Childbirth

Childbirth fuses raw, aggressive lo-fi punk with biting, comedic lyrics that chronicle the everyday realities of feminist living, forming a Pacific Northwest supergroup drawn from three prominent Seattle indie acts: Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt handling lead vocals and guitar, Tacocat’s Bree McKenna supplying bass and harmonies, and Pony Time’s Stacy Peck behind the drums. Shapiro and Peck initially crossed paths when Chastity Belt shared a bill with Peck’s then-current outfit Redbook; their next encounter at a Team Dresch performance sparked conversations that quickly turned toward a joint project. The pair began composing material, after which Shapiro brought McKenna aboard on bass. Unaware at the time, Shapiro did not know McKenna and Peck had once dated and parted on difficult terms, yet the creative chemistry proved potent enough for the two to reconcile their past and commit to the band. Early 2014 saw the release of Childbirth’s debut album, It’s a Girl!, on the Seattle-based Help Yourself Records imprint; cut in a single five-hour session on a budget of about one hundred dollars, the economical recording yielded the track “I Only Fucked You as a Joke,” whose sardonic reversal of a casual hookup quickly circulated online through enthusiastic blog coverage. By the close of that year Spin had placed the song among its ten best of 2014, and Billboard followed in March 2015 by listing Childbirth among its “20 All-Female Bands You Need to Know.” Later in 2015 the trio signed with Suicide Squeeze Records, which issued their sophomore effort, Women’s Rights, that October.