Atlanta’s Catfight! fights for reproductive rights

The band’s multigenerational benefit concert this weekend supports reproductive rights and like-minded female musicians.

During a recent conference call with ArtsATL, the three members of the long-standing Atlanta-based band Catfight! had several important issues to discuss.

Top of their list was the upcoming benefit “Catfight! For Your Rights,” slated for this coming Saturday afternoon and evening at the Garden Club. Beginning at 4 p.m., the bill features a wonderfully diverse female-centric lineup of Georgia-based musicians — anchored, curated and headlined by the busy trio.

Proceeds from the event are primarily earmarked for two local reproductive rights organizations: ARC Southeast (arc-southeast.org) and Feminist Center for Reproductive Liberation (feministcenter.org).

“It’s our No. 1 priority right now. Making this thing happen has been a lot of work, but we feel it’s so important for the times we’re living in,” said bassist-vocalist-co-founder Katy Graves. “Reproductive rights is a really big term, and basically it touches everyone who cares about human rights in general. Last year, we raised $3,000, and this year we’re hoping to at least double that amount.”

To commemorate the band’s second annual event for the wide-swath issue, a new limited-edition T-shirt will be available for sale. Graves added she’d been working on a special handmade magazine with pictures from last year’s event and helpful reproductive resource information. “It’ll be a totally old-school ’zine, with staples and everything.”

“We try to stay upbeat in general,” she continued, “but it’s also depressing because the reproductive rights situation has only gotten worse. Since last year’s show, it seemed like everything would change, and then I’d have to revise the pages to include whatever else was going on. But we have a lot of resources to share, and we really want to get it out to the people who might be confused about how to research their own personal rights.”

“I’m old,” she laughed, “but my son is 23 and he and his friends are just bombarded with information all the time. We’re trying to cut through the overkill with a helpful little pack of info to pass along while people enjoy the awesome bands we’ve lined up. Everyday there’s depressing news about how our rights are being violated all over the world, so we are pushing to get the word out that we’re all not alone in this fight. We’ve found there’s a whole network of available support.”

The constantly expanding network also includes many like-minded musicians. Inspired by WREK’s annual “Wrektacular” shows, the band collectively decided to spotlight new and upcoming female-fronted bands.

“We had been wanting to gather as many of our female musician friends as possible, to sort of bring everyone together for this kind of benefit,” continued guitarist-vocalist Jennifer Leavey. “And we wanted it to be an all-ages event — to be able to include everyone who wanted to participate in a big, multi-act show and just to be there to experience it all. We’ve been on many shows, even recently, where we were the only female band on the bill. This show will be the direct opposite of that kind of environment.”

“Thankfully, in some circles a female band isn’t as big of a deal ‘novelty act’ as it once was, but that kind of mentality does persist,” explained Leavey. “In the ’90s, I was in an all-female band [the short-lived Atlanta-based Bite] before Catfight! had even started. But, now, a lot of the younger bands have women in them, so maybe things are finally changing a bit. Coming from our point of view in the punk/garage mind-set, it’s certainly been a long journey to get here. Now we’re just trying to give back to whoever might need our help and encouragement.”

“These ladies are really carrying that torch,” said drummer Stacy Kerber, a veteran of the all-female band The Moto-Litas, who released material on Amy Ray’s Daemon Records over two decades ago. “I joined Catfight! in 2022 or so, and we are all working as a combined force to support women musicians and the issues that still affect us all, even in 2025.”

Catfight! celebrated its 30^th anniversary earlier this year, with a local performance on the same stage as this coming Saturday’s event.

“At this point, I think we have a lot to celebrate and hopefully plenty of advice for younger bands,” continued Graves. “The original lineup of this band started playing together in the spring of ’95, and Jennifer didn’t even turn 21 until June of that year.”

