Screaming Females Keep Shred Alive at Drkmttr

Brunswick, N.J.'s indie-punk power trio Screaming Females brought their 18 years of road experience to Drkmttr on Halloween. Despite a de-facto Saturday night drinking holiday that likely left even the most dedicated showgoers partied out and completely over costume prep, eyes and ears were glued to the Drkmttr stage as the Screamales headlined a three-band showcase that packed the East Side DIY venue.

Openers Rodeo Boys belong in the same discussion as Speedy Ortiz, Jobber and other acts lauded as the spiritual successors of Veruca Salt and their heavy-hitting, guitar-driven ’90s contemporaries. Singer-guitarist Tiff Hannay led the Michigan-based four-piece through a barrage of lightning-fast and memorably melodic punk rock. Musically and ideologically, the self-described "queer rock ’n' roll band" makes so much sense as Screaming Females' tourmates and Don Giovanni Records labelmates. If you like what you heard or regret what you missed, Rodeo Boys will ride back through Nashville on Nov. 15 to open for The Menzingers and Cloud Nothings at Marathon Music Works.

Between Rodeo Boys and Screaming Females' turns at taking us all behind the shred shed, New York's Lip Critic shunned typical bass-guitar-drums rock-band conventions: The four-piece's stage setup consists of two samplers, two drum kits and a microphone. Their arrangement scruffs up the already-jagged edges of hardcore, noise rock and even egg punk. It's easy enough to imagine Screamales fans who didn't look up the openers being caught off guard by Lip Critic, but the crowd stayed engaged after a mild bout of initial shock.

Screaming Females' grand finale drove home two main points: One, a catalog spanning nearly 20 years of musical consistency allows for a set list that never lets up, with each straightforward yet well-crafted selection's live presentation mirroring the plug-and-play charm of its studio equivalent. Two, though singer-guitarist Marissa Paternoster rightly gets a lot of press, the band shines due to the sum of its parts. Indeed, Paternoster's shredding and dynamic vocal delivery stand out, but that's in large part because of her musical chemistry with the tight rhythm section of bassist Mike Abbate and drummer Jarrett Dougherty. It's a unit that only gets stronger through consistently touring the nation's precious few all-ages spaces and recording music that sticks with what works without ever sounding like a retread.

None of the bands leaned heavily into it being Halloween, aside from Rodeo Boys' stage banter about how busting out Weezer riffs would be downright terrifying and Lip Critics' members donning face paint. Screaming Females emceed Drkmttr's costume contest and legitimately had no clue that their winner — yours truly, a sexy possum — would be writing a show review.

The Halloween bill showed that the current state of DIY rock 'n' roll has a clean bill of health — though that's a common enough takeaway on any given evening spent at a Drkmttr show or around Murfreesboro's house-show scene. That's thanks to both the quality of the bands and an impressive turnout on a night with no shortage of entertainment options.