She Screams and Pomona Listens

She Screams Fest makes room for women in punk to be loud and unapologetic

Dear She Screams Fest,

You looked good in Pomona.

It is clear to me now that safety can still exist within chaos. I love your rough edges. On Aug. 15, women took over the microphones at The Glass House and The Haven, filling both rooms with punk, emo, screamo, and everything that refuses to fit neatly between them. The lineup was entirely female-fronted, bringing together awakebutstillinbed, Arranged in April, Nuvolascura, MyVeronica, noragami, my stuffed rabbit, Parting Gift, Checkpoint Charlie, illusory, and Sounds Like Sunday. 

Awakebutstillinbed carried the night's emotional weight, sitting at the intersection of emo and punk without sanding down either. Arranged in April brought a sharper kind of vulnerability, combining screamo with spoken-word poetry and making the music feel almost as much like a confession as a performance. Nuvolascura leaned into something heavier, while MyVeronica moved between emo, post-hardcore, alternative and shoegaze. Checkpoint Charlie brought its Southern California emo roots with my stuffed rabbit, Parting Gift, illusory, and Sounds Like Sunday adding their own flair to the festival. 

The best part about the lineup was that all the bands didn't sound alike and instead, what connected them was that every voice belonged. 

She Screams was not simply about putting women on a stage and calling it representation. It created an entire night around them. The difference seems small on paper, but it was much more apparent in person. It let women be loud, strange, vulnerable, angry and completely themselves.

After spending so much time watching women find their way through a scene that has not always been built with them in mind, there was something tender about seeing an entire night where they did not have to fight for the frame. It was already theirs. 

The Glass House and The Haven sit about a ten-second walk apart from each other, close enough that it barely felt like leaving a show as people moved back and forth all night, crossing the sidewalk to catch another band, meet a friend or see just to peek at what was happening in the other venue. People naturally helped each other in the pit and looked out for one another. Shirts from Oakwoods’ show the night before at The Glass House even appeared throughout the crowd, showing small fractions of another night of music carried on into the next.

Although the audience was male-dominated, bows tucked into hair and glitter catching beneath the venue lights still managed to stand out within the crowd. Skirts, cute tops, black band shirts and carefully chosen outfits all existed alongside each other. Nothing about being feminine seemed to require an explanation, proving that you can still be soft around the edges while rightfully taking up space. 

There is always a bittersweet feeling about leaving a night like that behind. The next morning, the glitter is washed off, the borrowed eyeliner from the girl in the bathroom is gone, and the bands have moved on to the next city. But some shows leave behind a feeling that is harder to shake, as they are much deeper in meaning, and She Screams was one of them. 

Sincerely, 

Yours in glitter and distortion