July 15, 2025 • 9 mins
Winona Fighter came in to DC101 for a really fun (and loud!) performance and interview in the iHeartRadio Sound Bank Powered By Northwest Federal Credit Union!
After jamming out for a while, we got to talk about a bunch of things: how they turn on the energy when they go out to play a show, how Cher and Rob Thomas / Santana help them get in the mood for a great set, why everything is an emergency in restaurants and what actually happened when the guy told Coco that she looked like "a drunk Phoebe Bridgers", Then my friend William asked about what instruments that they learned to play as kids and what their favorite bands were growing up!
It was a really cool interview, I hope you like it! Big thanks to Winona Fighter for a fun time, and my man William for helping out with the conversation. Great job, bud!
Make sure you check out "My Apologies To The Chef', the first album from Winona Fighter, and keep a watch on them. Big things are happening and there's a lot more to come! And their visit to Winona, Minnesota! We should see some nonsense from that too!
After jamming out for a while, we got to talk about a bunch of things: how they turn on the energy when they go out to play a show, how Cher and Rob Thomas / Santana help them get in the mood for a great set, why everything is an emergency in restaurants and what actually happened when the guy told Coco that she looked like "a drunk Phoebe Bridgers", Then my friend William asked about what instruments that they learned to play as kids and what their favorite bands were growing up!
It was a really cool interview, I hope you like it! Big thanks to Winona Fighter for a fun time, and my man William for helping out with the conversation. Great job, bud!
Make sure you check out "My Apologies To The Chef', the first album from Winona Fighter, and keep a watch on them. Big things are happening and there's a lot more to come! And their visit to Winona, Minnesota! We should see some nonsense from that too!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It's Mike Jones. Thanks for checking out the podcast. Really
appreciate it. Make sure you subscribe on the iHeartRadio app
or anywhere you get your podcasts. So every day, whether
it's my interviews or the minute con whatever I put up,
you get all of that right there. We just had
a lot of fun with Wanona Fighter, their band coming up.
They recently put out their first album, got a great sound,
(00:24):
really cool songs, and they rocked and rolled in our
iHeartRadio Sound Bank powered by Northwest Federal Credit Union. Then
we had this conversation with them. Thank you, Thank you,
Wa Fighter ladies and gentlemen, how about that very very
cool here in our iHeartRadio sound Bank called powered by
Northwest Federal Credit Union. We were just talking before you
(00:46):
guys did your set, how you played the Let's Go
Festival a couple weeks ago here in Annapolis. And let
me tell you, guys, this is the exact same thing
you're going to see at a Wanona Fighter show, This
same energy and everything, It is exactly the same. And
is there is there a moment for you guys, like
when you're walking out that when you hit that first
step boom. Here we go, it's like eighty cups of coffee,
(01:08):
fourteen red bulls.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We just shotgun, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, surprisingly I don't. And that was like if if
our like show tonight is one hundred, which it always
is energy wise, that was maybe like fifty percent. You know,
we're reserving the energy. But yeah, I mean surprisingly, I
don't drink coffee before we play or anything. And I
(01:32):
don't do drugs either. Kids don't do that. It's not
good for you. Yeah. I think it's just like when
our walk on song comes on and it's different every night.
I think we like lock in even if we're exhausted.
Last night it was Smooth by Santana featuring Rob Thomas,
and that was like so far That one got me going.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
It's hard not to get just jack. Listen to that song?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Why smooth? Why was it smoo.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Because it was a hot one?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay? Now what what else is on the entrance playlist?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Then?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
For one on a fighter?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Uh? Sure?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah? Some share you like Faith by.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Faith by Limp Biscuit. Yeah, that's hard not to get
pumped up here in the.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
George Michael cover Limp Biscuit style London Bridge by Fergie
gets me gone.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You never know what you're gonna get. It's it's a
completely different genre, a different vibe. Every time, Yeah Share
gets me going. I like that, I like I like her.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I'll take it. Then we will take it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
We're gonna have to say that every time we play
you look like a drunk Phoebe Bridge is the on
DC one on one. By the way, these guys love
Sharing to come out to so you hear that of
the show, you know why You're not gonna get a
uh wait, are we gonna get it?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Do you believe in Life after Love?
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Cover?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Ever? Is that ever gonna come in the onan Ona
Fighter set?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I gotta write that down. That could be actually fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You've got what seven hours till the show tonight, so
that's plenty of time to learn it.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
We could make so much fucking money off her.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Speaking of that song too, that's the big one right now.
You look like a drunk Phoebe Bridgers. It's it's an
interesting title for it, but that actually happened to you.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Someone said that, Yeah crazy the audacity. I had met
Dan out at a bar and completely sober, hadn't had
a beer or anything yet, and a gentleman comes up
to me and tells me I look like the drunk
version of a Phoebe Bridgers and then he just went
off into the night. And yeah, I said, thank you, well,
(03:40):
thank you for that. I'm not sure if that's a
compliment or not, but it's gonna make for a great
song title.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So even if you don't mention anything about her in
the song, it's still like, what just happened? All right,
we'll do something with that, Yeah, exactly, do something with that.
And hey, you made a great song out of it.
And you don't know where that guy went to though,
No clue.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
No clue where his shawl and mustard ash went too.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It was one of those people, Okay, okay, it was
one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And that's on the new album that just came out
a little while ago. My apologies to the chef. Is
there is there a restaurant work before Phoebe Bridge or
before went on a fighter with you guys?
Speaker 5 (04:15):
I guess all of us did work at restaurants at
some point. Yeah, the burger prints over here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
If you consider burger hitting a restaurant, do they serve food?
Of course? It is definitely Yeah, then hell yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I figured because as a restaurant former employee myself, I'm like,
oh yeah, there's a lot of groveling.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
When you screw up, you got to go back to
the kitchen. Yeah, I'm sorry, chef.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah. And that was That was the like last job
I had before I was able to do music pretty
much full time was working in a restaurant, and especially
one in Nashville. It's like extremely stressful. It's like someone's dying.
You're like, whoa, no one's no one's dying, you guys,
come on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Everything in a restaurant is a nine to one to
one emergency all the time. Yeah, every single second of it.
So I was gonna ask you all the questions, but
then William wanted to help me out here.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You got a couple questions for him, buddy, what was
your favorite band when you were a little kid?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Ooh, great shirt, by the way. For me, I think
it was Food Fighters. Food Fighters in Nirvana. That whole
conglomerate was very inspiring to me.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I really like Stevie Wonder when I was a little
kid because of the baselines.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
I think like my first favorite band was probably probably
you Two. I guess maybe maybe Nickelback they were popping
back in the day.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Oh yeah, my first favorite song I do remember it
was good Riddance and it was like it came on
the radio and I was like, what is this song?
And they didn't say it, and so I just had
to wait until it came back on the radio again
to hear it.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah. I had the American Idiot CD in my car
by my car, I mean my parents' car, and I
would make them play it all the time, big big
Green Day fan. Oh thank you. Yeah, she's crushing it.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's a much better compliment than drunk febe bread than
much better, William?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
What else? What else? Do you want to know?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
What was the first instrument you learned how to play?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
I suppose I suppose the recorder third grade, second grade,
piping out some hot Cross buns.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I mean, doesn't get much better than that.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Drums for me, I was a drummer for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I started piano when I was eight.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Do I still play the drums? Yeah? I recorded all
the drums on our album. So if you go go
listen to it, that's me tiptapping away.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
If William great questions. By the way, Buddy nice work.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
If if what not a Fighter could do a show
with any two other bands, who.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Would it be.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Me? I? I you know what we've been. We've been
so lucky, you know. We It was a lot, a
long long grind for a long long time, playing to
you know, zero to two people a lot. But our
first big opportunity we got was opening for Incubus as
direct support. Which you know, when you go from playing
(07:26):
in a bar to then it's like, hey, do you
want to open for Incubis direct support for two shows?
It's kind of crazy. And we've gotten like a lot
of those opportunities, Like we've gotten to be direct support
for like the Offspring. We've played festivals with Foo Fighters.
I think right now, I think I'm really into uh
(07:47):
Amo on the Sniffers. I think that would be really cool.
Hey you guys each pick one too right now? What
are you thinking?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I mean turnstyle would be cool.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Dan almost got to play with Jean's addiction.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Oh and then they fought each other on stage the
week before only my favorite band.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Of all time we were a week away.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Okay, so two bands that could happen one band probably never.
I get it because I don't see Perry or Dave
Navarro ever apologizing to each other about things. So tonight
we have Winona Fighter at DC nine, sold out show.
I'm sure we'll see guys back here in the DMV
soon enough, though. You'll be back around. Also, Philly's coming up, Boston,
Chicago and Winona, Minnesota too. Yes, is that is there
(08:41):
a particular venue there or is that just to get
a sign a picture in front of the sign and
say this is our town.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That's a very good question. We are playing in a
one hundred cap bar and we're just doing it for
the bit. We're just doing it for the laugh in
the venue that the bar that reached out to us,
they were like, hey, just as like a joke. Do
you guys want to complain? And we were like, yeah,
we'll do it for the for the joke.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Of take our jokes really seriously.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Maybe record that one for the live album down the road,
you know it could be something like that. But that's
right around the Minnesota Yacht Club festival, right, Yes, Yeah,
so that's a big one too. That's gonna be a
great one. You guys want to hear a little more
music with on Fighter?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Can we do that? Can we get one more song.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that was a great time talking to Wanona Fighter
in our iHeartRadio Soundbank powered by Northwest Federal Credit Union.
Definitely check out their music with the new album My
Apologies to the Chef and see what's going on with
them with their tour and videos and everything.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Hit them up on socials at Wanona Fighter
What's up.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It's Mike Jones. Thanks for checking out the podcast. Really
appreciate it. Make sure you subscribe on the iHeartRadio app
or anywhere you get your podcasts. So every day, whether
it's my interviews or the minute con whatever I put up,
you get all of that right there. We just had
a lot of fun with Wanona Fighter, their band coming up.
They recently put out their first album, got a great sound,
(00:24):
really cool songs, and they rocked and rolled in our
iHeartRadio Sound Bank powered by Northwest Federal Credit Union. Then
we had this conversation with them. Thank you, Thank you,
Wa Fighter ladies and gentlemen, how about that very very
cool here in our iHeartRadio sound Bank called powered by
Northwest Federal Credit Union. We were just talking before you
(00:46):
guys did your set, how you played the Let's Go
Festival a couple weeks ago here in Annapolis. And let
me tell you, guys, this is the exact same thing
you're going to see at a Wanona Fighter show, This
same energy and everything, It is exactly the same. And
is there is there a moment for you guys, like
when you're walking out that when you hit that first
step boom. Here we go, it's like eighty cups of coffee,
(01:08):
fourteen red bulls.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We just shotgun, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, surprisingly I don't. And that was like if if
our like show tonight is one hundred, which it always
is energy wise, that was maybe like fifty percent. You know,
we're reserving the energy. But yeah, I mean surprisingly, I
don't drink coffee before we play or anything. And I
(01:32):
don't do drugs either. Kids don't do that. It's not
good for you. Yeah. I think it's just like when
our walk on song comes on and it's different every night.
I think we like lock in even if we're exhausted.
Last night it was Smooth by Santana featuring Rob Thomas,
and that was like so far That one got me going.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
It's hard not to get just jack. Listen to that song?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Why smooth? Why was it smoo.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Because it was a hot one?
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay? Now what what else is on the entrance playlist?
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Then?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
For one on a fighter?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Uh? Sure?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah? Some share you like Faith by.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Faith by Limp Biscuit. Yeah, that's hard not to get
pumped up here in the.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
George Michael cover Limp Biscuit style London Bridge by Fergie
gets me gone.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You never know what you're gonna get. It's it's a
completely different genre, a different vibe. Every time, Yeah Share
gets me going. I like that, I like I like her.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I'll take it. Then we will take it.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
We're gonna have to say that every time we play
you look like a drunk Phoebe Bridge is the on
DC one on one. By the way, these guys love
Sharing to come out to so you hear that of
the show, you know why You're not gonna get a
uh wait, are we gonna get it?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Do you believe in Life after Love?
Speaker 5 (02:48):
Cover?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Ever? Is that ever gonna come in the onan Ona
Fighter set?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I gotta write that down. That could be actually fantastic.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You've got what seven hours till the show tonight, so
that's plenty of time to learn it.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
We could make so much fucking money off her.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Speaking of that song too, that's the big one right now.
You look like a drunk Phoebe Bridgers. It's it's an
interesting title for it, but that actually happened to you.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Someone said that, Yeah crazy the audacity. I had met
Dan out at a bar and completely sober, hadn't had
a beer or anything yet, and a gentleman comes up
to me and tells me I look like the drunk
version of a Phoebe Bridgers and then he just went
off into the night. And yeah, I said, thank you, well,
(03:40):
thank you for that. I'm not sure if that's a
compliment or not, but it's gonna make for a great
song title.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So even if you don't mention anything about her in
the song, it's still like, what just happened? All right,
we'll do something with that, Yeah, exactly, do something with that.
And hey, you made a great song out of it.
And you don't know where that guy went to though,
No clue.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
No clue where his shawl and mustard ash went too.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
It was one of those people, Okay, okay, it was
one of those guys.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And that's on the new album that just came out
a little while ago. My apologies to the chef. Is
there is there a restaurant work before Phoebe Bridge or
before went on a fighter with you guys?
