Screaming Females, with Vacation, Lipstick Homicide

Rockers from New Jersey, Ohio, and Iowa will shake the rafters at the Mill on Aug. 2 in a three-act punk freakout. 

Screaming Females will headline the event. The three-piece indie-rock group hails from New Brunswick, New Jersey, and has played together for 10 years. Lead singer Marissa Paternoster is a sight and sound to behold, careening from a sneering, vibratory wail to a deep, guttural growl. 

The wild spirit of ’70s rock poet Patti Smith lingers in the crux of the inner ear while listening to Paternoster’s vocal performance — along with the sonic specters of later guitar-driven acts such as At the Drive-In and Yeah Yeah Yeahs in her lock with fellow guitarist Jarrett Dougherty. High-pitched, scratchy guitar spasms struggle over thick globs of lower-register tones like flies stuck in tar. 

For its current tour, Screaming Females is joined by Don Giovanni Records label mates Vacation, a hyperactive punk group with songs that rarely exceed four minutes long. Fans of anything from the Clash to Wavves will hear something to their liking in Vacation’s set. 

Coralville punks Lipstick Homicide, which opened for Green Day in 2014, will round out the lineup for Mill show. The three members bring back the fury of “riot grrl” feminism and the bratty, buoyant energy of skate punk for a sugary blast of ’90s pop punk nostalgia. Anybody who grew up on the early Tony Hawk video-game soundtracks will get a kick out of Lipstick Homicide.

Bring your friends and get ready to pogo at the Mill. Be sure to wear your dirtiest pair of Chuck Taylors.