Exclusive Interview: Winona Fighter talks setlists, skateboarding, soup, and more in Salt Lake City!

Winona Fighter rocks. This is not our first time saying this. We've been following their trajectory since early this year, on the first part of the "Yes, Chef!" tour. Since then, we've had the chance to chat with frontwoman Coco Kinnon, and get a little crash course on Winona Fighter. But we're seasoned fight club members now, and we're ready to hit this a little harder. Supporting Waterparks on their Prowler Tour this December, Winona Fighter is bringing the energy to a whole new crowd of soon-to-be punks. We got the chance to catch them perform in Salt Lake City, and before the methodical kicking, screaming, and strumming, the band sat down with Lexy to talk tour, setlists, skateboarding, soup... and their creative processes, of course.

UFO: Hi guys! Nice to see you again! On your "Yes Chef!" tour, I experienced a very hype crowd: surfing, moshing, kids screaming the lyrics, adults screaming the lyrics... it was incredible. I've also been seeing that on this tour, and you guys have been meeting people at merch, too. I wanted to ask, the people you've been seeing at these shows, are they mostly existing fans, or more like new people that just got hooked?

Coco: It's been some of our fans, which is really nice! I think when you're first of three [bands on a lineup], your fans aren't as inclined to come out, you know, spend a bunch of money on a ticket for like a short set. But a lot of people who've been coming up to merch are Waterparks fans,and it's funny, you'll see the same people every night, or some people will be like, "I can't believe this is my last Waterparks show of the tour!" I'm like... what do you mean your last one of the tour? How many shows have you been to already? But it's very cool, you know? I think anyone would want like a fan base as loyal as Waterparks has, and it's been really cool to see like what they have in fans. There's a lot of crossover in that as well.

UFO: In our first interview back in February, you mentioned you want people's first impression of Winona Fighter to be people feeling inspired to be themselves, but also kind of branch out, help the community, and have a community formed by your music. On this tour, do you feel like you're seeing this community being built?

Coco: Yeah, I think it's interesting. Like, Wlbrn [St. Tvrn], our second to last song in this set, I'm like "Come on guys! Let's move! Let's mosh!", and they do! I think it's like really cool to see the Waterparks fans who would maybe otherwise be a little timid until Waterparks come on, it's cool to see our fans accept them into the mosh pit, and like accept them into the camaraderie.

That's a really cool thing to see every night. You always see one or two people be like, oh... well, yeah... I do wanna mosh right now!

UFO: The energy for a show can be very well gauged based off how people react at the beginning, and I have seen great reactions to you guys! Not to put you on the spot, but what has been the most fun part about this tour so far?

Dan: I think it's just always fun meeting contemporaries, musicians, the other bands that we've been playing with. That's really fun, making new friends, as childlike as that sounds. The shows themselves have been really great, too. As Coco said, the Waterparks fan base is so cool. So just being able to like jump in and not feel like we're outsiders or something, being welcomed in already has felt really great.

UFO: Absolutely, yes! I'm gonna ask you guys a little bit about live gigs now, getting a little bit more specific to Winona Fighter. Can you describe a gig that has changed how you approach live shows? Something that has changed your outlook or the way you guys perform?

Austin: Good question. I was playing a show, kind of early in my bass playing career, and I remember having a pedal board, and I stepped on one, and it made a giant like, CHRRRRUGGGGG every time you touched it, and the front of house guy was like, "Hey dude, how about you buy even cheaper shit?" And I was like... all right, time to bulletproof my pedal board and make sure there's no weird stuff happening. That really taught me like, have a backup, have a backup backup, definitely have a fail safe.

Coco: Yeah, I would also say just knowing what you're doing. On this tour, we have what feels like two seconds to like get on stage and sound check. So we have to know exactly what's going on. It makes it a more fluid experience. Whereas like, if you don't really know what's going on, if you don't know your gear, or your equipment or anything like that, you're gonna have a bad time.

And then you're gonna have a bad show cause you won't feel as prepared as you could.

Dan: I would just echo those last thoughts and then also- just always make sure your shoes are tied.

Fresh shoe tie right before, you never know. Something can go loose up there.

Coco: We're always learning. I think each show we're always learning something new.

UFO: That's like the motto for life. If you're not learning, you're staying stuck and then what good is that! Is there a song or a part of your set that you guys love, but it never really goes the way you plan on stage? If so, how do you deal with that?

Coco: I would say when we're doing a longer set, we'll play (Don't Get) CLOSE off the deluxe. And I think- I don't know if it's because it's a newer song or what, but that one's always hard to gauge the audience. I can never tell! Because online people are like, "Oh, this is my fucking favorite Winona Fighter song!", but then I can never really gauge how the audience is actually reacting to it in a live setting. But yeah, we don't do that one for this tour.

UFO: Okay, so one of my favorite Winona Fighter songs is Swear to God That I'm (FINE). Banger.

So you can imagine my feelings when I get to the Chicago show and it's on the setlist and then you don't play it. Devastating... but it's fine. How do you decide the setlist and what makes the cut? How does that executive decision get made?

Coco: Yeah, so that one was an on the spot decision because I saw how much time we had and we could like... in the grand scheme of things, could we try and do all the songs? Yes, but I would rather us end two minutes early and keep everyone happy than be the asshole who goes over by even like, 30 seconds or something. So I chose to do Wlbrn over Swear to God because Wlbrn is a good one to get people moving. It has the breakdown and all that. That's what was like going on in my head. And then after the show, I like was talking to the boys about whether or not it was the right choice, and we all mutually agreed. Also, a lot of bands will use tracks. That kind of plans your set out to the second, but we don't do that. We kind of fly by the seat of our pants. In a controlled way.

