Winona Fighter has come a long way, most of it by van and trailer, since the days when it was handing out flyers outside a music festival it wasn’t even playing. But as it turned out, the Nashville-based punk band’s old-school, do-it-yourself approach paid off, as it learned how to make the best of whatever circumstances came its way.

“We have been DIY touring since we started,” said vocalist Coco Kinnon, who also plays rhythm guitar and is the band’s primary songwriter.

“We’ve played to zero people, one person, just our parents. And then, yeah, an amphitheater of 20,000 people. And whether it’s that one person or thousands of people, we play exactly the same because we just love to do it.”

Winona Fighter will perform Friday at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. The band, which also consists of bassist/producer Austin Luther and lead guitarist Dan Fuson, is poised now to play to larger audiences on a consistent basis, having signed to the indie label Rise Records, which this year released Winona Fighter’s debut full-length album, “My Apologies To The Chef.”

Featuring a winning combination of unbridled energy, riff-heavy arrangements and solid songwriting, it won praise from the punk-metal Kerrang! magazine for the band’s ability to “turn trauma, anxiety and mental health troubles into something both fun and cathartic to sing (or shout) along to.”

Meanwhile, the band has plenty to say about the virtues of their label, which, unlike many, has a roster of bands that don’t fit rock’s stubbornly all-male formula.

“Part of it was the amazing female- fronted acts on it, like the Distillers and Spirit Box,” Kinnon said. “But also, the thing that I was really drawn to about Rise was they understand how close to my heart it is to keep being a do-it-yourself punk band. And I think it’s so cool to see all these women artists just crushing it, and playing these amazing rock shows, and not really giving a damn about what anyone else thinks.”

All in all, the transition to being on a label has been virtually seamless.

“We have a team that believes in what we’re doing, so much so that they’re like, ‘OK, yeah, just let us know when the record is done,’” Kinnon said.

“And I don’t think you’d get that type of energy from a huge label. It’s like, OK, then let’s have fun with this. And let’s remember why we’re here and not, you know, overthink it to the grave.”