I’m sure you’re well aware of The Wonder Years’ upcoming six sold-out nights at Theatre of Living Arts… However, we’re actually more excited about some of the bands they’re bringing along to handle support duties, such as Pool Kids (4/10), Future Teens (4/11), Spanish Love Songs (4/12), Queen of Jeans (4/14), Bad Bloom (4/15), and our new phriends, Weakened Friends, who will be opening Night One of the unofficial residency on April 9th. And while I only recently met (via Zoom) Weakened Friends’ guitarist/vocalist Sonia Sturino and bassist Annie Hoffman, who have been married for the majority of the group’s decade-long tenure, the Portland, Maine band are far from strangers to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, having played numerous dates at Boot & Saddle, Everybody Hits, and The First Unitarian Church, in addition to shows at Mantua Yacht Club, Kung Fu Necktie, JJ’s Diner, The Barbary, Johnny Brenda’s, and, just last November, Nikki Lopez.
“We love Philly! There’s always a great energy. They have some of the best crowds and energy in the country,” says Sonia, before Annie recalls two particularly vivid memories, one where their drummer spent around 10 minutes trying to parallel park the tour van while the person in the running car behind them was happy to let them take their time (“The person just sat there and patiently waited, didn’t honk or anything, and I just thought, ‘They’re so polite!’”) and one that occurred their last time on South Street: “We got into town early and were walking around the neighborhood, and we congregated outside this record store, and we looked across the street and there was a massive dildo suction-cupped to the window, just hanging there!”
Weakened Friends’ recent stop at Nikki Lopez was part of the headlining run behind their third studio album, Feels Like Hell, which dropped last October on Don Giovanni, their home since their very first full-length, 2018’s Common Blah. “It’s a small operation, and you really know the people; it’s just Joe [Steinhardt] and a couple of people… It’s been great as a band,” says Sonia of the group’s time with the label (also home to PHILTHY phriends Ailbhe Reddy and LAKE), while Annie adds, “They have really band-friendly contracts in a world where label contracts are basically signing your entire identity away.”
Feels Like Hell sees Weakened Friends happy to confront the atrocities of global capitalism and the world it’s inspired with a brash post-pop-punk angst. It also has Sonia officially embracing their identity as a gender-nonconforming person (and vocalist) for the first time. “It was a flash in the pan after a lot of pent-up emotions and feelings after a writer’s block… There’s growth in it, and by your third record, growth should be happening, or else you’re not doing it right,” says Sonia. And Annie says fans have been loving it: “Live audience reactions have been very moving. There are already people in the room screaming these words back to you!” “That’s everything you hope for!” Sonia exclaims, admitting, “It is a very shared art form, so it means a lot seeing people connect to it. When you’re playing to empty, or half-empty, rooms, it’s a grind, like when you’re playing to five people in Richmond [laughs], and this record has been the first time that’s not happening.”
When I ask what they consider to be some of the highlights of Weakened Friends’ first decade, Sonia rapidly replies, “Meeting my wife and marrying her, that’s probably #1… I hope for her, too,” laughing, before Annie quickly concurs. Although they also note really enjoying the time the band spends on the road. “You never know who you’re gonna meet, the odd personalities… You just see so many walks of life and people that you would never come across otherwise, best friends I consider family now,” says Sonia, while Annie adds, “We have all of these lifelong friends that we never would’ve met if it weren’t for this!” They also admit to appreciating the structured chaos of the touring routine. “It makes coming back to normal life a little difficult, because I kind of have a build-your-own-schedule job, and so does Annie, so I love the routine of being on tour, so I can be like, ‘I put in a day’s work! I did a day!’ and then I get to play a show at the end,” explains Sonia.
Sonia and Annie tell me that there will likely be more headlining dates in the fall, including stops in cities they’ve already hit, but tomorrow night in Kansas City they will kick off their dates opening for The Wonder Years, which conclude on opening night of The Wonder Years’ six-night stand at Theatre of Living Arts on April 9th, which they seem to be quite excited about. “We’re the first of three acts, and these are some of the biggest stages and rooms we’ve played on this tour, and will probably be largely people who are unfamiliar with us, which will be interesting coming off of a bunch of headlining dates,” says Sonia, with Annie exclaiming, “We want to win them over in half-an-hour, so it’ll be all killer, no filler!”
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