like MTV used to exist and it played music videos all the time. And that’s how you discovered new music. It’s how you saw what the bands look like. Um, and it was, uh, a big deal. A big deal. Yeah. Um, but anyway, so I, I remember old videos and other bands and I remember even like Joan Jett’s, “I Love Rock And Roll,” would come on and yeah. I just wouldn’t kind of, it’s like, oh, okay, this is just a song. Cool. Got it. But there’s something about when, “Doll Parts,” when I saw, “Doll Parts,” for the first time, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re telling me women can play rock and roll? Like, I don’t know. And it’s not just ’cause Joan Jett is a little butch. Like I knew she was a woman, but something about it, like, maybe, maybe just ’cause the whole stuff was just like more raw and like obviously has a different vibe than I love rock and roll. And I, some the, the, the rawness, I think, you know, the messiness really drew me in the, the, maybe it’s the idea that, you know, didn’t have to be perfect. Um, and it was like a up feminine, uh, thing happening. And, and, uh, and, and then also by the end, you can tell like she is wailing. Right? Like, and it’s not just anger. It might be anguish too, but it is, it is deep and it is, it is, um, powerful and yeah, I guess that, that that’s me, you know, trying to analyze it all these years later. At the time I was just a kid and I was just like, oh, I gotta get a guitar. I gotta, I got, I gotta do that. I wanna do that.

mxdwn: And I know what you’re talking about. I watched that one clip out of the session, and I like to, I mean, in that time to see her kind of, like you said, be imperfect and kind of just like the way she would go, like dooo, and like wanted to be kind of, you know, bratty and over it. Yes. You know, there wasn’t this, uh, idea she had that it had to be this way. It’s like, this is my song, it’s our time. I’m gonna sing it my way. And so seeing it at that time, especially being a young woman, I mean, it, it makes sense.

SP: It, it put me on a trajectory that is for sure. Yeah.

mxdwn: Awesome. Okay. So going on to the world and, uh, your past repertoire. Um, I wanna start, um, on your 2015 album, self-titled War On Women. Okay. Which nails abortion rights right on the head with great tracks like,  “Roe V. World,” and “Pro-Life?” Uh, your album cover is also a clear reference to women being seen as baby machines or factories. How did creating that album feel for you at the time? And how does it feel now with the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade?

SP: Mm. I mean, I think even then, you know, when did that album come out? Like 2013 or something? Even then, I was like, wow, people have been fighting for this stuff for so long. That I can’t believe that my band in this year, uh, is still, you know, that we’re still worried about that. We’re still fighting to uphold at the time the right that we still had. And the erosion of that. Right. Uh, depending on what state you lived in or who was president. And, and to think that it wasn’t just a done deal and that we had to keep, keep fighting. Um, and also that sometimes people would call us crazy for, for, for, you know, sounding the alarm of like, no, no, no, this is not set in stone. Like this could be taken away. And clearly, unfortunately, we were right. But, um, even then I was like, why am I, why do I have to talk about this? Haven’t we dealt with this yet? And so to think all these years later, you know, almost, you know, like a decade later, the fact that Roe v Wade is gone, what?

mxdwn: It’s, I mean –

SP: When, when does it end? When, when, when, when can citizens just have autonomy? You know, and when can people’s religion make their way out of, uh, governance or whatever? The smartest way to put that is, I don’t know.

mxdwn: No, I know what you mean. Like, it was this, right. We had that was constantly, somehow always up for debate and what about this special circumstance? It, and when people, like, I definitely get that feeling like people thinking you’re crazy because you’re, you know, bringing awareness to it. Like, “Hey, this is still ours and it matters. And we’re gonna fight like hell to keep it, obviously.” And, you know, fast forward, uh, 10 or so years now, it’s gone. And this is just such a terrifying reality for so many women. So what would you say War On Women 2025 has to say about this new battle added to the ongoing war against women?

