Brightest Young Things

all words and photos: Joel Mittleman

Regular readers of BYT must have already noticed: we have a total band crush on Screaming Females.  Cale first fell for them last March, when they opened for Ponytail at AU and “delivered so hard [his] ass bled twice. “  Things got a little more serious when they came back to the 9:30 club to open for Jack White’s megagroup, the Dead Weather, performing what Svetlana called “the tightest, fastest, most ridiculous half an hour set.”  Days later, Salvatore finally made the move, sitting them down and asking them to take him home with them after their tour.

Well, the Females came back to us Sunday night.  And, though the district is still shoveling itself out from the snow, my heart is aflame.

I caught up with the band in the bar before the show and was immediately taken by how inviting and funny they were.  When I asked if I could take photos of them playing pinball, the band’s singer/guitarist/heartbreaker Marissa wasted no time and began striking a pose over the machine.  Once on stage, though, their easy going demeanor was overtaken by a raw energy that hits with all the power of a punch in the face from the late Jay Reatard.

The band was driven by Marissa’s ecstatic, rapid-fire guitar solos, which she delivered with a technical precision that belies the group’s rough-around-the-edges, DIY image.  Meanwhile, the rhythm section laid down a heavy foundation for Marissa’s flights while still asserting itself with well placed riffs and fills.  The best surprise of the set, however, Marissa’s singing.  Though she seems most comfortable screaming, the band’s more melodic, pop-friendly tracks (like the incredibly catchy “Bell”) reveal a commanding singer not too far removed from the great Beth Ditto.

Nashville’s Jeff the Brotherhood opened the night with a strong, if somewhat unenergetic set.  There’s definitely a lot to like about this guitar and drums duo, starting with the fact they’re a purely family affair: not only are the members brothers, their father owns their label.  Garnering further points in my book is the fact that they seem to be staking a claim on the word “heavy” the way Andrew W.K. long ago adopted “party:” three of the nine tracks of their newest album, Heavy Days, use “heavy” in their title.  Still, after driving through what their singer Jake described as “a post-apocalyptic hell,” they didn’t seem terribly enthused in performing for our (admittedly small) crowd.

In an indie music scene fueled by an echo chamber of internet hype, it seems fairly easy for any mediocre musician with a Mac and catchy beat to get huge very quickly (looking at you, Passion Pit.)   It’s in this context that Screaming Females are so exciting and refreshing.  Not only are they fierce musicians—my guitarist friend Ben described Marissa as “maybe the best guitarist I’ve ever seen live”—they’ve also worked their ass off.  Since forming in 2005, they’ve played over 400 shows and put out three full-length records.  They did 133 shows just last year.

But, after four years of DIY obscurity, the hype is starting to find them: Rolling Stone, Spin and Nylon magazines all recently declared their love.  You should find them too, and fast: they won’t be playing the backroom at the Black Cat for long.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/14: LiveDC: Sharon Van Etten/ Shearwater @ Black Cat
• 2/14: LiveDC: Die Antwoord @ 930 Club
• 2/13: LiveDC: George Clinton & The Parliament-Funkadelic @ 930 Club
• 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
• 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
• 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat