But Her Lyrics...

SHOW NOTES: It’s Shawna Summer! Shawna chats with Abbey Carbonneau of the org Book More Women They discuss: “Waterfalls” by TLC, needing numbers and visuals, the power to make headliners, admiration for people that work at festivals, systems thinking and points of leverage (what?), including artists about the things that affect them, what’s a non-corporate phrase for “on the ground”? Why has gende...

SHOW NOTES: Shawna chats with Natalie Jurosky, the musician and leader of Scranton Girls Rock that helped Shawna create the online course version of her Safer Space Program. They talk about different learning styles, how talking is musical, bringing music into learning, whatever you want to do there’s a way to do it safely, and can you market this? This course is for bands, venues, small businesse...

SHOW NOTES: Shawna chats with Elise Okusami of the band Oceanator about the value of storytelling and not waiting for a big hero to save us through their song, “Lullaby.” Also? The pitterpatter of Rosie’s paws on the floor (and scratching and shaking and just generally making sound), Oceanator as a family affair, what we’re like to tour with, and who else lists Dookie as their first punk record? S...

Shawna chats with Yadee Araniva, the singer for Ratas En Zelo, about the hypocrisy of religion, fearing the devil, fearing ICE, but also the balance of all things, feeling joy, and embracing cringe. Listen in and get to know this cool NYC band! SHOW LINKS: https://www.instagram.com/ratasenzelo/ https://linktr.ee/ratasenzelo Know your rights when it comes to ICE: https://immigrantjustice.org/for-im...

Shawna throws out her usual podcast format to chat with drummer, activist, and lyricist Katy Otto on the heels of her celebrating 25 years of running her record label, Exotic Fever Records. If you own a copy of War On Women’s “Improvised Weapons,” you have an EXF release! They talk writing process, the things we’re working on (personally and musically), dads of daughters, Heart, Rosanne Cash, the...

This one is for the prog-rock girlies! The business of being in 2 bands. Is it Boise or Boy-see? Finding bandmates as an adult woman. Getting unglued to our phones. Passive vs Active participation in our lives. Are we post- post-riot girl yet? Honorable mentions: Failure Shiner Earth The French Tips The Breeders “Do ya love me now?” SHOW LINKS: “Perfect Too” music video: https://www.youtube.com/wa...

After being interviewed by Christina Rowatt for her mental health podcast Occupy the Void, host Shawna turned the tables and interviewed her for But Her Lyrics! An enjoyable chat about what it’s like to be a woman in journalism and podcasting, her favorite interview moments, and how a love of language has led her life. Also: Rosie barking, the Extra Extra jingle, having a face for TV, passionate m...

In this episode of But Her Lyrics, host Shawna speaks to Caithlin De Marrais, bassist and co-singer and -lyricist for 2nd wave emo band, Rainer Maria. On Thanksgiving morning they dove deep into an early song “Rain Yr Hand,” about how accessing all ages music making spaces is fundamental to our development. Overall themes? Reflection, hindsight, growth, and community. There will be a Patreon-exclu...

Join host Shawna as she speaks with Carina Zachary, singer and lyricist for NYC-based band Husbandry, about their song “Ghostload” from the album A Port In A Storm. They met in a punk rock parking lot and it got weirder from there. #ripthecrown Content warning - this episode talks about gun violence and school shootings. You'll also hear Carina speak about songwriting, taking breaks, how she g...

In this very special episode, host Shawna Potter chats with her former bandmates from the late 90s/early 00s Nashville indie band, Fair Verona. An old, unlabeled mp3 of the FV song “The Downfall of a Well-Known Actress” found its way onto the Lostwave message boards and with some great detective work, this online community found where the song came from and were pleasantly surprised to find out we...

Host Shawna Potter talks to Linh Le of Bad Cop Bad Cop as they dig into their song “Safe and Legal.” She’s later joined by Amelia Bonow, co-founder of Shout Your Abortion. There’s a lot of talk about the importance of story-sharing, as well as: the hardship of finding a real bathroom at warped tour, instruments as a shield, old footage of dance recitals, being both a gymnast and a rockabilly, movi...

Host Shawna talks to Emily and Valerie, members of the Canadian rock band, The Anti-Queens. In this fast-paced interview, they talk about gear, recording this latest album (lots of gear talk for the nerds!), sexism in music, writing overtly political lyrics for the first time, Canada’s image on the world stage versus the reality, being lied to by the educational system about Indigenous history, da...

