Interview: The Applicators

When Austin, Texas punk mainstays The Applicators dropped My Weapon back in 2006, it stood as a definitive snapshot of a band firing on all cylinders. Driven by sharp hooks, aggressive energy, and a fiercely independent spirit, the record quickly cemented its place as a mid-2000s punk classic.

Fast forward to 2026, and My Weapon is finally getting the treatment it deserves. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the band has reclaimed the rights to the record to bring it to vinyl for the very first time. We recently caught up with frontwoman Sabrina Worthington to dive deep into the legacy of the album. In our conversation, we discuss the long road to this vinyl reissue, the mechanics of their songwriting process, and what it feels like to revisit a milestone record two decades later.

Pre-order “My Weapon” 20th Anniversary Vinyl Edition HERE

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Hi, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. How have you been?

Of course, we’ve been well. Thank you! 

We’re working hard to get the set ready for some upcoming shows and excited about everything happening.

My Weapon is finally making its vinyl debut for its 20th anniversary. Given that the album was originally only available on CD back in 2006, what does it mean to you personally to finally hold these songs on wax?       

It means everything to us as a band. We always wanted this record to be on vinyl just like our first record (What’s your Excuse) and it felt like a missing piece that we weren’t able to do that in the beginning. It was always a plan to do it eventually, but we had to get some things in order to make it happen.         

You worked hard for years to regain full ownership of your master recordings. How does it feel to finally have this record back in your hands, and why was reclaiming this specific album so important to the band’s legacy? 

It feels unreal to be honest, this was such a long time goal and was extremely important to us. I think every artist in all mediums should at least have the opportunity to own the art that they create. For me personally, this record was huge for me as a young person healing and growing, so being able to present it as our own feels really good. 

Now that you have the masters back and have fully remastered the tracks for this release, how does the album sound to you today? Did the remastering process allow you to bring out certain sonic elements, like the guitar grit or the vocal harmonies, exactly the way you always wanted them to sound?

We didn’t need to do too much because we were pretty happy with the way that it sounded. We definitely wanted it to have a bigger -and  warmer sound for the vinyl and I think we achieved that.It’s a time capsule in a way so we wanted to keep the essence of its era.

My Weapon was recorded in London before you finished it back home in Austin. What prompted that overseas trip, and how did splitting the recording between two massive music cities shape the final energy of the record?

We were working with different people in the UK at the time Cliff jones, (of the band Gay Dad) had remixed our EP for over there, and so we were trying to include him in as much of the process so a few of the tracks were recorded at 2 kHz in London and then we ended up finishing the record at home at the bubble partially because we wanted to work with our engineer and producer Frenchie Smith, (who did our first record with Greg Hetson) and partially because of costs at the time. 

Looking back at those 2006 studio sessions in London and Austin, do you have any favorite or funny anecdotes from the recording process that still stand out to you today?

I really liked recording in the UK, the experience was pretty overwhelming for us as a young band from Austin,Texas, but one thing I remember the most is that the studio balcony overlooked a cemetery and I think they were just trying to get a good vocal performance with the threat of British musicians’ ghosts coming to haunt it out of me. haha.

My Weapon came out during a period of relentless international touring for the band. When you listen to tracks like “Tragedy” or “Bad Infection” now, does it immediately transport you back to a specific tour, a certain stage, or that mid-2000s punk scene?

“Bad infection” always takes me back to playing Reading and Leeds festivals which were insane for us as a band as far as like we were writing this album during that time and I feel like playing on stage is that big was just something we never thought we would do. 

The album is a brilliant mix of punk rock urgency, melodic hooks, and a distinct riot grrrl attitude. At the time, did you feel like you were actively trying to bridge those different subgenres, or was that blend just the natural byproduct of your chemistry as musicians?

Definitely wasn’t planned, and I actually feel like we got a lot of hate for that at the time. The music world wasn’t as open minded as far as mixing genres as it is now. There certainly weren’t as many diverse sounding bands. I think critics that were kind of punk rock gatekeepers at the time didn’t appreciate the nuance of mixing genres; or the fact that all five of us had such different influences as musicians .It feels more appreciated now, and I love that.