SP: I won’t speak for the band. I, I, I, I, we don’t have another abortion song on the new album, uh, that I know of, but people can always interpret stuff. You never know. Yeah. How people will hear it or respond to it. Um, because I feel like I’ve written three songs now that relate to reproductive rights. Yeah. And I’m like, I, I don’t have another angle to talk about, like to sing about, to sing about. Um, so please just listen to all those other songs and also the song childbirth on, um, Capture The Flag. So you got three songs from us to listen to if you need to, but I think what I’m thinking right now is, uh, you, we’re gonna do it anyway. Right? Uh, so that’s very of the organization that’s called Shout Your Abortion. Uh, you know, you can have, uh, pills mailed to you so that you can do your own abortion at home. Um, there are still places you can go. Uh, there’s still resources out there, people that wanna help. Um, there are mutual aid funds for this sort of thing to pay for expenses. So it’s very, you we’re gonna do it anyway. Um, and, and, uh, I, I love the organization, Shout Your Abortion. They’ve been very kind to our band. They’ve given us like cool swag to wear and stuff. And one of my favorite things they’ve given us is a shirt, um, that just says, “laws aren’t real.” And for me what that means is, um, you know, it’s people, imperfect people are the ones that decide what laws are and they’re, they’re actually not set in stone or come from some higher place. Um, it’s people that make up laws. And so if people can be fucked up or have fucked up ideas or, um, you know, want to hurt, people want to discriminate, uh, are misguided, whatever, like, then they’re gonna create laws that hurt people. And in my personal opinion, it’s our moral duty to, uh, break the law if a law is immoral. You know, like, fuck it, we’re gonna do it anyway.

mxdwn: Exactly. Like, I think you only have one life and this world is gonna, you know, come at you in so many different ways. I think the biggest takeaway, especially like listening to that song, I mean, like, and, and imagining that time when I, uh, when that song came out and see like listening to it now, I’m just like, did no one listen like? Because there, was also this kinda shock to –

SP: We’re not that big of a band. So the answer is no, no one, not enough people listened, or, you know, the people that already agreed with us were listening, but it never made its way to Bush Jr. I don’t think he ever heard our, heard our album.

mxdwn: But, but still, it’s like, it it’s like, for the people who, who are surprised and, you know, new listeners that, um, will see this and, um, learn a lot more about you guys. Like, there there was this, uh, shock that, uh, came to people and it’s like, you were singing about this in 2015. People were fighting it since the precedent was set in,

SP: Oh, I mean, decades and decades and decades before me.

mxdwn: Yeah. I don’t wanna butcher the date, but decades and decades ago. So I think just knowing that, you know, there are people who support women and are thinking about them constantly and anyone facing any sort of situation with what’s going on right now, uh, you know, it’s all we can hope for. The community’s still there and you just gotta roll with the punches. So I, yeah. Thank you for giving me your cake in the 2025 version.

SP: Yeah. I mean, like, it’s like, you know, we’re just a band, right? Um, as individuals we can do things like donate and protest and stuff like that. But, you know, sometimes the, the thing that a band can offer or an artist can offer is the, the storytelling aspect. The raising awareness, uh, or just validating what the listener is feeling and giving you an outlet to express what you’re feeling. ’cause you can rage along with us. So hopefully those songs help in that way.

mxdwn: You know what, sometimes having the right thing to rage to is enough. That’s the best thing, honestly, when you stumble across the perfect song to rage.

SP: Yeah. Happy to help with that.

mxdwn: So, I mean, another amazing song to rage to is, uh, from your 2020 album, Wonderful Hell, and also, I wanna mention to our listeners, your 2018 album, Capture The Flag. You’ve got, “Predator in Chief,” and then going now to the 2020 album,  Wonderful Hell, um, I wanna talk about, “This Stolen Land.” Because while being incredibly relevant at the time, it’s now a reality, especially with the holiday tomorrow. Um, and, and just like as a whole, seeing your discography, how does it feel to see so many of the things you fought and warned against come true? And have you guys noticed a shift in your fan base at all?

