Play of the day – War On Women

War on women

Wonderful Hell

Bridge Nine Records

There’s got to be a better way

Than giving up and wallowing 

Let’s raise some wonderful, beautiful hell

And make this world worth living in

Wonderful hell

Walking the walk while talking the talk can be difficult. We all recognise issues that we feel need exploring. We all feel certain things should be better and improved. Discrimination is wrong, if you don’t feel that our version of punk rock is not for you and you are the enemy. However it’s easy to say that. Shawna Potter lives it.

The war on women vocalist started the Baltimore chapter of Anti harassment group Hollaback. Hollaback is a people powered movement to end harassment. Their goal is to change the culture that somehow makes harassment ok. 

She has written a book called making spaces safer released by Ak Press and does a podcast explaining the war on women lyrics. This talk is being walked daily by Potter and her band mates. 

Of course this is a record and the music on here is as hard as the message. Part Propaghandi, part Petrol Girls this is a manifesto that rocks out. There is a lot of rocking going in here. Riff fuelled manifesto has been used and I can’t argue with that. 

Yes it is more than music but the music chugs along and gets you excited about the words. It is important when records mean a lot and this record means something so much more important than music. This is a cry for equality. 

It is a celebration of women in society that are demanding equality not just in paper but in the world we all live in.  

“They’re gonna try to bury us under but we are all seeds”

Seeds

This is the third call to arms from the band since their inception in 2010. In that decade more and more women are standing up for themselves as #metoo and #thisissisterhood gathers strength. People are not sitting back accepting discrimination. The more these topics are spoken and sang about the more people can find their own voice. “We’re fighting for our lives” the band sing during Seeds. The song is about building blocks, hoping that these lyrics will inspire and I can’t see how this would fail. Building blocks like the Las Tesis feminist collective from chile are. The collective made the worldwide BBC News with “the rapist is you” whose words were reinterpreted by the band for “in your path”.

But while War On Women offers listeners space to vent their anxieties and frustrations, they ultimately challenge them to find their inner strength and build the world they want to live in rather than burn down what’s left of this one. “The thing is, we don’t have a do over,” Potter says. “We don’t have a time machine. We can’t snap our fingers and start from some other place. All we have is right here, right now. So what can you do right here, right now, to help?” 

Razorcake magazine saying it so much better than I could

niallhope