If you miss the propulsive pop-punk of Stand Atlantic, Winona Fighter just might be your new emerging band crush. I’m talking about the Stand Atlantic of the mid-teens before they drifted into more hardcore music.
Then again, if you really love Stand Atlantic’s new sound, you will also fall in love with Winona Fighter. If you don’t have the first clue who Stand Atlantic is, I can’t make any promises. But I still think you should check out Winona Fighter. On their debut album My Apologies to the Chef, they demand attention.
Winona Fighter is a pop-punk trio that will usually add a fourth member for live shows so that Coco Kinnon can take her place out front and not be trapped behind a drum kit. Kinnon moved from Boston, where she was heavily involved in the local punk scene, to Nashville a few years back. In Tennessee, she teamed up with guitarist Dan Fuson and bassist Austin Luther, to bring that punk aura to a town that was teeming with upper-tier musicians.
Winona Fighter demands attention
Kinnon said what she found lacking in the local music scene was that DIY sense of community that is part and parcel of all organic punk movements. Maybe Nashville is just too cutthroat – too competitive. Whatever the reason, Kinnon, Fuson, and Luther are helping to build that very thing in Nashville.
My Apologies to the Chef follows up on the band’s debut EP, Father Figure, released in 2022. The first three tracks – “Wlbrn St Tvrn,” “Subaru,” and “You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” – were recorded anew for the LP, along with eleven other songs, some of which have been released as singles over the past year. In all, Winona offers 14 songs at a brisk 36 minutes. I have my preferences, but there is no filler.
Those three songs from the EP sketch out the borders of what the band does. “Subaru” is crunchy pop-punk that leans more toward the former. Lyrically, it’s emo, with its emphasis on needing to escape.
“Wlbrn St Tvrn” is the other edge – growing right out of Kinnon’s punk roots. It also hits on one of Kinnon’s chief lyrical concerns – anger and frustration. She makes her opinion clear from the opening verse:
“It’s all f****d – Boys like you are overrated – You just suck – probably at home just masturbating…” (I don’t know if I can quote the next lyric because it mentions TikTok, and I’m not sure where we stand on that right now.)
“You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” is straight down the middle, and for those of you who haven’t forgotten the Stand Atlantic opening, probably the purest distillation of that particular influence. It’s defiant and angry with a natural punk energy, but also almost impossibly hummable.
That is probably when Winona Fighter is at their best, and fortunately, that’s where most of their debut fits. The album opener “JUMPERCABLES” does it perfectly. It is anthemic – jagged and melodic in equal parts.
“HAMMS IN A GLASS,” propelled by Kinnon’s drum groove is the first foray into punk. “TALK” follows it, cranking up the anger at pretention. “R U FAMOUS” shows up a few tracks later and picks up the heavier side of pop punk.
Kinnon has said her goal is to bring the punk ethos and sense of community she loved in Boston to a somewhat wider audience and on songs like “R U FAMOUS” and “I’M IN THE MARKET TO PLEASE NO ONE,” she nails it. The second song should be a hit, touching on the popular subject of telling your ex everything that is wrong with him. Fuson’s spiky guitar riff kicks off “Johnny’s Dead,” a big rock ballad that keeps the energy of the album high right through the end.
Winona Fighter is on firmer ground when they lean into their punk roots, but even their somewhat softer songs stand on their own. Kinnon has mentioned the Foo Fighters as an influence, while Fuson has talked about early British metal as his first love. Luther, who engineers and produces for the band, said he was drawn to the way U2’s Adam Clayton would stand in the back and just pummel his bass while the front of the band was grabbing the attention.
Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden, and U2 may seem like a mismatched trio but they all have a core of melodic hard rock, just as Kinnon, Fuson, and Luther seem to fit together seamlessly on a debut that can drift poppier or punkier, but always remains high-energy rock.
Winona Fighter has been building a following on the festival circuit over the past few years, playing big-name shows like Bonnaroo, SXSW, and Riot Fest. This June, they’ll be part of Ontario’s All Your Friend’s Fest, along with Simple Plan, for whom they’ll be opening a few shows. They will also be headlining their own tour throughout the Spring and Summer.
(Stand Atlantic, for those who don’t know them, is a very good Aussie pop-punk quartet fronted by Bonnie Fraser. As a converse to the opening of this little review, check them out if you listen to and like Winona Fighter.)