Daughters of Venus on Summer Festival Slots

From left: Ava Mitchell, Jenny McMillan, October Allen, Ayeda Masood, and Kiri Nakagawa. Photo by Carlos Salinas. 

Female-fronted rock band Daughters of Venus, based out of the University of Washington, is preparing for a summer of festival slots. On Sunday, they played their first of the season: the UW Bothell Block Party.

The band consists of October Allen and Ava Mitchell on vocals and guitar, Kiri Nakagawa on bass and vocals, Jenny McMillan on drums, and Ayeda Masood on keys.

“Initially it was kind of just like a, ‘Oh, let's meet up in the, like, rehearsal space on campus, and, like, jam the songs that, like, Jenny wrote, and like, try to write, figure that whole process out’, but now it's, like, scheduled rehearsals, scheduled meetings, it's a lot more, like, formalized… we also just, like, did not know what we were doing at first,” Kiri says of the origin of the band.

Daughters of Venus has played several different venues and showcases over the years, typically featuring other female-fronted bands. As many schools do, UW has unofficial student-run venues that pop up over the years and eventually fade as people graduate. Or, in the case of a venue called Martha’s Vineyard, Kiri says, “They had to shut down because they were getting kicked out of their house, but they're… in a new place now, and they're gonna do it again [with a] new brand.”

Additionally, Daughters of Venus has played for the UW Husky Jam. The student organization is described on UW HuskyLink as “dedicated to providing a space for all student bands of any genre to perform live.” As Daughters of Venus has advanced through prominent Seattle venues like The Crocodile, Neumos, the Vera Project and Madame Lou’s, they “don’t just sit back and wait. [We] just like, jump into it, and now… we know what we have to do, we know what sort of specs [we need].”

They rocked the UW Bothell Block Party. Highlights included leading call-and-response chants for their songs “Deja Vu” and “I Am An Evil Bitch”. The energy of the band was palpable. Ava, October, and Kiri were the main singers, and their stage presence was impeccable. They were so cool. Their vocals were great – I was particularly impressed by Kiri’s growling while singing the word “motherfucker” during “I Am an Evil Bitch”. They screamed “Get off my dick” with exactly the right intensity for such an outrageous line. As their set neared a close, they introduced one of their biggest songs, “Siren Eyes”, as their favorite. The song is a beautiful way of embracing and bringing light on the empowering deadliness of femininity.

Most importantly, they debuted the rock song “Over Now”, which will be out tonight. The title is symbolic to how four out of five main band members are graduating from UW this month, though the song is about a relationship.

From left: Ayeda Masood on keyboard, Ava Mitchell on vocals, October Allen on electric guitar, Jenny McMillan on drums, Kiri Nakagawa on bass. Photo by Louise Geri.

Audience member Chris J.’s favorite song was “I Am An Evil Bitch.” He said of their performance, “It would’ve been great if there were more people here at this point for them… But I really appreciated their energy they brought to it… My favorite thing with live music [is] if they’re having fun, I’m having fun.”

You can help fill the crowd for Daughters of Venus at Freya Fair and Bumbershoot! Stay posted to their Spotify to listen to “Over Now” when it releases at midnight ET tonight!