Adding extra pressure to their debut was the fact that their first show just happened to be at Music Midtown, the sprawling Atlanta music festival. “So we sort of started on what seemed like a giant stage to us,” said Leavey, “and then we moved to the smaller ones to get more experience. Katy [and original drummer Ann Ciovacco] had been playing in bands already, but to me it was a really big step. So we are excited to showcase the newer bands on this show in a more intimate environment as we watch their progress.”  

“And, just as our band has grown and survived, I think Katy has been planning this type of show to grow by eventually including some real mega-bands at some point,” continued Kerber. “Since it’s a benefit, finding people who want to play for free has been a little bit of a challenge in today’s economy. But I feel like in my own drumming career, I’ve played for free most of the time anyway, so why not make it count to benefit everyone? I think it’s a great way to expose the elder musicians on the same stage as the younger generation. And it’s perfect for us because everyone involved is 100 percent dedicated to the cause.”   

The participating musicians for the 2025 edition of the happening include K. Michelle Dubois, The Brower Sisters Band, Yes Dear, Father Figure and a set from DJ Carrot.

“Michelle is an old friend of ours,” said Graves. “As you know, she was in Babyfat and then Ultrababyfat, and she has toured everywhere. She also dealt with a lot of the same ‘female musician’ stigma over the years. Her current band has also agreed to be on the bill with her, and that includes members of Dropsonic, and they also go way back with us. So, yes, some guys are playing, and they also support it all, too.”

“The Brower Sisters played with us last year, and they are just amazing,” said Kerber. “They also played our 30^th Anniversary show, and we really love them. Their band is led by twin sisters who are seniors in high school — and we’ve been following their career for several years now. They’re really doing something great, and we’re so glad they’ve agreed to play this show with us.”

As for the other guests at the benefit, Graves added that she feels comforting “full-circle” moments with both Father Figure and Yes Dear. “I started playing in bands when I was going to Georgia Tech in the early ’90s. I love that Father Figure has members who are Tech students as well.”

“Also, it’s so cool that the niece of musician Shannon Bakos is in Yes, Dear,” continued Graves. “I played with Shannon in [another Atlanta-born all-female band] Doll Squad when I was in my 20s. So I feel like there’s a lot of cool relationships with all of them. We haven’t played with either of those bands before, but we’re super stoked to connect with them and maybe expose them to a whole new generation of fans.”

Rounding out the bill, DJ Carrot, an artist who prefers they/them pronouns, is also dear to the Catfight! family, said Leavey. “They’re my child, so I love the connection, and Carrot is a multi-instrumentalist, so maybe they will jam with some of the other bands as the night goes on.”

The members of Catfight! are proud of their three-decade legacy and vow to continue to play music and raise funds for worthy causes. “I must say, it is a bit strange to be these sorta elder statespersons of a scene,” said Kerber. “But the truth is, we are older and we have grown children. We’re not just women;we are older women. We have careers and lives and various day jobs away from music as well. So to make the time to do this, it has to be something we all love and support completely. It’s a true labor of love for us to be able to play music at all, but to help raise awareness and to include the next generation is not a job — it’s a necessity!”

When asked if the upcoming event might become a yearly tradition, Graves paused for a moment. “Sadly, yeah. I guess we’ll have to keep doing these things unless something really crazy happens. So there’ll probably be another one next year. We’re still writing new music, too, but right now, the way things are going, we might even need to go quarterly at some point to focus on some cool all-ages matinees to bring more people together. We might as well make it a regular thing, just to support women’s rights and present new bands!”

Where & When

Catfight! For Your Rights starts at 4 p.m. Saturday, October 25, at the Garden Club, 1010 White St. SW. All ages. Standard tickets are $20 — student tickets are $10. Wildhavenbeer.com, 404-481-9220.

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Lee Valentine Smith is an Atlanta-born artist, writer and musician. Currently a regular contributor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, his work has been syndicated internationally. He has appeared at Music Midtown, on CBS Radio and on Air America. He also served as art director, consultant and archivist for projects with ’80s hitmakers The Go-Go’s.