[SEVEN QUESTIONS IN HEAVEN – BERSERKTOWN EDITION] Screaming Females

Every week leading up to Berserktown II, we will be posting a 7 Questions interview with a band playing the fest. First up: Screaming Females. 

You know those days when you wake up feeling like you’re buried under a thick layer of very finely ground sand, and you would get up, if it wasn’t for all the fucking sand going in your ears and eyeballs and lungs and basically making it impossible for you to do dick with your day? Fuck those days, you are better than a fucking pile of sand, and all you need to know this is a big pot of coffee and a Screaming Females album played super loud until you thrust yourself out of bed, shake off all the imaginary dust, and snarl “Let’s do this .”

Such is the power of Screaming Females (and caffeine), the New Brunswick band that could, the trio made up of bassist Mike Abbatte, drummer Jarrett Dougherty, and queen Marissa Paternoster, the saviors of my sad and sandy days. Screaming Females have been pumping out their own brand of riff-laden, melodic rock and roll, rooted in punk but adventuring into psych and classic rock, for a decade now, and their emotionally intense, guitar-solo heavy music has won them a legion of devoted fans (like this sand-hater). Pasternoster is an “epic shredder” in the truest, least exaggerated sense of the term, and her voice is like the three-way lovechild of Hayley Williams, Corin Tucker, and PJ Harvey, with the lyrical abstractions of Stephen Malkmus, all backed by Abbate and Dougherty’s tight, powerful rhythm section.

Their sixth album Rose Mountain was released via Don Giovanni Records on Feb 24th. You can pick up a copy HERE.

Dougherty answered our seven questions:

1. What is your life motto?

Jarrett – No Gods, No Masters.

2. Who is your muse?

Jarrett – Nacho, the orange longhair cat that lives at my house.

3. What is your idea of abject misery?

Jarrett – Involuntary servitude (including wage labor) under the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

4. What is your idea of total happiness?

Jarrett – The nothingness of being in the moment while playing music.

5. What is the best quality in a woman? 

6. What is the best quality in a man?

Jarrett – I’m combining 5 and 6 into one questions which is “What is the best quality in a person?” My answer is that it greatly depends on what situation I’m interacting with this person.

7. What bands are you most excited to see at Berserktown?

Jarrett – Dead Moon, Vacation, Downtown Boys, Priests, Tenement, Sheer Mag.

8. Draw a self-portrait: 

Catch Screaming Females at Berserktown II at the Observatory in Santa Ana on Sunday August 16th, alongside Royal Trux, Dead Moon, Milk Music, White Lung, Sheer Mag and more! Flyer below, buy tickets HERE. Full tour dates below as well.

Jul 17	Starland Ballroom	Sayreville, NJ	Tickets
Jul 27	Now That’s Class*	Cleveland, OH
Jul 28	Empty Bottle*	Chicago, IL
Jul 30	Borg Ward*	Milwaukee, WI
Jul 31	The Frequency*	Madison, WI	Tickets
Aug 01	Triple Rock Social Club*	Minneapolis, MN	Tickets
Aug 02	The Mill*	Iowa City, IA	Tickets
Aug 03	Sweatshop Gallery*	Omaha, NE	Tickets
Aug 04	Larimer Lounge*	Denver, CO	Tickets
Aug 06	Neurolux*	Boise, ID	Tickets
Aug 07	Mississippi Studios*	Portland, OR	Tickets
Aug 08	Media Club*	Vancouver, BC	Tickets
Aug 09	Chop Suey*	Seattle, WA	Tickets
Aug 11	Rickshaw Stop*	San Francisco, CA	Tickets
Aug 13	The Manifest	Honolulu, HI
Aug 14	Downbeat Lounge	Honolulu, HI
Aug 16	Berserktown*	Los Angeles, CA	Tickets
Aug 17	Soda Bar*	San Diego, CA	Tickets
Aug 18	Valley Bar*	Phoenix, AZ	Tickets
Aug 19	Lowbrow Palace*	El Paso, TX
Aug 21	Red 7*	Austin, TX	Tickets
Aug 22	The Foundry*	Dallas, TX	Tickets
Aug 23	Fitzgerald’s Downstairs*	Houston, TX	Tickets
Aug 24	Siberia*	New Orleans, LA	Tickets
Aug 25	Stone Fox*	Nashville, TN	Tickets
Aug 26	Aisle 5*	Atlanta, GA	Tickets
Aug 27	Pinhook*	Durham, NC	Tickets
Aug 28	Rock and Roll Hotel*	Washington, DC	Tickets
Aug 29	Union Transfer*	Philadelphia, PA	Tickets