Formation (right) at
SXSW in March 2011. Paternoster and Abbate formed a band in high school under the name Surgery On TV. After several lineup changes they finally became a trio with Dougherty and changed the name of the band to Screaming Females. The band got their start in the
basement show scene of New Brunswick, New Jersey. In the basement show scene, concerts are held in the houses of various bands, students, and residents, so people under 21 can attend. Screaming Females self-released the albums
Baby Teeth in 2006 and
What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.? in 2007. The band then signed with
Don Giovanni Records, which later re-released these two early albums.
With Don Giovanni Records The band's first album for Don Giovanni Records was
Power Move in 2009, followed by
Castle Talk in 2010. Their fifth album,
Ugly, was released in 2012 and was recorded by noted audio engineer
Steve Albini. The album received favorable reviews from
The A.V. Club,
Chicago Tribune, the
Los Angeles Times,
Pitchfork Media,
Alternative Press and
CMJ. In 2012, Marissa Paternoster was named the 77th greatest guitarist of all time by
Spin magazine. In 2013, Screaming Females released the self-produced EP
Chalk Tape for
streaming online. The EP was also sold as a limited run cassette tape and in a digital download format. The band wrote the songs for
Chalk Tape by laying out ideas on a chalkboard and then recording the songs with no rewrites. In September 2013, the band toured with label mates
Waxahatchee and
Tenement. In early 2014, Screaming Females recorded a live record at the Hideout in Chicago. In a later interview, Paternoster described the experience: "The Hideout in Chicago is just one of those venues we really like, it's small, it's been around forever, it has a rich history, it's part of the community, it just seemed like a really good place to make a live record. Steve [Albini] drove two tape machines into the alleyway so we could record it live to tape. Like Deep Purple or something? Yeah! That's what was happening, there was a pro studio in the alleyway." The band released their sixth album
Rose Mountain, produced by
Matt Bayles, in February 2015. Their seventh album
All at Once was released in February 2018. In 2019, a collection of singles titled
Singles Too was released. On January 17, 2023, the band released the single "Brass Bell", and announced the release of their eighth album
Desire Pathway. It was released in February 2023. On December 5, 2023, the band announced their breakup on their social media pages. ==Band members==