Childbirth

Mixing primitive but punchy lo-fi punk rock with witheringly hilarious lyrics that deal with the ups and downs of life as a real world feminist, Childbirth are something of a Pacific Northwest punk supergroup, featuring members of three noted independent bands from Seattle — Julia Shapiro from Chastity Belt on lead vocals and guitar, Bree McKenna of Tacocat on bass and backing vocals, and Pony Time’s Stacy Peck on drums. Shapiro and Peck first met when Chastity Belt and Peck’s band of the time Redbook played a show together, and when they bumped into one another at a Team Dresch show, they began talking about collaborating. The two started writing songs together, and Shapiro invited McKenna to play bass in the new band. Unknown to Shapiro, McKenna and Peck had previously been in a relationship that did not end well, but the musical collaboration between the three was strong enough that Bree and Stacy agreed to set aside their differences and work together. In early 2014, Childbirth released their first album, It’s a Girl!, through the local Help Yourself Records label. Recorded in one five-hour session for roughly $100, the low-budget project spawned the track “I Only Fucked You as a Joke,” a funny number that turns a typical one-night stand upside down and became a viral hit as bloggers spread the word about the tune. At year’s end, Spin magazine had named “I Only Fucked You as a Joke” one of the ten best songs of 2014, and in March 2015 Billboard had declared Childbirth one of “20 All-Female Bands You Need to Know.” In 2015 Childbirth struck a deal with the indie punk label Suicide Squeeze Records, which released the group’s second album, Women's Rights, in October 2015. ~ Mark Deming