Petrol Girls at Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia (August 2022).
Words & photos: Minni Moody

Petrol Girls are a band with a message. And those who saw them play first time at Punk Rock Holiday’s legendary Beach stage quickly realised that this guys won’t be singing any lullabies.

It is safe to say that Punk Rock Holiday, an annual festival held in Slovenia every year in Tolmin in mid August, saw perhaps the most political band in their line-up this year when the Petrol Girls got on stage.

To festival audience’s delight the Petrol Girls played bangers from their new album called ‘Baby‘, that came out in June 2022.

The album covers some pretty heavy songs on topics such as systemic and domestic violence, bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. With everything going on in the world the release couldn’t have been more timely.

Their single’s title ‘Baby I Had an Abortion’ is pretty self-explanatory.

The album release was the same day as the Roe v Wade abortion got overturned in the US, tells Ren. “And that wasn’t deliberate”, she adds.

“I’ve been wanting to write a song about abortion ever since I had mine. But I wanted to give it a bit of time. To see how I really felt about it. And yeah, I’m absolutely fucking fine about this.“

The song is “designed to piss off pro-lifers and ridicule their perspective“, admits Ren. “But also do something naughty.“

During their band career Petrol Girls have taken a strong political stance, and they demand for a systemic change. The lead singer Ren doesn’t shy away from telling what’s not working in our society.

Still Petrol Girls Ren doesn’t want to wear a political cape all the time.

“I’m actually a very silly person“, Ren laughs.

Here you can watch Petrol Girls vocalist Ren telling a story what happened when she encountered a bunch of anti-abortion protesters in her current home town Graz, Vienna. The way she tells it is just hilarious:

You can ALSO find the full interview and absorb the fiercest gig vibes from Petrol Girls’ Punk Rock Holiday performance in August 2022.

Watch the *FULL Petrol Girls in Punk Rock Holiday short documentary* here (12 mins):