PLAYLIST: A Salute to Screaming Females
"Everyone has the music they love"
I’ve known a lot of musicians over the years. Some who have gotten big, some I came up alongside, some who are super talented, some who mean a lot to me personally. But nobody checks all of those boxes like Screaming Females.
The band recently announced they are ending their run together. Hard to tell if it’s a forever thing or not, but given that these three have been doing it themselves consistently since 2005, I’m almost relieved that they can pump the breaks for once. Almost.
Screaming Females consists of Marissa Paternoster on guitar and vocals (and album art), Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and King Mike Abbate on bass. I truly love these people and their body of work. I’ve seen them perform more than any other band, in cities all over the country, venues large and laughably small. I’ve listened to their records, collaborated on videos and told countless people about them.
My first live performance ever was in Marissa Paternoster’s basement, a cramped and dingy space called Courtlandt-Land, decorated with cardboard cutouts promoting the Jerry Seinfeld animated flop, Bee Movie and a painted stop sign that read WWW DOT COM that bounced around from venue to venue. That night, I performed as “MC Steinberg” alongside members of a band called We Are The Seahorses. Some members would independently become my closest collaborators and best friends over the years. (Seahorses Darren Mabee’s belly and Sally Burtnick’s precariously placed head appear in this Screaming Females dogpile, which was also a two-page spread in SPIN Magazine lol.)
Not only was that show a night that changed my life, it introduced me to the New Brunswick punk scene and the genuinely cool people that were a part of it, which was completely eye-opening in a different way.
This doc, made by my friend Kate Sweeney explains it better than I could. Suddenly, I spent all my time going to DIY shows in basements and other odd spaces with ever-changing names like Meat Towne USA, Princess Fortress, The Parlour, Fuck Mountain, The Woods, The Wormhole and Nick Nolte’s House of Ribs. I’m sure there are comparable scenes elsewhere happening right now but to me, it felt really special.
I even made my own New Brunswick punk band called BANANAZZZ, which Kate Sweeney documented in this Oscar-award winning film, which features an appearance from the band.
But it was clear the true stars of this scene were Screaming Females.
Screaming Females “Boyfriend”
This was the first Screamales song I really LOVED. They had been around for a year or two at this point but their reputation preceded them. While New Brunswick was full of bands I liked, this one seemed especially good.
I remember going home after that first show and pouring over their music, including this video by Biz Lynch (a nice person I met that night), of a gross hot dog being eaten over a song about someone else’s gender confusion.
Screaming Females “Baby Jesus”
If that was the song that hooked me, this was the one that made me a fan. They had two short records at that time that I completely wore out. If they were a stock, I would have invested immediately. No way these incredibly talented musicians weren’t going to blow up.
Screaming Females “Buried in the Nude”
Their 2009 album Power Move was the first to be released with a record label, the great Don Giovanni Records. And it was the first to really draw interest from people outside of record nerds, punk lifers and my immediate friend circle.
Suddenly the band was opening for the Arctic Monkeys and playing on Alexa Chung’s MTV show (she wore Marc Jacobs on that episode).
Marissa’s guttural screams in “Buried in the Nude” comes out of nowhere and it rules.
Screaming Females “It All Means Nothing”
That’s good shit.
Screaming Females “Poison Arrow”
Kate Sweeney and I teamed up again to make this video and it’s truly one of the things I’m most proud of. Marissa wanted something Kids in the Hall-esque and I think we over-delivered on that with this story of three ladies who will do anything to get the top prize at a local art fair. The video also features cameos from AP Mike and Kate’s dad. The best part of this
Screaming Females “Empty Head’
2015’s Rose Mountain seemed to push them to greater heights. Now they were frequently playing shows with heroes like Dinosaur Jr., Ted Leo & the Pharmacists and Garbage. Rolling Stone even named Marissa #77 on a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. And they love old men that play the guitar!
SCRM FMLS “Empty Head”
The band finally embraced their success on an episode of The Special Without Brett Davis, and allowed a panel of experts to turn them from the band they were into the band that they could be. Sadly, this makeover didn’t last and, well…they’re not a band anymore. If only they had listened.
Screaming Females “Ripe”
“Ripe” is my favorite track from this album and I loved it so much it became one of The Special’s promo songs, which meant I had to hear it 1000 times and I still like it.
Screaming Females “Shake It Off”
Fun fact: America’s Got Talent wanted them to perform this cover on the show, and they gave the producers my phone number as their “manager” and I went back and forth for months with the producers. A true gift from King Mike for an audience of one!
Screaming Females “Glass House”
Another collab with Kate, though I was just the editor on this. It was fun to get weird with it, and I’m still not tired of the song.
Kate came out to LA and we went to H.M.S. Bounty and put a bunch of Screaming Females on the digital jukebox and listened to this song together for the 500th time or so. Kate also made this Alaska tour documentary and the video for…
Screaming Females “Mourning Dove”
Now we are all mourning doves. They posted this farewell message recently:
After 18 years we have decided that Screaming Females is coming to an end. A lot changed around us over those 18 years but at our core we operated pretty much the same throughout.
“We funded and made the records we wanted to make. We did our own art. We printed a lot of our own merch. We managed ourselves. Probably most importantly we loaded up our van with our gear and traveled around the world to play shows wherever you would have us. We tried to build and celebrate community the best we could.”
I hope this isn’t the last we see of Screaming Females and I hope my appreciation of this band came through this lengthy post.
You can still buy their merch and their music and tell the next generation about this incredible New Jersey band who did it well, and did it [Frank Sinatra voice] theiiiiiiiiirrrrrr waaaaaaayyyyy.