Screaming Females - Screaming In New Brunswick
By: Will Kosh
Occasionally Blistering will dip into pools outside of the metal/hard rock world, and this is a case of us doing so. Screaming Females are punk. We wouldn’t post an article on a band that for lack of a better term, “sucked” anyway - David E. Gehlke, editor
Previously a fringe act walking the blurry line that separates punk/rock from punk rock, the Screaming Females have been gaining infamy and momentum as the poster children for the New Brunswick oindie scene. This is due in minor part to their lead singer/guitarist Marissa Paternoster, but can mostly be attributed to their stand-alone sound, completely apathetic towards current musical trends and prejudices. Thousands of bands not unlike Screaming Females spend their entire existence slumming it in bars and basements, booking their own shows, hauling in their own equipment, and generally living like refugees just for the opportunity to play, and when I got the chance to speak with drummer Jarrett Dougherty, I got the feeling that the band would be satisfied to do just that had they not just signed onto a massive cross-country tour with Against Me! Apparently longevity has its benefits.
Blistering.com: You were inspired by Michael Azerrad’s book, My Band Could Be Your Life. Publishers weekly described it as a series of “Strong musical and political statements by people with little clout and even less financial support that reverberated through youth culture.” Is that, in a way, how you see yourselves?
Jarrett Dougherty: I just did a panel for Michael Azerrad for the tenth anniversary of the book release, and I think what’s important there is that those bands, though they had little financial success, produced lasting and important music, and had stories that were important and inspiring. If nothing else, Screaming Females have an inspiring and interesting story. I mean, that’s what’s most important. Our number one goal is to have a lasting, interesting, and hopefully important project. At the end of this band’s run, I’ll hopefully be able to say it was about producing something important and not about money.
Blistering.com: Your singer/guitarist Marissa P has become something of a superstar, but Castle Talk [the band’s latest album] makes a point of showcasing the talent of the band as a whole. Early on, might there have been a moment where Jarrett and Mike might have said, “Oh, shit, we’re becoming the Marissa Paternoster band?”
Dougherty: The sentiment doesn’t just come from me and Mike, Marissa is very conscious of that too. We all have a group consensus on positions and songwriting. We like to be a little bit flamboyant with our playing, and those [solos] obviously feature Marissa’s abilities. We really came together on the last record to make something that was about the band though.
Blistering.com: It’s also implied that being typecast as a “girl guitarist” is far from what Marissa wants. There’s no desire to be a gimmick act, you want to be considered a legitimate musician who happens to be a girl.
Dougherty: Yes, yes.
Blistering.com: Your label, Don Giovanni Records, is run by friends. Does this afford you more creative freedom than you’d have if you were working with say Sony or EMI?
Dougherty: Yeah. I mean, what it affords us more than anything is a sense of community. I got involved in music and art because it was around me, because it was interesting and I wanted to meet other people, meet the bands that were playing and the bands involved in the scene. If we did decide to go with a bigger label, it would just completely remove us from that. Even if it was successful and it would end up being a great thing, we’d be isolated. It’s nice to work with my friends in a community setting. I keep in touch with people I’m interested in keeping touch with and who have opinions that I care about.
Blistering.com: We’ve been hearing a lot about this New Brunswick “basement community.” If you were to plug a few bands from this scene, who would they be? Who are we missing out on?
Dougherty: Well, for history’s sake, there’s a band called The Ergs! They’re still more popular than we are in a lot of ways, even though they broke up a few years ago and never really did huge tours or had articles written about them. They’re really the reason Don Giovanni has been able to do so much, and they’re forever kings of the New Brunswick scene. As far as right now, it’s really exciting. For the last year, bands here and there were sort of doing their thing locally so that touring bands could come through, but lately there’s a big push for new bands forming and kind of getting out there and working hard. Brick Mower just released their first record. Black Wine is just coming up on their second record, and they’re touring a lot harder behind this one. And a couple local bands that haven’t toured as much too... Mattress I’ve been a big fan of for the past year. Then this band I just heard for the first time the other day who don’t seem to have anything but one Youtube video called Eternal Fuzz who I’m a huge fan of. They’re amazing guys.
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