As long as I’ve been a punk rock fan, I’ve been a picky one: hardcore bands don’t do it for me1, overly political bands are hit-and-miss2, the immature prankster vibe never works3, but the worst is the dreaded ‘pop-punk’ genre. Seems today that the term has been so broadly applied that it’s mostly useless4.
Like most non-radio genres, punk rock is about authenticity. Can’t really describe it, but it’s conspicuous in its absence. As I get older, I get more attuned to (what I personally think is) authenticity, and it’s harder to find punk bands that don’t feel like cosplayers.
I’m not sure how I came to hear Winona Fighter, but I know the first song I heard was “You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers”. I dug in. I kept waiting for their music to suck. I kept waiting for disappointment. And it never came.
Maybe it’s the band’s name, probably it’s my own cynicism: it took a while for me to trust that Winona Fighter was legit. Even a couple weeks ago, I hesitated and waffled for a stupid amount of time before I put “I Think You Should Leave” on the Friday Setlist.
That’s a lot of preamble, but what I’m getting at is this: Winona Fighter’s debut record, My Apologies to the Chef just rips. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s playfully vulgar and very smart. It’s well-crafted and polished, but not to a gloss. There are still plenty of rough edges here.
The production on the record screams 90s skate-punk, and it’s elevated by Coco Kinnon pushing her vocal to the limit on pretty much every song. Even super-melodic tracks like “TALK” have moments where she sounds like she’s about to burst a blood vessel.
There are choices on this record that have a distinct punk aesthetic to them: for every group vocal or crowd-friendly chorus, there is a casual f-bomb, or feral scream that confirms the band’s commitment. Winona Fighter is here for a good time, but they’re gonna work bloody hard to earn it.
After the first 15 seconds of any given track on this record it’ll be clear whether this is in your particular wheelhouse. I’m kind of embarrassed that it took me longer than that, but I’m sure it’ll stand up as one of the best punk records of the year. I won’t doubt Winona Fighter again.
