It’s kind of hard to believe, but it’s been over 10 years since Screaming Females emerged from New Brunswick, New Jersey with their debut album ‘Baby Teeth’ in 2006. Through the years the band – Marissa Paternoster (vocals, guitar); Jarrett Dougherty (drums); and King Mike (bass) – has steadily released respectable album after respectable album and hit the road for countless miles of touring, all while maintaining their do-it-yourself ethos.

As the band grew in popularity, Screaming Females worked with noted producers Steve Albini on their 2012 release ‘Ugly’ and Matt Bayles in 2015 on ‘Rose Mountain.’ The powerful punk trio signed with treasured indie label Don Giovanni early in their career and remain with the label, showing their loyalty and love for independent music and labels. Don Giovanni is about to unleash their seventh studio album ‘All At Once,’ due out February 23.

“A lot of people are under the false impression that we’ve been courted by other labels. Not entirely accurate,” lead singer and guitarist Marissa Paternoster said. “Regardless, I’m not sure we’d ever take too much of an interest in being on a label other than Don Giovanni. Creating and maintaining long lasting creative and working relationships is something that matters a great deal to us, and after so many exciting years with Don Giovanni, it’s hard to imagine what a larger record label could offer us.”

For their seventh studio album, Screaming Females once again collaborated with producer Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon), where they teamed up to make an album where brevity was replaced with trial and error. The over all goal for ‘All At Once’ was to capture the natural energy of the band’s live shows.

“We’ve approached every album we have done with a new and different mindset,” drummer Jarrett Dougherty said. “On our last album ‘Rose Mountain’ we wanted all the songs to be concise, tight arrangements based around vocal melodies. Early on during the writing for ‘All At Once’ we started to notice that we had a few large, sprawling ideas and a bunch of short snippets of songs. Rather than try to edit down the sprawling ideas and force the expansion of the snippets we decided that this wide range could be what this album was about. Marissa began to describe the album in terms of salon style gallery hangings where a number of paintings of different sizes are displayed together. Smaller paintings surround larger pieces. The effect being that you can observe each individual piece but also consider how the different pieces give each other context and support a whole vision. In a similar way I think the album shows a really wide array of what we can do.”

At 15 songs ‘All At Once’ features quick bursts of punk with songs clocking in at just over two minutes and strewn throughout the track listing are more evolved songs ranging from five to six minutes long. These longer songs are the back bone of the album, the meat and potatoes if you will, while the shorter songs are the appetizers.

“After writing a batch of songs, we noticed that a lot of them were a bit simpler and shorter than a typical Screaming Females song,” Paternoster said. “We started referring to them as just that, snacks and meals! I think that we, as a band, have always been driven to add more to our songs, so letting them exist in what we felt was an incomplete state was something new for us.”

With their steady rise of success also comes the perils. This album can be one of those risks, but also addresses them. With the lack of true guitar rock bands in the industry right now, a lot of people, critics included, are looking toward Screaming Females as the saviors of guitar rock. An issue they address heavily on the new album.

“Everyone has a different scope that they see our collective reality through,” Paternoster said. “I can’t say with objective certainty that our band is ‘realer’ or ‘truer’ than any other band that gets together and plays music. It means a lot to me when people share their love of Screaming Females with me, tell me how we’ve affected their lives, and so often even become a part of ours, but beyond that I’d be hesitant to proclaim our importance over anyone else making music.”

Dougherty added, “I feel confident about being awarded with the title of ‘authentic.’ It is not a judgement of other musical acts but I do feel like it would be hard to put together an agreement that Screaming Females comes off as fake or insincere. As far as pressure goes, I think if it exists is most just comes from us. We push each other. We never want someone to leave a Screaming Females show and think ‘eh, they seem like they were phoning it in.'”

In late February Paternoste, Dougherty and Mike will pack up the van once again and head out on an extensive tour to support ‘All At Once.’ The tour will start with a 3-night run at Monty Hall in Jersey City, NJ. Teenage Halloween will open and the tour will take them through roughly 25 different states.

“Excited and nervous are sort of synonymous to me! I love being on tour, it’s so much a part of my personal identity imagining life without it is hard,” Paternoster said. “None of the things our band has been lucky to do has ‘surprised’ me – but I am awfully proud of our accomplishments, and I’m excited for our future. We’ve been really lucky and we work really hard. I hope that we get to make more records and play more shows.”

Screaming Females Tour Dates

2/22/18: Jersey City, NJ @ Monty Hall (w/ Teenage Halloween)

2/23/18: Jersey City, NJ @ Monty Hall (w/ Snakeskin)

2/24/18: Jersey City, NJ @ Monty Hall (w/ Spowder)

3/2/18: Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter

3/3/18: Durham, NC @ The Pinhook

3/4/18: Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St

3/5/18: Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Yacht Club

3/6/18: Nashville, TN @ The End

3/7/18: Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop

3/8/18: Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club

3/9/18: St Paul, MN @ Turf Club

3/10/18: Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

3/11/18: Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme

3/12/18: Pittsburgh, PA @ Roboto Project

3/13/18: Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk

3/14/18: Toronto, ON @ Smiling Buddha

3/15/18: Montreal, QC @ La Vitrola

3/16/18: Winooski, VT @ Monkey House

4/4/18: Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel *%

4/5/18: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *%

4/6/18: Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel *%

4/7/18: Hamden, CT @ The Space *%

4/8/18: Providence, RI @ AS220 *%

4/9/18: Rollinsford, NH @ Sue’s *%

4/10/18: Portland, ME @ SPACE – *%

4/11/18: Easthampton, MA @ Flywheel *%

4/12/18: Ithaca, NY@ The Haunt *%

4/13/18: Detroit, MI @ El Club *%

4/14/18: Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop *%

4/15/18: Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight *%

4/16/18: Masquerade – Atlanta, GA *%

4/17/18: Gainesville, FL @ The Wooly *%

4/18/18: Tallahassee, FL @ TBA %

4/19/18: Pensacola, FL @ City Arts Center %

4/20/18: New Orleans, LA @ TBA %

4/21/18: Austin, TX @ Barracuda %

4/22/18: Dallas, TX @ Club Dada %

4/23/18: Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s

4/24/18: Chattanooga, TN @ Sluggos

* = w/ Thou

% = w/ HIRS

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