Dan: Yeah, it evolves over however many shows we've done. And so over the course of the first couple of months or whatever of the year when we were touring and stuff, it's figuring out like, yeah, Coco has something to say during the song, or before this one, or something. You find where those moments are. It's not that they're planned necessarily, but it works into a rhythm.

UFO: Makes sense! So, I'm a big fan of the Winona Fighter name. We have already yapped about this in depth, so no more Winona Ryder questions, don't worry. Excluding her, which non-musical influence: book, movie, even pop culture figure, has shaped something in your musical creative process?

Coco: Okay, this is gonna sound crazy. But as a performer, as a kid I was really drawn to Chris Farley and Adam Sandler. People who are so unapologetically themselves. I genuinely think that like shaped me into being able to get on stage and not really give a fuck what anyone thinks, you know? I'm throwing myself on the table.

Austin: I've never skateboarded ever, but I love watching people skateboard. I think there's like creativity in the different tricks they can do and like how they can look at a certain thing... the way that they can route a line. I find that creative, how they approach a certain obstacle or something. You can catch me watching skateboard highlights.

UFO: Do you like the highlights or you like watching people fall?

Austin: Oh Jesus... I like the highlights. I like the highlights. Although, it is nice when you see somebody nail a trick and they're like, okay, but here's the 15 takes before that where I absolutely pancake myself.

Dan: The person that came to my mind was Stephen King. Obviously he's known for all his horror stuff. He does write a lot of horror stuff, but even in those books, I feel like there's multitudes, right? He'll have a horror book that also contains a really moving romance or something like that. I do think that that is applicable. Like our band too, we have kind of different pieces in it. Some songs can have an 80s guitar thing over a more classic punk thing. And it all kind of works. Not feeling like you have to just be one color, I guess.

UFO: That fusion from your answer, and all your answers combined makes a lot of sense. You've got to pull a little bit from everything to make it work. It's like… soup. Oh! What's your favorite soup?

Dan: Chili, chili for sure. Chunky chili.

Austin: Maybe like a minestrone.

Coco: I'm going to say pho. I think that's my favorite food. If someone told me I had to eat pho for the rest of my life, I would say, "Okay. I hope I live forever."

UFO: What is a song that you wish you'd written and why? It doesn't even necessarily have to be your usual style.

Coco:  I wish I wrote party 4 u by Charli XCX. I wish I could perform it every night.

Austin: Sweet Child O' Mine. Guns N' Roses.

Dan: The first one that came to my mind was Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. It's kind of a perfect song.

UFO: What's one thing you like to do outside of music that actually contributes to your musicality? A hobby that when you're feeling burnt out, helps you lock back in.

Coco: I just go on really long walks. That's what I do. And then... I also bake.

UFO: What's your specialty?

Coco: Right now, my specialty is chocolate chip cookies. I make these sourdough chocolate chunk brown butter sea salt cookies, but I haven't done them recently because of my sourdough. It's been in hibernation since we left for tour at the beginning of the summer.

Austin: Yeah. I would probably say like something active as well. I'm a little bit of a health nut. So either going for a run, sitting in the sauna, or doing a cold plunge. Anything to get the blood moving is usually a good reset.

Dan: Either reading or watching movies. I feel like watching movies is a little bit of a cheat since there's music and sound involved in that... but I've just gotten back into collecting movies, which my wife is thrilled about.

UFO: What is your most nostalgic memory about your childhood or adolescence? Do you think that impacts your career or artistry now?

Dan: I used to play night games a lot in the neighborhood. I lived in a typical Midwestern neighborhood. Back when kids were allowed outside. Front porch, you know? At 7 p.m. we'd play Ghost in the Graveyard and sardines and stuff. It does not really contribute anything to my musical career.

UFO: It contributes to your sense of joy and whimsy, obviously.

Coco: I joined bands really, really young. I would be like 11, or 12, jamming with my friends... and it did not sound good. But we would practice in my parents' basement. And then we would like, play church basements or house shows. I think about how you're just playing in front of your friends... but there was something really special about that. To this day, we still take any opportunity do to something like that. If someone's like, "Hey, do you want to do one or two songs at this random thing? I know it's not anything big-" We're like... oh fuck yeah.

Austin: I used to play poker in middle school. I was probably like, 12 maybe. I had this group of friends, me and like four other guys that would just get together and like- degenerates, whatever. Lunch money. It was like, can you guys do $5? And I was like, jeez... $5... $6? We would just like, just play for like hours and hours. And that was always fun. We'd order a pizza and split it and stuff.

Coco: I also think sometimes about like, sneaking out with your friends to drink and smoke cigarettes. Sometimes we'll be out as full grown adults and I'll be like... Man, how cool would it be if we weren't supposed to be doing this right now? Like, yeah! Beer tastes so good!

UFO: Now there's like, Ring cameras and shit. You can't get away with that... But to close it off, we're in Salt Lake City, and you're a punk band, so this brings me to James Merendino's 1998 classic, SLC Punk. (Some context for our readers: Matthew Lillard with the blue hair and piercings. He thinks he's a punk, but he’s a total poser. He’s so into it that it kinda circles back and makes him fake, because his whole punk thing is so performative. At the end of the movie, he has this iconic monolgue, when he's learned what punk actually is.) If this was the end of SLC Punk, if there was a monologue that would close out this era of Winona Fighter, what would the monologue say?

Coco: I think the monologue would say: It’s okay to not be stubborn and to try new things, but it’s also okay to stay true to who you are and what you believe.

Dan: …And life is a highway.

UFO: And life is a highway!

Check out all of Winona Fighter's links here. "My Apologies To The Chef" (Deluxe) is out now!