SCREAMING FEMALES with CASPER SKULLS at the Garrison (1197 Dundas West), Wednesday (November 4), 8 pm. $14. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com. See listing.
Rose Mountain, released back in February, is Screaming Females‘s sharpest record to date, and the first to employ a proper producer in the person of Matt Bayles, whose deft hand and penchant for heaviness – he worked previously with Mastodon and the Sword – also makes it their hardest-hitting.
But a brutal case of mono sidelined singer and guitar hero Marissa Paternoster during the tour for 2012’s sprawling, thrashy Ugly, and threw into question not only whether there would be a next album, but whether Screaming Females would continue to exist at all.
“It was hard,” Paternoster says over the phone from Philly about the ordeal. “I was not pleasant to be around, and everyone was really scared and upset because we thought this might be it for the band. But it wasn’t, thankfully.”
Thankfully is right. Their sixth full-length is a major step for an already road-proven and deeply experienced outfit. It’s tense, anxious, sometimes despairing and a bit twisted, but always forceful, powered by the strength of Paternoster’s truly amazing guitar work and her otherworldly wail.
It was written during the more than 12 (!) months she was sick, and the fact it’s so good is a bit of a miracle given the severity of her illness.
“I could barely walk around the block without feeling completely exhausted,” Paternoster says. “I couldn’t carry anything. I was so broken.”
While the first show back was a bit weird – she was still a little sick, bassist Jarrett Dougherty‘s girlfriend suffered a broken nose, and “we hadn’t played in front of humans for so long,” Paternoster explains – the next tour, with Waxahatchee and Tenement, was a reminder of how good the road can be.
“[Those were] some of the happiest days of my life,” Paternoster says. “I had a really good time playing with those two bands, and was just so happy to get to be on tour again, realizing that I may have been taking it for granted for way too long.”
There’s nothing like a debilitating sickness to throw things into perspective. And when the negative attitude some musicians develop toward touring comes up, Paternoster makes her stance clear.
“It is hard, and everyone should be allowed to share their feelings with their friends, but sometimes you just wanna be like, ‘Shut up! You get to do something so cool – you should be so happy about it!’
“I enjoy almost every moment of it now.”
music@nowtoronto.com | @mattgeewilliams
