Qwam – Girls Aren’t Afraid of Blood
Brooklyn-based punk band QWAM are back with their most visceral, unflinching work to date. Their upcoming album, Girls Aren’t Afraid of Blood (out August 1, 2025), finds frontwoman Felicia Lobo confronting body dysmorphia, the brutal pace of NYC, and the looming fear of aging out of her dreams, through the lens of blood-soaked horror and gut-punch punk songs.
Today, the band officially announce Girls Aren’t Afraid of Blood and share video for new song, “Friend$$” which Lobo says, is the first song we wrote for this album. It’s really about watching my friends find success and feeling left behind. It’s made me wonder if it’s worth it to keep making music and theatre and all the things I love. But the truth is, I can’t stop making things because it’s in my blood. I just have to stay grateful for my internal want to make things and keep following it.
QWAM is a punk band from Brooklyn, NY with theatrical roots. Formed in 2016 by Felicia Lobo and Matt Keim, the two met while working on horror plays in basements and warehouses around NYC. Since then, they’ve self-released an EP (Feed Me) and a self-titled LP, and released the EP Little Bliss through Reta Records.
QWAM has evolved from their earlier pop-punk ethos (check out “Mall” and “Everybody Wants to Watch” from their debut LP) into angrier, gut-wrenching songs pulled from the inner psyche of frontwoman Felicia Lobo. On their new album, Girls Aren’t Afraid of Blood, Lobo writes candidly about her struggles with her body, New York Fucking City, and the fear of aging out of her dreams.
Heavily influenced by horror films, her lyrics are soaked in cinematic dread. Tracks like “Body Snatcher” explore the desperation of wanting to live in someone else’s body, while “Cherry Sauce” spins the slasher trope: “To live as a woman is to live in a chase scene – you are always the final girl or the victim” Lobo says.
Over the two years it took to write the album, Felicia had one clear intention: “I want to write songs that help girls feel less alone. So much of female suffering is hidden in our own heads, and I wanted these songs to hold some girl’s hand and to give her someone to scream into the abyss with.”
Felicia, along with longtime bandmates Matt Keim (guitar) and Eddie Kuspiel (bass), and new addition Anthony Spinnato (drums), traveled to Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville, NC to record with producer Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday).
Now joined by final member Dave Lucas (guitar), QWAM is ready to release their album on August 1, 2025, followed by a tour across the Eastern U.S. They will also be touring down to play FEST 23 in Gainesville, FL in October.
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