SP: Hmm. That’s interesting. Um, I mean, I think any political band, uh, is going to feel like, whoa, why is, uh, why isn’t anyone listening to us? You know, a little bit. Um, because we’re really just like remarking on what’s happening. Uh, we can’t control it or change it, uh, you know, by ourselves with just a song. Right. Um, but when the world is getting worse. And closer to fascism and dictatorship and just not giving a shit about people, then yeah. Songs from a decade ago are still gonna be relevant because things haven’t gotten better, they have gotten worse, and it doesn’t mean they can’t get better from here. Uh, we’re just in a, a low valley right now. Yes. So, um, I don’t know. I think, uh, our audiences kind of depend on who we’re playing with. Um, and in a way I think that’s really cool. ‘Cause that means that there’s a lot of different kinds of people and a lot of different music fans that dig us, like nice. Our, our audiences are not homogenous. Um, so I really like that it’s, it’s fans of old-school punk, it’s fans of new, you know, harder, heavier, crustier punk than us. Um, a lot of like gender minorities and gender nonconforming folks. Um, and, you know, old different ages, different races, you know, like all these beautiful things. Um, so I don’t know, I would hope that, I feel like 2016 was a big year for people that election year that with the results they either were galvanized to, to get involved, become more aware, you know, or for some people like myself that had already been like an activist for a long time, I, I was like, I was like tired. Yeah. I was like, oh, I need to, I need to take a little while off. I, I need to pass the baton a little bit, give myself a break. Yeah. Because I’ve been fucking fighting to make things better. And they lit-literally just got worse overnight. Um, and so I had to sort of mentally take, take a step back, um, in order to, ’cause I’d burned myself out too, you know? Yeah. So I’ve, I’m feeling a little more resilient, a little more, uh, involved again, um, you know, in the last year or so I’ve done, you know, I’ve, you know, I’ve been a protest. I’ve gotten arrested in DC you know, like, like I’ve done a few things. And, um, and then I also kind of learned that it’s okay as a musician to just maybe sometimes you are just storytelling and that you don’t have to do everything else related to activism. I’m literally looking at a poster right now of something called the Social Change Ecosystem. Um, um, and it’s really just this idea that there’s, there’s like, uh, like ten, nine or ten different roles people can take when we’re moving, when we’re working towards social change and social justice. And one of those roles is a storyteller, right. To just spread the word about something. And there’s like, also frontline responders and builders and caregivers, disruptors and visionaries and blah, blah, blah. I’m just reading it now. But no, I love it. But I real, I realized that like, oh, I actually do more than just tell stories. Um, and I also have the benefit of having done this a long time where I, I can be a guide. Like, that’s one of the roles I can actually just give advice and like share my experiences and like, help others do more disruptive work or, um, experimental work, um, in this area. And it’s okay that I’m not a caregiver, that that’s not my, um, you know, for example. So, um, I’m way off topic now, I think, but no, no, I, I guess the point is that everybody can do something. No one can do everything. And it’s okay to find your lane and figure out what’s gonna work and, and to not give up fighting completely. Uh, I think we’re all worth fighting for.

mxdwn: Exactly. And I’m, I’m so glad you brought up the social movement diagram.

SP: Social Change Ecosystem. Yeah.

mxdwn: *Social Change Ecosystem. Because like you said, um, especially so many people in my friends and family, you know, felt that same burnout. We’d been going to the protest, doing everything in our power, you know, more or less, and feeling that way and like what you were saying, “Well, I’m just a storyteller.” But then you had to think about, well, that’s like my power right now. That’s my superpower. And I’m gonna use it to my fullest potential. So I think a lot of people can benefit from, you know, like some, I mean, not us telling them it’s okay, but just no.

SP: Sure. Yeah.

mxdwn: You don’t need to be, um,

SP: Everything to everyone all the time.

mxdwn: Exactly. It still matters. It’s still just as powerful and in the time period we are in now, you know, I think it’s more important than ever to be like, it’s still okay. Like, we still got it. You still do your best in whatever way you can, and we keep it moving. That’s all we can really hope for.

