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Download: Screaming Females “Bell”

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(from Power Move out now on Don Giovanni)

Screaming Females fire right down the middle between Husker Du, Damaged Black Flag and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and occupy more psychic space as an irreducibly solid three-piece than bands several times their age and weight combined. There are many gerunds that begin with ‘S in English and they use the ten best in every set. Their newest Power Move is out now on Don Giovanni. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

You’re from New Brunswick—have you seen the grave of Mary Ellis?
Jarrett Dougherty (drums): I have—behind the movie theater. Behind the giant movie theater there’s this huge platform with a grave on top of it. It’s really strange—I have no idea. My dad told me that there was some one hit wonder from New Jersey from the ’50s or ’60s who wrote a song dedicated to that gravestone.
Have you picked out the New Jersey parking lot that you eventually hope to be laid to rest in?
JD: You can just dump me in the Raritan—that’s fine. The river that runs by New Brunswick.
Is it true that the beginning of Screaming Females grew from Marissa needing treatment for ringworm?
JD: So many people have asked us that story—‘So tell me how the band got started.’
I just want to know about the ringworm.
JD: Yeah, I know—I was gonna tell you. So instead of answering that question, I decided to tell a much more important part of our history because Marissa had this awful case of ringworm and was living on a remote campus of Rutgers where she didn’t know anybody. We had just started hanging out so I was like, ‘Marissa, we’re gonna get you to the health facility to get your ringworm cleared up and you’re also gonna move off this campus.’ We got both things taken care of in the same day and I think it was a very important event in Screaming Females history.
So you owe a real debt to that fungal infection.
JD: We do owe a debt to a fungal infection. Maybe more so to the people who cleared it up.
Rolling Stone said Marissa is known for ‘ripping til her fingers bleed,’ but has your music ever caused any of you to bleed in any way?
JD: Music? Yeah. Marissa—there’s pictures of her where the guitar is all splattered in blood, but it’s just because she dropped picks and strummed with her fingers—which started bleeding. I busted a few knuckles on drum rims. I think it happens to anyone who plays music—you end up hitting your hand somewhere. I cracked a knuckle last night on a drum rim and it was instant. People could feel my pain.
You’ve talked before how you like that the Minutemen were so into Creedence—what classic band is somewhere deep in the heart of Screaming Females?
JD: It’s different for each one of us but as a whole it would probably be the Clash. The Clash is a common meeting place for all of us. Mike brought almost every Clash album except for the last one on this tour.
The Clash were country fans, so who’s your favorite country musician?
JD: Favorite country musician? I’ll go with Hank. You gotta go with the lonely songs. He was a pretty blue kinda guy. Didn’t he die from overdosing on pills or something?
In the back of a Cadillac.
JD: That’s how life should be lived.
What’s the most self-reliant moment you’ve shared on tour?
JD: We were at this one house show where this guy started giving these kids a ton of booze and was egging them on and had a video camera and started playing Slayer. He was like, ‘You guys gotta beat the crap out of each other!’ And they started punching each other in the face and all our gear was in the house and there was blood flying everywhere. So we all ran in there and grabbed our gear and took off out of that house and found somewhere else to stay. I would say that is a pretty good moment where we came together to get the hell out of there.
What is the dirtiest house that you’ve ever played in?
Marissa Paternoster (guitar/vocals): The dirtiest house we ever played was in Greenville, North Carolina—I’m not going to say anything else. I don’t want to offend anyone. I mean, I think they knew it was dirty anyway. So it was at this house and we walked in and there were lots of people hanging out and it was an eclectic crowd.
Did they smell eclectic?
MP: Oh yeah, they had all kinds of smells. So there was no bathroom. We had to go to McDonald’s to use the bathroom. Typically when you’re in the little punk houses, they are fairly dirty, or maybe not dirty but there’s just stuff everywhere. I think there was food taped to the floor at this house. I don’t know what it really smelled like—kinda like poop and rotting food. What else happened that night? I don’t know—I really can’t emphasize or describe how dirty and filthy it really was. I don’t think I’ll ever smell anything like that again. I didn’t even want to sit on the couch. And I’m not like a snobby person about that but there was mold, mange—I don’t know. It was a weird place.
What’s the weirdest thing you ever had to choke down on tour that some nice people cooked for you?
MP: Tater tot casserole. It was like two pints of heavy cream and all this cheese and stuff. It was vegetarian because we’re all vegetarian, but it was really intense. There was a layer of tater tots on the top.
Did you guys fake smiles?
MP: We were probably hungry. We probably ate the shit out of it. It’s a rough world.
So someone once called you a ‘musical messiah dinosaur descended from the moon.’
MP: Oh, that’s true.

SCREAMING FEMALES WITH SHELLSHAG, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD TO CANDYLAND AND KILLER DREAMER ON THU., AUG. 13, AT BABE’S WAREHOUSE, LONG BEACH. 9 PM / $5 / ALL AGES. MORE INFORMATION AT MYSPACE.COM/SCREAMINGFEMALES. AND WITH SHELLSHAG, PROTECT ME AND SIGNALS ON FRI., AUG. 14, AT SPACELAND, 1717 SILVERLAKE BLVD., SILVERLAKE. 8:30 PM / $8 / 21+. CLUBSPACELAND.COM. SCREAMING FEMALES’ POWER MOVE IS OUT NOW ON DON GIOVANNI. VISIT SCREAMING FEMALES AT SCREAMINGFEMALES.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/SCREAMINGFEMALES.