War on Women is a feminist punk band from Baltimore whose music focuses on themes of political resistance and advocacy. The group will be at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville Tuesday. Shawna Potter, lead singer for War on Women, spoke with Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani ahead of the show. She says she was inspired to create the group as a way to cope with anger surrounding political and social issues at the time.
Potter: I think the short version is that in 2010, I was really pissed off about the way that women's rights especially were being eroded by the Bush junior administration. And I was just pissed. So I started a band where instead of talking about my feelings, which was how all my other bands went and what I wrote about before War on Women, we talked more about the feeling of anger, I guess, and politics and social justice and stuff like that. So we've been at it since then, 2010, 2011, and things got a little better for a while. They seem to be getting worse again. Our songs are still relevant, unfortunately. But what I love about playing in this band is that no matter what's going on politically, we find ourselves in community with people at shows and we can have moments of joy and remember why we fight for equal rights and stuff like that. So I'm really excited to come to your town and play a show and get together with some like-minded folks.
Nourani: You touched a lot on it already. Maybe folks can kind of gather what potentially the sound is for your group — a lot of anger, maybe a lot of fast-paced sounds. Can you maybe describe that sound and how it started? And I want to get to y'all's most recent album and the single, but maybe tell us about your original sound and how that's maybe shifted over time, or if it hasn't.
Potter: Right, right. The themes have not changed, but the sound has definitely changed. It started more simply, a little more bratty, heavy. And we've just grown musically over time. We don't like to make the same record twice and it's still heavy, but it's still very fun. You can dance to it. There's joy, there's sarcasm, there's sassiness. So it's not all just straight-up preachy anger. It's a mix of emotions, which I feel is a little bit more accurate to who we are as people and as a band. If we pretended we were super serious and tough the whole show, it would be an act. It would be fake. We're goofballs. So yeah, it's kind of that balance — there has to be some joy in it, even when we're feeling angry and dejected or frustrated with what's going on in the world.
Nourani: You talked a bit about a lot of shifts and having sounds of love and joy and anger kind of coinciding. I want to talk about your single "Messages Unsent." It kind of touches on that specifically, shifting to feelings of love, of grief — which is an intense feeling to convey. Maybe tell me a little bit about how that song came together.
Potter: Yeah, it's a really bittersweet song. And I would say it's maybe technically a love song, which is a War on Women first. I don't think we have any other songs you could say are love songs. So yeah, it's a love song that's mostly about my dog, actually. But grief and love and what are we going to leave behind, and wanting to protect our loved ones, is pretty universal, whether we're talking about animals or people. It was interesting to just let myself write a love song, let those feelings come out and not judge them and not say, well, this isn't on-the-nose political enough. I really like to think, especially with this latest record that's coming out May 8th — it's called "Time Under Tension," it's out on Smartpunk Records — it's probably our most personal album to date. And so I kind of just have to remember that the personal is political. What we fight for and why matters just as much as how we fight and who we're fighting. So yeah, it's a very personal album that has the heavy, thrashy punk metal influence, but it also just has some more epic rock and roll stuff too. Hopefully there's a little bit in there for everybody and it takes you on a little bit of a journey.
Nourani: With these shifts in theme, what has that been like? Has it been different maybe playing these songs — "Messages Unsent" specifically — in front of a crowd? Does that make you feel any sort of way, kind of exposing a different side of your songwriting?
Potter: So some of the other songs we've been playing — "Feels Good," which is unreleased so far, and then "More Than Muscle," "Spun Sugar," which is unreleased, and then "Messages Unsent," and "Precious Problem," which was the first single — they're all super fun, heavy, all of the above. But "Messages Unsent" is more mid-tempo, which is a bit of a departure for us. And so it feels very vulnerable for me to perform, because I'm usually up there just dancing and headbanging and moving around to the beat. And so when the beat is slower, it's like, what do you do? It might feel more appropriate to just stand there and park and bark, as they say. And that's new for me, that's different. And it makes it feel like I'm letting people in on the emotion of the song a little bit more versus just putting on a show. So it's interesting. I will say if there are people in the audience that like that song, then it goes really great. If they've never heard it and they're not getting into it — it's not heavy enough for them — then it absolutely falls on its face. So clearly it's not for every fan of ours. If they're just looking for the thrash stuff. But in a well-rounded crowd it's gone over really well. So we don't play it every single tour, because it might just not be the right audience. Not every single show. So maybe the show we're playing coming up, that might be a good spot to play it. Maybe people can tell us — maybe they can write on social media to play "Messages Unsent" or not.
Nourani: I would say that Fayetteville, Northwest Arkansas specifically, is open to all kinds of sounds. So I wouldn't be surprised if you were welcomed with open arms.
Potter: Oh, thank you. Yes. Let's all take a vote though. Let's everyone take a vote. Let us know so we don't waste your time. We'll play whatever you want. Can you let folks know where they can keep up with you guys and find more information and find your music?
Potter: Yeah, you can always head to the War on Women Linktree, which is just linktree slash War on Women. But our Instagram is really good for having all the info, and that's just at War on Women. But yeah, we're playing George's — George's Majestic. And what I hear is it's a historic venue to play, with the band Stepmom. And we can't wait.
Nourani: Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. Thank you so much for chatting with me.
Shawna Potter, lead singer of the band War on Women, speaking with Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani. War on Women will perform at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville Tuesday night. More information at georgesmajesticlounge.com.