SP: Yeah. Because if we don’t, if we don’t fight, then they’re just gonna roll over us, you know? Like, it’s gonna get worse even faster. So any resistance we can offer, um, is good and helps someone, you know, we can’t prevent every atrocity, unfortunately. I wish we could, but we can, uh, move the needle and make it better than it would be if we just showed our belly and was like, okay, do whatever, you know?

mxdwn: Yeah, exactly. And, um, I wanna mention, I love the use of the children’s choir, singing “This Land Is Your Land” at the beginning of that, and then it just like warping down and then you guys coming in. That was so powerful. And I think like, very symbolic of how, you know, it’s just accepted that this is this great thing that we did. You know, we’ve got little

SP: Right, right.

mxdwn: Like singing these songs and it’s adorable, but then it’s like, well, let’s, you know, break it down and see what this really means. So I I love that. That was so genius. And, um, yeah, I that I really liked that.

SP: Thank you. That was my idea. Yay!

mxdwn: Well I noticed it and it was a great idea!

SP: Thank you. And we had to like, manipulate that, you know, by hand. It’s not like we had- Rosie, my dog. That’s my dog. You hear my dog.

mxdwn: Hi Rosie!

SP: Hi Rosie. She’s angry that someone is living their best life outside making noise. Um, but you get a treat and then you’re quiet. There you go. Okay. Um, but yeah, it’s like, it’s not like we could like press a button in Pro Tools, and it like, did that perfectly. Like we had to like find the, the right, slow down the right pace and like dial it in. And like, so it was a little more work than just be like, here’s an app for that. You know, so I want, I wanna give, uh, Brooks credit for basically hearing me be like, no, no, no. Do like this. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.”  And mouthing it. And him going, okay, I’ll try and figure that out.

mxdwn: Like how, like, just, um, cooperating with, or I’m sorry, I’m, I’m blanking on the word, but working together with people in music, and then you be like, no, no, no, like, I want this one thing. And them like being like, okay? Like I know exactly what you mean somehow. And he did it perfectly. Like, it, it was great.

SP: Not the first time that I have had to sing some sort of in instrumental instrumentation to Brooks. And he, he have to be like, okay, let me see if I know what you’re talking about. Let me figure this out. What would that sound like on guitar? What would that sound like on a keyword? You know? Um, yeah. We, that’s, that’s one of our tricks, I,

mxdwn: Mean the vision –

SP: That’s why we write music together. Like, this is not our first band together. Um, we’ve been playing music together for a long time. We have a really good, like, um, mind meld going on, uh, sharing the load of, uh, songwriting and ideas and all of that kinda stuff.

mxdwn: Oh my gosh, that’s so great. And especially you guys being each other’s translators in the realms that you guys cover. That’s great.

SP: For sure. For sure.

mxdwn: Um, okay. I wanna, uh, finish off on revisiting, “Precious Problem,” again. And would you say it’s a good snippet of what’s to come from a future album? Um, because it has such a different sound. Like you said you guys took your time and didn’t have a deadline, really. It was like all on you guys, so I’d love to hear more.

SP: Yeah, I think there are elements of that song, each element. Uh, there’s probably a whole song that’s more like that on the, on the album, you know, so we have this kind of like bridge that’s like slowed down rock and roll, meaningful kind of thing. And like, there’s, there’s a couple songs that have more of a general rock and roll vibe. Um, more singing than yelling. Um, but then we also have like the fast, like “dah dah dah da,” kind of stuff. Um, you know, stuff, again, stuff that sounds historically like us. Um, but, uh, and the use of like electronic stuff, which I guess we, we, you know, we, we’ve had, we have all these glimpses, all these things, uh, have been present in all the albums and, you know, we’ve always been capable of it. It’s actually what Brooks and I used to do more of in our old band. Um, and when we started War On Women, we kind of paired things down and we were like, let’s straight ahead punk. Like, let’s not no bells and whistles, you know? But as we keep writing songs and writing albums for War On Women, we keep like adding, adding stuff or making the songs more complicated or adding more harmonies or, you know, uh, to just, because if we made the same record over and over again, we would be bored and, uh, other people would be too. So we’re just trying to keep it interesting and we write the best songs we can. And this time around we had the time to, to do that.

