New Jersey’s Screaming Females stand alone in modern independent rock and punk.
In an era of somewhat conservative musical trends, where extended guitar solos and jam sessions are looked down upon as uncool, the band continues into its tenth year as strong and self-determined as ever. Having released six full-length albums and played over 1,000 shows, the band’s output remains uncompromising and innovative.
The Female’s signature sound and accompanying artwork and visuals come directly from the voice, guitar prowess and visual creativity of frontwoman Marissa Paternoster. Recently listed in Spin’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, the cult shredder has developed a unique style and approach to the instrument – and her artistic side dates back to her youth.
“I’ve been drawing ever since I was a kid,” says Paternoster. “My mom was an art teacher; she’d let me sit in on her classes and teach me a lot of things. We always had art books around the house that I would look at for hours. I didn’t really understand a lot of the art language, but Ioved looking at the pictures. My mom always supported my interest in art and knew I’d always end up at a good art school.”
Connecting her love of visual art and her emerging interest in playing music at the age of 14, Paternoster naturally turned to the left-of-centre. “I got really into comic books and Mad Magazine around the same time, which is what got me into punk,” she recalls. “Watching Ren & Stimpy and enjoying weirdo stuff has always been what I’ve been into and what has influenced me. I’ve been drawing and sketching my whole life and I ended up going to art school, doing a BFA in drawing and painting. I had the ambition of becoming a full-time illustrator or visual artist, but playing punk music took over.”
Onstage, Screaming Females are known for often extending songs, jamming on fresh riffs or taking old tracks down new and unexpected avenues. “We definitely have songs that have changed a lot live over the years,” explains drummer Jarrett Dougherty, “but then again we have other songs that we try to play as close to the recordings as possible.
“It comes down to trying to play the best possible show every night. For us that means having a little bit of the unexpected involved. At any moment one of us could try and change the song slightly and sometimes that derails, but most often we’re good at knowing what parts are good to expand and change.
“Some of our best shows were when we played identically to the album and some of our best were when we deviated and played our songs completely differently. Occasionally it crashes and burns, but that’s no big deal. If that happens, you can just start bashing everything and pretend you’re Sonic Youth.”
Complex songwriting and technical musicianship have been a staple of the band’s sound on all six albums, with experimentation and ambition pushing things forward. 2012’s Ugly saw Screaming Females work with legendary producer Steve Albini, taking their performances to the limit. However, 2015’s Rose Mountain followed a stripped-back approach to songwriting and composition.
“Marissa’s guitar playing gets a lot of credit and attention for obvious reasons,” Dougherty says. “On Rose Mountain we really tried to strip everything away that was extraneous and build the songs back up from there. Most often we’d write an instrumental track first and then add vocals on top of that. For years that meant Marissa would be playing a lead line, Mike [‘King’ Mike Abbate] would be playing a lead line on the bass, I’d be playing a melodic line on the toms and Marissa would try and fit a lead vocal line on top of it. It worked for us and became our style, but writing and recording often became so difficult because of how complex we were making it.
“Since then, we’ve become really focused on managing the whole project a lot better and simplifying some things. We did a tour with Garbage around the time that we were working on those songs and we were playing some of them to Butch Vig, trying to pick his brain. He said something that I thought was very insightful: ‘It sounds really cool what you guys are working on here and it’s a great way to go as a band, but remember the best thing about your band is that it sounds like three people all going nuts at the same time and it somehow works.’I thought that was a cool thing to come from someone who’s worked on so many radio-friendly records, reminding you that it’s OK to be crazy.”
The state of the music industry in 2016 is a confusing mess at best, with no clear direction for a band to take to ensure a lasting career. In terms of self-determination and control over their art and direction, Dougherty believes Screaming Females’ approach is one of the only ways a band can maintain longevity and freedom.
“Doing things DIY and independently is the only way we’ve ever known, and whenever we’d try to talk to people in the music industry who are more important or have more money, they look at us like we’re crazy when we talk about what we think is important about being a band. What we say misses their ears and what they say misses our ears. But somehow it’s worked for us.”
[Screaming Females photo by by Lance Bangs]
Rose Mountain is out now through Don Giovanni; and Screaming Femails playOxford Art Factory Gallery on Saturday August 13.