Songs like the title track have quietly influenced generations of underground punk fans over the last two decades. Have you noticed a younger generation of fans or bands discovering My Weapon in recent years, and what is it like seeing the record’s long-term impact?

I love when I meet a young band that says that they have favorite songs on the album or that they’re trying to figure out how to play songs that we’ve written that’s one of my favorite things ever.

The artwork and aesthetic of a vinyl release are huge parts of the experience, especially with the neon metallic pink pressing. How involved was the band in designing this anniversary edition packaging, and does it feel like a truer representation of the album’s visual identity?

We knew the vinyl had to be pink because of the line “pretty pink and punk”  in the song,” I need you”. We were gonna go for a soft like cotton pink, but we thought this was such a bold thing for us, to reclaim the masters we needed something loud, and the big lock was representative of us being able to take back our ownership and almost like someone found this record in an attic after 20 years dusted it off, unlocked it and played it really LOUD.

The themes on the album, resilience, heartbreak, friendship, and independence, feel just as heavy and vital now as they did twenty years ago. How have your own relationships with these songs evolved now that you’re looking back on them with two decades of perspective?

I believe so. I was talking with Erica (guitarist) in a different interview the other day and she was talking about how “My weapon” (the song) didn’t resonate with her back then as much as it does now, which I thought was really special, because I feel like I’ve evolved from those words so much and now other songs on the record seem more applicable to my experiences today. 

Partnering with Cellofame Records for this 500-copy limited release feels like a very intentional, DIY move. How did that partnership come together, and how has it been working with them to ensure this reclamation project stays entirely on your own terms?

Funny you should ask, Cellofame records is actually my label. I started it in 2022 to release the Applicators 7” single Running. I’ve since signed bands from the Bay Area, Portland, and Austin and I am growing as a label a lot faster than I expected! I was happy the girls agreed to put the record out on my label simply because I wanted to make sure we kept the ownership in our family and everything could be transparent from here on out. 

Reissuing an album often sparks a lot of old memories and muscle memory. Have you found yourselves jamming or practicing these tracks again just for the fun of it, and did any specific song surprise you by how good it felt to revisit?

I think revisiting these songs has been surprising for all of us in different ways. We also found the songs that we liked to play the least during its original inception have now really grown on us and we’re excited to play them.

Beyond the limited vinyl pressing itself, do you have any other plans tied to this reissue, such as archival merchandise, releasing unreleased bonus material from that era, or sharing old tour footage with fans?

We’re working on some secret stuff. I’m not going to announce all of our surprises now, but I do want to share that the vinyl for this release is going to have a variant of something unique AND they are all hand numbered with an updated insert. 

Austin’s punk scene has undergone massive changes since 2006. As Austin punk legends, how do you view the city’s current DIY underground landscape compared to the environment you were navigating when My Weapon first dropped?

Thanks for calling us legends I don’t think that we would ever refer to ourselves as that! haha. I do think that at the time things were just beginning to change, and not all for the better. What I see and appreciate is there will always be kids willing to scream for change and  throw and play a backyard or house party, a bridge, a tunnel..that’s where the real punk rock is always born and thriving. 

Now that the album is safely back in your possession and out on vinyl, does this milestone feel like a definitive closing of a chapter, or has it energized the band to think about other future projects or archival releases down the line?

it’s definitely been re-energizing for the band .Not only are we writing new music. we’re looking at doing something like a compilation anniversary record where we do a collection of our favorite songs from all the eras  and put them together on a double album. We haven’t exactly decided the concept, but the ideas and desire to keep releasing things is there.

That’s it. Thank you for your time. Anything you would like to say to our readers before we wrap this interview?

Thank you! 

Also, yes! come out to our Waterloo records release show in Austin, on June 17. It’s a Wednesday. We play at 5:30 and we will have copies of the record to sign for you and we’re also doing shows in Austin, San Antonio and we have some Bay Area shows coming up as well!