mxdwn: Yeah. And I definitely noticed it with your vocals in particular. I think in some of the other songs I heard there was a different ratio to the band and you, and it was sometimes equal, sometimes it was a little higher than the rest. But I loved how your voice came across on this song.

SP: Thank you. Do you mean volume or like pitch? Like the note –

mxdwn: Volume.

SP: Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I guess, you know, this is mixed a little bit more like a rock record. So my vocals aren’t sitting in the mix as much as they have previously. It’s a little bit, little bit on top, just a little bit because we want people to hear it, you know? Like, we, we worked hard, I worked hard on, um, melodies and the words. Like I want people to hear it. And most people, you know, honestly gravitate towards the words of a song. Uh, you know, like if you’re a musician, you might gravitate towards whatever instrument you play, but the majority of people, all they’re really kind of hearing is, is the words. So we wanted to not hide it, hide them from everyone.

mxdwn: I, I loved seeing that change and what you were saying about how you and Brooks, you know, try not to get too over the top in what you add. I think that’s like what sets you apart. When I was first starting to listen to some of your songs, I was like, this is, there’s, there’s so many things going on, but it works. And it just, it creates like this perfect storm. You know, if you can’t hear the lyrics or whatever, like, you feel that whatever you are talking about, you know, if you just want something to listen to while you’re doing something, it, like, you feel that. So it’s definitely an appreciated little pizazz, you guys.

SP: Thank you. I know I have a tough time people. Oh, if I meet someone, oh, you’re in a band. What kind of band are you in? And I say a punk band, but I feel like punk is kind of limiting. And I used to say I’m in a hardcore punk band, and, and I guess that’s true. But Mikabella, if you know of a better term for what genre we are, I’d love to hear it ask you.

mxdwn: Yes. Okay. So that was one of my things. ’cause I saw so many descriptors. So I actually was gonna ask you if, um, would you describe War On Women as a:  “co-ed feminist, post hardcore punk rock band?” That’s what I found.

SP: I guess so. But who the fuck wants to say that? You know, I like, it’s not gonna work. I guess, you know, if, if more people listen to this album, you know, if, if then previous albums, you know, maybe it’s okay that we’re just War On Women. And, and we’re not a genre. And if everyone that listens is on board with that description, then I will take it. It’s whatever, whatever we all decide together, uh, is fine with me. If we can all agree. I just don’t think we can all agree.

mxdwn: Yeah, because I was gonna throw, throw-

SP: A lefty, so whatcha gonna do?

mxdwn: And I was gonna throw that in on the intro. I’m like, it’s gonna take me a minute just to even say the band names because I’m just saying I know, but it’s, it’s like what you’re saying, like, you guys have so many different elements to the songs. Like you, you throw in so many like, mixed genres, you know? And for the people who are like sticklers for genre specifications, you know? Well, like you said, it’s not fully punk. I heard this. I heard that. So coed feminism or coed feminist, post hardcore punk rock band. That is everything I saw.

SP: That’ll work for now. That’ll be our working definition for now. Thank you so much.

mxdwn: I, you know, I love that.

