I’ve gone back and forth on this idea for a long time now and I’ve finally decided to do it - and that’s talking about concerts or music that I listen to. Just to temper your expectations, I’m not some kind of musical expert, and I’m a little too cheap to go to some of the big fancy concerts, but I really enjoy a small bar show. That means I have to really like an act to go see them live, because I’m perfectly happy to listen to the recorded tracks in the comfort of my home.
I should also mention that my musical taste is both eccentric, outdated, and at times ill-formed. I regularly discover or re-discover songs or bands from my youth, or even as far back as the 1920s or 30s, so I guess I’m the opposite of the “you probably haven’t heard of my favorite band” hipster type. If I say something obvious or stupid to hardcore fans of a given band, sorry in advance.
Okay, introduction to this new category out of the way, I want to talk about a band I saw this past weekend here in Florida: Winona Fighter. The first time I heard them was a few years ago via a YouTube “your mix” playlist - lately a way I’ve actually discovered a lot of cool music. This track was just one of many thrown into a mix of other rock music but it kind of stayed in the background for a little while for me. Here’s that video:
Album/Recorded Music
Then sometime this summer, another music video popped up in my feed by the same band (“I’m In The Market To Please No One”), then another. I was getting pretty into the vibe of the music, so I went ahead and downloaded the whole album “My Apologies To The Chef” which released this year on February 14th, with a Deluxe Version as recently as September 5th 2025. These albums include the 3-year old song I heard first on YouTube, and that’s probably still their most popular song but I could be wrong there. If I had to pick a favorite, I’m really not sure I could - I love the whole album start to finish and they are all roughly the same kind of vibe, which makes for easy listening if you’re in the mood. I guess “Swear To God That I’m (FINE)” is the one that gets stuck in my head the most.
They have also done a great job on the music videos, in fact most of the songs on the album have a video which is really cool. Much like the music, they all have a similar filming and story style. I suppose that’s risky, but if you’re into it like I am it’s a huge win because I can enjoy a long sitting of just WF songs/videos. On the other hand, if you listen to one or two and you don’t like it, there probably isn’t anything else here for you, and that’s fine. Still, I’d keep an eye on this band’s next album because even from their first “album” (or EP? Demo?) there’s a pretty noticeable uptick in cool guitar parts, catchy lyrics, and production quality. That’s not to say the stuff on “Father Figure” isn’t excellent, songs like “Wlbrn St Tvrn” are still regulars on my playlist and are included in the newest full album release.
Just take a look at the quality difference between that first video and their more recent ones - not just the cinematography and lighting, but the acting, lip syncing, the movment, and the charm that holds it all together.
Live Review
I arrived at Will’s late Saturday night, pretty close to show time to meet up with some friends, and we staked out a corner just off the wall between the stage and the bar. The opening act was a DJ playing some emo/screamo music, of which I recognized a handful of songs but I’ll be honest it wasn’t all that thrilling and the vibe was totally off for what the band was going to play. You’d think we were there to see a metal show based on the opener, but to be fair this was the same weekend as Warped Tour so there was probably some crossover in interests there (and WF also played a set at Warped Tour the day after this show).
The vibe definitely skyrocketed when WF took the stage, and right from the moment she stepped on stage, Coco (our lead vocalist and primary songwriter) was a huge for hyping up the small crowd which was maybe 50 people or less. Her energy was infectious really, once they got the gear hooked up she’d throw a shoulder check at the guitarist and bass player and you could tell she really wanted to be there. They started right off with “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers,” and the movement from the band was great and got everybody right into it, and she carried that energy straight through until the end of the show with only a few breaks in between to talk to the audience. They basically played the whole standard version of the album, plus their cover of “Sabotage” (Beastie Boys), didn’t skip any songs, and played for over an hour - awesome. They did play them out of order and it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where I can’t just check setlist.fm to see what they played, so sorry I don’t remember other than they ended with “Wlbrn St Tvrn.”
I also hate people who spend a whole concert filming instead of enjoying themselves, but I forced myself to snag about a minute of “I’m In The Market To Please No One” for you all:
All in all, it was a pretty down to roots, plain old rock concert. Just what I wanted. And perhaps I’ll sound like a bit uncool here, but they were loud enough to have a great time but no piercing loud noises that made me want to put in my earplugs (which I take to every concert now after a few bad experiences).
Technical Stuff
This wouldn’t be Totally Rad Guitars if I didn’t talk about some of the technical stuff of course. The guitar player played a EVH 5150 Standard Series with a maple fretboard and hot pink finish, which of course is right up my alley in terms of guitar style. At other times he played a Gibson Flying V, and if I had to guess these are the same guitars shown in the various music videos. I’m not a bass player, but I’m pretty sure he was playing a Duff McKagan Deluxe Precision Bass with super cool block inlays and a black painted neck. Our front woman didn’t play guitar on every song, but she did on quite a few and used a Squier Sonic Esquire H in Lime Green finish, which I’m pretty certain I heard her say during the show that she had bought either that day or the day before.
In terms of amps… well, there was a Marshall 2525C but I’m almost positive that was the backup/house amp, but to be fair I didn’t get a great look at Coco’s pedalboard before they wrapped up so she may have been using that amp. The lead guitar player Dan played the entire show with his primary amp being a Universal Audio Lion floor pedal. I have to say, it sounded absolutely fantastic and I have no complaints about the tone at all, and that’s coming from a guy sitting in a room with 70 amps. Sure I’m a tube amp purist at times, but I bet being able to pack up two guitars and a handful of pedals to play a whole rock show must be awesome. Even if you brought a backup and power supply, it’d still be less stuff than even one amp head. It’s not the kind of music that needs a lot of pedals - I should’ve taken a picture of the board - but I’m pretty sure all I saw was a tuner and a delay, maybe there was a boost in there but I don’t think I saw more than 4 pedals on the whole board. I had the chance to talk to him after the show but I missed him, oops - this won’t be the last time I see this band though I’ll say that for sure.
I don’t know much about the other gear here, but I will say, that Coco used a wired mic the entire time which was pretty wild considering how active she was on stage. She even lifted the cord up over her shoulder and went down into the crowd for a little bit on one song and there were no equipment issues, trips, or malfunctions at least that I noticed. All in all I thought it was a really professional and great sounding show and considering the equipment that’s really impressive - maybe it sounds hypocritical of me to say but this is just more proof that you don’t need a bunch of fancy expensive equipment to write great songs, sound good, and entertain a crowd.
Final Thoughts
Look, even for bands I really like, I don’t buy merch, I don’t buy CD’s, I don’t even drink or if I do it’s a rare occasion. Despite my amp/guitar collection obsession, I’m painfully frugal. What I’m trying to say is, I bought a $60 sweatshirt and their CD at this show, that’s how good it was. Go see them next time they are near you, I paid a minuscule $25 for the ticket, and that has to be one of the best price to fun ratios I’ve ever had, at any concert.
At the time of writing, they are headed west and stopping at a few places along the way, but they’ll be back in Florida in May 2026 for the Rockville festival. I’m not a big festival guy but I’ll be watching closely to see if they play any bars around that date next year.
Check out their official website here: https://winonafighter.com/