“The Femmes Are Giving” punk rock show at the Kilowatt Bar on Saturday in San Francisco intends to give a ferocious kick in the rear to heteronormativity, homo- and transphobia and the patriarchy.
Co-hosted by producers Doll Fest and the nonprofit Punk Rock Saves Lives, the show gives femme-fronted punk bands centerstage. The lineup of Bay Area bands includes Skip the Needle, Hot Laundry, The Furious Tits, Half Rotten Goddess and San Francisco punk rock pioneers Frightwig.
“We’re right at home — we’re in the belly of it,” says Deanna Mitchell, Frightwig singer and bass player. “And we love to play.”
For Mitchell, a show like this once seemed implausible.
“When we were starting out in the early ‘80s, there weren’t many female bands,” she says. “As an elder now in the music community, one thing that I have loved [over] these decades is seeing how things have blossomed and grown.”
If Frightwig had a resumé, it would highlight its major influence on the 1990s Riot Grrrl movement and bands such as Babes in Toyland, L7, Hole and Bikini Kill, whom it opened for at The Warfield in 2024. Under an additional qualifications or cultural references section, it would mention that Kurt Cobain, a fan, was wearing a Frightwig T-shirt under his green cardigan on Nirvana’s MTV “Unplugged” performance in 1993.
The veteran band’s long herstory of influential musicmaking includes its first album, “Cat Farm Faboo” in 1984; “Faster, Frightwig, Kill, Kill!” in 1986; and “We Need to Talk” in 2023. Mitchell says this weekend’s setlist will pull from that catalog and feature songs such as “Redistribution of Wealth,” “War on Women” and “American Express.”
She’ll be rocking out with Frightwig co-founder Mia d’Bruzzi on vocals and guitar and Tina Fagnani on drums. Leda Gannon, from the Oakland band Dollar Store, will join them, playing saxophone and singing background vocals.
”We’re thankful to be playing the show,” says Mitchell, adding that she loves the other bands on the bill.
The Furious Tits, a queer band, is appearing at the Kilowatt for the first time. Lead singer-guitarist Zoe Young looks forward to not only taking the stage at a venue she’s frequented many times, but also to being part of the all-femme lineup.
“I think it’s critical, and especially now, it’s just so good to see powerful women and powerful femmes onstage just owning it and doing their thing — creating that level of permission and a model for like, ‘Yeah, you know what? We’re still here. We’re doing this. We’re making it happen,’” she says.
Young, who lives in San Francisco, and bandmates Miju Han (bass), David Griswold (lead guitar) and William Renauld (drums), have got their set list ready to go. It includes the debut of a song about the Los Angeles fires.
“It’s the weirdest song we’ve ever written,” says Young. “I think the aesthetic is ‘haunted house’—that’s how we’re describing it.”
They’ll also be playing “Tender Mosh,” which is meant to persuade audience members to get their mosh on. Songs from the group’s latest EP “Costco Domme,” such as “(I Love My Boyfriend But) I Wanna F— That Girl” and “AJAB (All Jobs Are Bad),” also are fair game.
Five femme-fronted punk rock bands playing dozens of feminist-leaning songs, in show with partial proceeds being donated to Lyon-Martin Community Health Services, is a protest in and of itself during a tumultuous time.
“People showing up in person to stuff like this creates hope, and the more we see each other being powerful and supporting each other, the better—and that can happen in the mosh pit or outside of it,” Young says.
“The Femmes Are Giving” is at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Kilowatt, 3160 16th St., San Francisco. Tickets are $24.72 at dice.fm/event.
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