SP: I mean, it just, you know, it, it shows that everyone in the band listens to a lot of different kinds of music. And we all bring our influences and then that’s its own special recipe when we all come together and things meld in that way. Um, so there’s that. And then there’s also like, well, we would just be bored if we were writing the same song over and over again. And frankly, you know, I love punk obviously, but my version of punk growing up was more about the idea and the rebellion and the rejection of the status quo. Um, and a little less about like 1,2, 3, 4, 1,2, 3 ,4. So I’m kind of open to things having a punk vibe or punk ethos over just like, music genre. And, but the punks bands I did like, if they were right, I, I, I’m not gonna name, I’m not gonna name specific bands ’cause it would be, um shitty. But if they, you know, some bands do write the same song or same album over and over again. And I usually would only have the one cassette tape, one cd and I was like, that’s good. I don’t actually need anything else from their catalog. Thi-this, this album is enough. I have this one album and I’m good. I don’t need anymore. You know, so I don’t, I don’t like that. I don’t, uh, I think it’s fun to, to grow and change with a band and see what else they have for me.

mxdwn: Exactly. And I think that’s a very fair assessment to make, you know, if they’ve got a specific set and set up that they wanna continue on, using that is great. But you just need the one cassette tape. You just need the one CD and it’s beautiful because,

SP: And everyone’s different. Everyone can have their own opinion on that, you know? That’s fine. You can have every single a AC/DC album and love every single song. I guess, I will, you know, I, I’ll take just a couple few and then a greatest hits. And then I’m, I’m probably good. I don’t need all, no, I actually don’t know how many albums they have. If it’s 10 or 20, I don’t know. But, but you get what I’m saying? And that’s, you know, and I love AC/DC, but I’m not gonna listen to every single album they’ve ever released top to bottom. ‘Cause they, every song sounds like a AC/DC.

mxdwn: It does, it does. And aren’t they like the one

SP: Can we cut this? Are we gonna get AC/DC, Um, we’re gonna get haters. I wanna be clear. I’ve seen them live. I love them. Okay. Yes. This is with love. Uh, please don’t come at me, bro.

mxdwn: We are, we are fans, but we just don’t have every single song memorized.

SP: I can’t afford every fucking CD and every song of every band if all Okay. Period. The end. I’m done. I’m done. I’m done.

mxdwn: We got it. We love AC/DC!

SP: They are great!

mxdwn: Much love to you guys. Going back to War On Women and what’s to come, is there anything else you wanted to add that listeners or new people can get excited for?

SP: Yeah, I mean, this new song means a new album. So in 2026 we’re gonna have more singles and a full-length album that people can get. Uh, we’ll go on a tour of course, um, in the US you know, hopefully in Europe and UK as well, or in talks right now. And so we just hope to tour a lot and we wanna come to your town and if we do, please buy an album or a shirt. ‘Cause that really helps, uh, touring bands. And I’m just excited for people to hear this music that we’ve had for years now. Um, waiting to share it with everyone. I’m, I’m so excited it’s finally coming out and, and, and then also be excellent to each other.

mxdwn: Yes. And I wanna tell you, you have a new fan in my mother. Uh, so when you come to Arizona, we, in 2026, we are going to your show. She,

SP: Yes!

mxdwn: Um, you know, she’s a Mexican immigrant single mother, so when I was putting her onto some of her on some of these songs, she’s like, I, you know what, I listened to the B-52’s growing up, this is kind of like that! And I was like, yes..

SP: Sure. Yeah. Okay. Cool mom. Yeah. Love it!

mxdwn: So we are just as excited and looking forward to the new tour and the new album for sure. And it’s just honestly been such a pleasure talking to you and thank you for being so understanding and flexible with computers and my limited understanding of,

SP: Its always something! Don’t worry, don’t worry about that. I look forward to meeting your mom and everyone else’s mom that’s listening to this. Come to the show. Bring your moms. I wanna high five them and Yeah. Can’t wait. 2026. Here we come!

mxdwn: We love it. Awesome. So I hope you have a great, great rest of your day and some good food in the coming days, which is, you know, definitely something we can all look forward to.

SP: I’m looking forward to the gathering community part. Yes. Of, of this holiday. That’s, that’s okay with me. That’s okay with me. Um, yeah. Really nice to meet you, Mikabella. Thank you so much for the chat.