Speaker 5 (04:15):
I guess all of us did work at restaurants at
some point. Yeah, the burger prints over here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
If you consider burger hitting a restaurant, do they serve food?
Of course? It is definitely Yeah, then hell yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I figured because as a restaurant former employee myself, I'm like,
oh yeah, there's a lot of groveling.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
When you screw up, you got to go back to
the kitchen. Yeah, I'm sorry, chef.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah. And that was That was the like last job
I had before I was able to do music pretty
much full time was working in a restaurant, and especially
one in Nashville. It's like extremely stressful. It's like someone's dying.
You're like, whoa, no one's no one's dying, you guys,
come on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Everything in a restaurant is a nine to one to
one emergency all the time. Yeah, every single second of it.
So I was gonna ask you all the questions, but
then William wanted to help me out here.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You got a couple questions for him, buddy, what was
your favorite band when you were a little kid?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Ooh, great shirt, by the way. For me, I think
it was Food Fighters. Food Fighters in Nirvana. That whole
conglomerate was very inspiring to me.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
I really like Stevie Wonder when I was a little
kid because of the baselines.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
I think like my first favorite band was probably probably
you Two. I guess maybe maybe Nickelback they were popping
back in the day.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Oh yeah, my first favorite song I do remember it
was good Riddance and it was like it came on
the radio and I was like, what is this song?
And they didn't say it, and so I just had
to wait until it came back on the radio again
to hear it.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah. I had the American Idiot CD in my car
by my car, I mean my parents' car, and I
would make them play it all the time, big big
Green Day fan. Oh thank you. Yeah, she's crushing it.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's a much better compliment than drunk febe bread than
much better, William?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
What else? What else? Do you want to know?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
What was the first instrument you learned how to play?
Speaker 5 (06:25):
I suppose I suppose the recorder third grade, second grade,
piping out some hot Cross buns.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
I mean, doesn't get much better than that.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Drums for me, I was a drummer for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I started piano when I was eight.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Do I still play the drums? Yeah? I recorded all
the drums on our album. So if you go go
listen to it, that's me tiptapping away.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
If William great questions. By the way, Buddy nice work.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
If if what not a Fighter could do a show
with any two other bands, who.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Would it be.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Me? I? I you know what we've been. We've been
so lucky, you know. We It was a lot, a
long long grind for a long long time, playing to
you know, zero to two people a lot. But our
first big opportunity we got was opening for Incubus as
direct support. Which you know, when you go from playing
(07:26):
in a bar to then it's like, hey, do you
want to open for Incubis direct support for two shows?
It's kind of crazy. And we've gotten like a lot
of those opportunities, Like we've gotten to be direct support
for like the Offspring. We've played festivals with Foo Fighters.
I think right now, I think I'm really into uh
(07:47):
Amo on the Sniffers. I think that would be really cool.
Hey you guys each pick one too right now? What
are you thinking?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I mean turnstyle would be cool.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Dan almost got to play with Jean's addiction.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Oh and then they fought each other on stage the
week before only my favorite band.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Of all time we were a week away.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Okay, so two bands that could happen one band probably never.
I get it because I don't see Perry or Dave
Navarro ever apologizing to each other about things. So tonight
we have Winona Fighter at DC nine, sold out show.
I'm sure we'll see guys back here in the DMV
soon enough, though. You'll be back around. Also, Philly's coming up, Boston,
Chicago and Winona, Minnesota too. Yes, is that is there
(08:41):
a particular venue there or is that just to get
a sign a picture in front of the sign and
say this is our town.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That's a very good question. We are playing in a
one hundred cap bar and we're just doing it for
the bit. We're just doing it for the laugh in
the venue that the bar that reached out to us,
they were like, hey, just as like a joke. Do
you guys want to complain? And we were like, yeah,
we'll do it for the for the joke.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Of take our jokes really seriously.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Maybe record that one for the live album down the road,
you know it could be something like that. But that's
right around the Minnesota Yacht Club festival, right, Yes, Yeah,
so that's a big one too. That's gonna be a
great one. You guys want to hear a little more
music with on Fighter?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Can we do that? Can we get one more song.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that was a great time talking to Wanona Fighter
in our iHeartRadio Soundbank powered by Northwest Federal Credit Union.
Definitely check out their music with the new album My
Apologies to the Chef and see what's going on with
them with their tour and videos and everything.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Hit them up on socials at Wanona Fighter
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