Content Warning: sexual assault, child abuse, addiction, racism, and other heavy themes are discussed. Host Shawna Potter talks to Clementine Morrigan and Jay Lesoleil, the hosts of Fucking Cancelled (two L’s because they’re Canadian), a podcast that examines all things related to cancel culture in lefty/progressive circles. In this episode, Shawna aims to learn more about their critiques and what...

Host Shawna Potter talks to SkyDxddy about her song, “7 Years.” They also discuss capital T Trauma, social media’s effect on victim blaming, asking for the help you need, deciding whether to throw bricks or start writing music. You’ll hear a cute little dog whimper, and lots of talk about sexual assault, and the mental health effects that can come with it, like anxiety and depression, and learn so...

If you’re looking to understand addiction more, help yourself, or help someone in your life, this is a must-listen! Host Shawna speaks to creator of the Drunk Punk Recovery program, Tim Spock, while he serves out a 15 year sentence in a correctional facility. They talk about how his zines found (and affected) Shawna, prison life, how religious overtones can turn people off from help, the brain che...

Host Shawna talks to Maya and Sei of the Montreal (by way of Japan) surf rock band TEKE::TEKE about their song “Garakuta,” which details how all the used and disposable items we create will one day rise up and take over. We also discuss the desire to create a visual world through music, starting out as a cover band, who is considered disposable, and how much more trash there is in North America. H...

Host Shawna talks to Sadie Dupuis (of Speedy Ortiz, Sad13, etc) about her start as a musician, singing in a children’s choir, songwriting, how that differs from writing poetry, surviving on tour, and her dogs. What’s your favorite flora and fauna? And don’t say van mushrooms, that’s already taken. Full version with bonus story available only at patreon.com/shawnapotter. The official sponsors of th...

[TW: SA, r*pe, murder, violence] Host Shawna Potter speaks to Palehound singer El about their song "Killer,"  a (platonic) love song about the desire to protect a friend from their abuser - and just how far they’ll go to do it. They discuss how El writes songs, the value of violence, and the considerations taken when writing songs about real people and their trauma. Then Shawna chats with Ang...

Host Shawna Potter talks to singer/songwriter Rozzi about her song, “Orange Skies,” a beautifully moody song about the forest fires affecting her state of California. They dig into how Rozzi and her writing partner were able to take an overwhelmingly large issue like climate change and personalize it. As you listen, can you tell it’s just the demo?! Later, Shawna speaks with climate justice activi...

Abortion Forever! Host Shawna Potter speaks with self-proclaimed queerdo MuMu about her song, “Wrapped Up (Post-Roe)” - a song so nice it’s been released twice. She then interviews not one, but two experts from the Baltimore Abortion Fund. Listen to the entire episode to learn how abortion funds are mutual aid, how this issue is life and death but not black and white, what is SCOTUS up to (do we h...

Episode 20 - The very first live episode! My patrons got exclusive early access to the original live YouTube episode and after some very light editing, it's available to everyone as a regular old bonus podcast episode. I interviewed my friend and band mate Jenarchy about a song they wrote over 10 years ago in the band NOMORE, "Totalitarian Aggroculture." Listen in to hear us talk about politics (t...

If cryptic messages from the past are warning us about the future, are we likely to listen? Join host Shawna Potter for a very quick chat with historian Mike Dash about “Hunger Stones.” In his second appearance on the pod he gives some background on what could be a War On Women song but just isn’t…yet? Folklore versus bureaucracy. Science versus the middle ages. A cool story, or a warning to save...

Lauren Ruth Ward spends some time breaking down her song “Must Be Nice,” a fed-up feminist catchall chorale, with host Shawna Potter. They talk about the unique way this song was approached, female masturbation, being born a feminist, songwriting when you’re in a band versus as a solo artist, and what it’s like to work with all women after mostly working with men. Also, Shawna begs her favorite pl...

Harm occurs on an unfortunately wide spectrum. How do we find the appropriate and commensurate path for repair? How do we know if someone is overstating harm? When does the pursuit of justice turn into the abuse of others? And what do we do about it? Listen as host Shawna speaks with Sarah Schulman, author of Conflict is not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair...

Speaking with Shawna is guest Hannah Brancato, co-founder of the culture-jamming FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, the organization behind The Monument Quilt for survivors of rape and sexual assault, and their allies. They discuss collaborating on the music video, what it was like to see the effects of their activism in real time, and the difficult necessity of living our values. Learn all about the...