There’s something about New Jersey. I’m not sure what it is, but the state has the uncanny ability to churn out musicians. Maybe it’s just that there isn’t anything other to do than rock.

One of the Garden State’s latest offerings is Screaming Females. The band, actually only one-third female, was picked up to be openers for the Dead Weather, Jack White’s latest band.

For a band like Screaming Females, the product of strict DIY ethic, this latest tour has been a bit of departure from the norm, especially for drummer Jarrett Dougherty who would normally handle the business side of things.

“Right about now we’re getting pretty stressed out about taking care of different things that need taking care of,” says Dougherty in an interview just before the kick-off to the Dead Weather tour. He mentions that leading up to this tour, the band has had to reach out for a little bit of help, letting go of a bit of that DIY attitude.

“At different points we’ve allowed different people to come in and be a part of what we do,” indicating that the Screaming Females’ third full-length, Power Move, is a full-fledged, professional studio effort with an outside producer, as opposed to the band’s previous self-recorded albums. “We had a label [Don Giovanni Records] release it, and there’s a publicist involved,” he adds. Dougherty has also had to give up control on some of the show booking duties: “We just couldn’t handle everything ourselves.”

The signature sound of Screaming Females is led by vocalist/guitarist/actual screaming female Marissa Paternoster. The urgent howl of Paternoster’s voice is matched by the fast, thick, and fuzzy guitar licks she conjures up from the bowels of some beautifully sick and demented place.

“What we’ve always managed to accomplish is just not waiting around for someone to tell us we’re doing something,” says Dougherty. “The first thing we ever did was put out an album. We didn’t put out a demo; we didn’t burn CD-Rs for friends. We just put out an album that was a printed CD. We were taking it very seriously and we just got on the road and started touring with no ambition other than to hopefully play for people.”

Paternoster says she thinks there is still a stigma surrounding bands that prominently feature women, but she doesn’t personally deal with it.

“For some reason people get really excited when they see woman-fronted bands,” she says.

After the band finishes up the current length of tour dates they’ll be taking some time off, only a couple of weeks, before getting back on the road.

“In between tours I look forward to going on tour again,” Paternoster says. “And when I’m on tour I look forward to sitting on my couch. It’s a cyclical thing. Like my period.”