Don’t mess with Ava.
You might treat her like dirt. But when the romance ends, she’s gonna write and deadpan-chant the following lyrics about you:
The silver hoop on my finger was a noose
Emotional suicide whenever I was with you
Why would you date me if you fucking hate me?
And why would you fuck me if you think that I’m ugly?
I hope it hurts when you think of me
I hope you know that you sicken me …
I’m choking on all the breath I waste
while blood and vomit’s all I can taste
Ava — 22-year-old Ava Robertson — sang those lyrics from her the song “Blood & Vomit” during an appearance Thursday with her local “emo, punk, riot grrrl” quartet Psycho Brat on WNHH FM’s “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51” tiniest-of-all-tiny-desk program.
She said she wrote the song to process and get to other side of a break-up of an emotionally abusive relationship. She doesn’t know if the ungentleman in question has heard the song.
Psycho Brat performed the song and three others from their 2024 EP Crying Over Spilled Milk a way they’ve never performed them before: acoustically rather than with thrashing distorted electronic guitar and full drum set. Jayden Coughlin handled the bass duties, Holden Newton guitar, Brady Gingell drums.
Robertson had this to say during the “Acoustic Thursday” performance about another unfortunate ex, in “Questions Unaswered, Questions Unasked”:
How are you so fucking fine?
When I can′t sleep at fucking night …
I never want to hear your name
I never want to see your face
Get out of my dreams
Get out of my head
Get out of my heart
& get out of my bed
Psychobrat — which originally formed in a University of New Haven music production class — did not perform on “Acoustic Thursday” a new song it has released as a single: “F*CK 47,” an equally unsparing unlove song for our current POTUS. (“take from the poor/ give to the rich/6 bankruptcies/ for a “great economist … fascist in office/ stealing our rights/ fuck 47 … old man hands (get off my body)/ old man hands (get off my laws)/ old man hands (get dead & buried)/ old man hands (leave me alone) … rapist in office/ stealing our rights/ fuck 47 … i’ll scream until i have no voice/ i’ll scream until my lungs collapse/ i’ll scream so you might fucking hear/ i’ll scream so you might fucking care.”)
That song was too full-on thrash to translate to an acoustic rendition to play on WNHH, the band decided. But they’re featuring it in live performances, including when the song elicited the “most heartfelt applause of the night” at a Jan. 29 three-band rage bill at Cafe Nine, according to Indy reviewer Brian Slattery.
Robertson said writing and performing “F*CK 47” offered a similar release to the angst she processed in the relationship songs. The track has already landed a spot on a Spotify women-in-punk playlist and generated social media buzz. The band has another album in the works; it plans to start regionally touring this summer. Here’s hoping that’s just the start of a breakout ride for a raw honesty-propelled local band — and that they follow through on a plan to play punk versions of Monkees and Beach Boys songs.
Click on the video below to watch Psycho Brat perform and discuss their music on WNHH FM’s “Acoustic Thursday @ Studio 51.”
