Winona Fighter Announce Sophomore Album ‘Brutal & Extremely Underrated’ and Share “LEECH” Video
Written by Ash Schnoor on October 15, 2026
Winona Fighter will follow their 2025 debut with Brutal & Extremely Underrated, out January 22, 2027 via Rise Records. The Nashville trio announced the album alongside a new single, “LEECH,” and a North American headline tour that kicks off January 21.
Pre-orders and pre-saves are live now. “LEECH” is the second song out from the record after “BOMBS AWAY,” which arrived earlier this year, with a Hannah Hall directed video. Frontwoman Coco Kinnon wrote the song after reading online comments about the first album that she probably should have skipped.
The title comes from a line in “SELF AFFIRMATIONS,” the sixth of twelve tracks. According to the band’s press materials, the writing shifts outward this time. Where My Apologies to The Chef mostly turned Kinnon’s anxiety inward, the new songs address the state of the world directly. “BOMBS AWAY” is a hardcore punk track about the immigration raids that have ramped up across the U.S., and the closer, “Title (REDACTED),” started as a song about AI before picking up a partial nod to the Epstein files.
Bassist and producer Austin Luther self-produced the record at his home studio, the same setup as the debut. The first of two recording sessions landed during a Nashville ice storm that knocked out power and left the garage without heat, which pushed the band to finish fast. Mixing went to Greg Collins, whose credits include System of a Down, U2 and No Doubt. Self-taught artist Glen Martin Taylor made the cover art.
Luther says the band didn’t want a carbon copy of the first record, and that deciding how much to change was a nerve-wracking mind game. Kinnon, who also plays drums, frames the DIY approach as a point of pride, saying she wants to give listeners “something real in a world of slop.”
Guitarist Dan Fuson, Kinnon and Luther spent the summer on the idobi Radio Summer School Tour and have played Vans Warped Tour dates in Long Beach and Mexico City this year. They return to Warped in Orlando on November 14. Closer to home, they open for Taking Back Sunday’s annual holiday show at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on December 12.
The headline run starts January 21 in Bentonville, Arkansas and moves through Texas, the West Coast and the Midwest before reaching the Northeast in March. The Philly stop is March 11 at First Unitarian Church, followed by Bowery Ballroom in New York on March 12 and Space in Hamden, CT on March 14. The tour wraps March 26 at The Basement East in Nashville. Support acts haven’t been announced, and tickets are at winonafighter.com.
The album’s last moment may say the most about it. Kinnon left in a line on the closer where she sounds almost out of breath, because she didn’t want to edit the rawness out.
Keep up with Winona Fighter: Instagram // X // Facebook // YouTube // TikTok // Website
