Twat Union: Don’t Blame The Peach EP
Vinyl/DL/Streaming
Available 20th February
Order Vinyl here
Don’t Blame The Peach, the second collection of feminist punk anthems from Twat Union, full of gags along with a fistful of home truths is out this week. Iain Key reviews with commentary from vocalist Kate Mac.
Twat Union are a force to be reckoned with. The sextet deliver a chaotic and theatrical live show that’s part comedy gig, part punk squat, part improv theatre, and really does have to be seen to be believed, and I have. Once seen it does help you understand just why they’re such a vital voice and force who are rapidly gaining notoriety amongst those in the know.
The London based feral-theatre-punk collective were pleasantly surprised by the reaction from both fans and press alike following their 2025 debut EP, Don’t Look It In The Eye, and the live dates that accompanied it. Kate reflecting, ‘We’d played a lot of live shows before our EP release and built up a bit of a rep as a live band, so there was definitely a bit of anticipation from us in terms of being able to capture the live show on a record, but the response was amazing.’
Having barely recovered the new EP contains a number of tunes which anyone who has attended one of the gigs will be familiar with, including set opener WFH. WFH doesn’t mean Working From Home and sets the tone for the live shows. ‘We’re very open with friends about discussing masturbating and those kinds of things, and the presence of it in our lives should just be as normalised as possible,” says Kate of why it’s important for them to address these kinds of issues. “I remember as a teenager not really thinking it was something women did, but we have a lot of young teenage fans, and I think it’s important to let them know that it is normal—and ENCOURAGED—for women to explore their sexuality through masturbating. It’s very important to understand female pleasure not just through a male lens.’
Don’t Blame The Peach, takes its name from one of their favourite lines from another crowd favourite, Period Sex, specifically the line, ‘You don’t blame the peach for the juice running down your hand’. Kate explains, ‘This has been a song that people have been repeatedly asking us to release, so I suppose the name is an homage to finally unleashing this controversial beast into the world. It’s a great litmus test live—you can really sense if the crowd ‘gets’ us when we play this song, and often when the energy in the room gets a little bit more feral. People used to walk out during this one when we first started, and we kinda love that. It’s all based on a real experience, that at the time felt like the most embarrassing thing ever, but then I spoke to my mates, and it turns out its super normal? So, we wanted to write a song that just sort of let other women know (and men, who may be the interested party) that this stuff is normal, it’s funny, it’s biological and messy, but that’s ok.’
The EP also features, W.I.T.C.H, another of the live set, which also gets the theatrical treatment live with a Wizard Of Oz style twist. Kate noting one of the highlights from the recording sessions (with Jonny First) at their unofficial HQ in Southeast London was the “cackle session” whilst recording for ‘W.I.T.C.H’, with Alice, Harriet and Kate all partaking in a witch cackle competition into the mic. ‘You gotta use your whole stomach and diaphragm for that kind of witchy stuff,’ reflects Kate, thoughtfully.
Whether normalising the conversation around female masturbation on WFH, causing people to walk out of live shows with the aforementioned Period Sex’ or examining the female existence and its rollercoaster of hormones on ‘W.I.T.C.H’, across the EP the band are never afraid to tackle a weighty subject with a little bit of humour. W.I.T.C.H being about hormones and emotions and the day-to-day of existing as a woman. ‘We wanted to write something in homage to the history of witch trials that’s kind of baked into the female experience and relate it to the modern day. It’s a bit mad, but this is what flopped out, and we love it.’
The EP also includes a couple of recent releases, Tiny Shorts and Pay Me More, of the latter the Kate notes, ‘Pay Me More’ as a gender gap anthem that you can thrash to the next time you are pissed off at work. We wanted to capture that f*cking EXHAUSTION of not being taken seriously, of watching your work go undervalued again and again, all because someone at work thinks you might be ‘fiery’ (when, we all know if you were a man, this would be seen as confidence…) This song is all about that rage that is bubbling away under all the politeness at your desk, when respect has to be requested, instead of given freely.”
In a fucked up world, Twat Union are a feminist band reacting to a lot of serious and aggravating things that happens to women in the world, many of the outfit’s seemingly light-hearted songs have darker roots, and weaponising their knack for humour to crack open these difficult discussions is a very deliberate tactic that the band employ to connect with audiences through the sheer silliness of their comedy.
‘We find that those darker moments hit harder when everything is light and silly most of the time,” Kate says. “People are paying attention when they’re trying to hear a punchline, so sometimes you can hit them with a home truth instead and it lands very clearly. We love this record and hope we’ve captured how much fun we had making it—sound effects, weird interjections and just rocking out with your mates. And we hope people relate to it as much as we do.’
Twat Union are… Kate Mac (Lead Vocals); Alice Rivers (Keys, Trumpet, Vocals); Lucie Bowles (Lead Guitar, Vocals); Beth Hopkins (Sax, Guitar, Vocals); Tessa Alison (Bass) and Harriet Sibley (Drums). Catch them on their forthcoming UK Tour (details below). As well as making you think you’re guaranteed to have a laugh, and possibly do a spot of line dancing too…
The limited edition pink vinyl, featuring both EP’s Don’t Blame The Peach and Don’t Look It In The Eye can be preordered from the Alcopop! Shop here
Photos supplied by Wall of Sound PR
All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him via his LinkTree
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