If I was pressed by someone to put an overarching qualifier to them, I’d be willing to go out on what is a very short limb and call Screaming Females a band’s band. Putting on killer show after killer show in a variety of settings over the years, the 3-piece punk rock band has the chops that have allowed them to build a rock-solid reputation to be a can’t-miss show amongst their peers. I’m sure that many a local act has made sure to make their way over to see them after or before their own sets, even if they were playing across town. Yet, for some reason, they’ve never really stepped out in the commercial market, only really succeeding amongst fringe music fans. So, on their recent 5-week headlining national tour, Screaming Females ended up at TT the Bear’s on a rainy Thursday and not someplace like House of Blues. And it worked out beautifully.

Local act The Young Leaves started the night off right with a really slick set considering the circumstances. Vocalist/guitarist Christopher was obviously struggling through an illness, which had a noticeable effect on his singing ability, but the band was able to shrug the effects off well by putting more emphasis on their instrumentation, which shined during the breakdowns. Joking about wearing a dad shirt, the mood was light but the chops were tight. It was a perfect sound to resonate with the crowd that was there to see Screaming Females later.

Boston vets Mean Creek followed up in a bit of an awkward spot in the lineup. Jarrett of Screaming Females actually characterized them to me as loud, in-your-face, guitar-heavy power pop. While this most definitely held true, their power pop sound came across as maybe a little too light when thrown together with the other acts in the lineup. But Mean Creek made the most of it and frontman Chris Keene carried their performance with lots of stage presence and energy.

I have to say Pujol actually managed to bridge the gap between Mean Creek and Screaming Females pretty nicely. Their Nashville roots could definitely be felt and led credence towards classic acts reaching as far back as Rolling Stones. Despite plainly showing off their influences, Pujol never really dropped the ball when it came to drawing the crowd in. But you could tell that the crowd held back a bit and might have been getting a bit anxious for Screaming Females to make their way onto the stage.

When that magical time came, Screaming Females definitely didn’t disappoint. After seeing them a decent number of times now, I’ve always set the mental bar pretty high for them to wow me. And yet, they still managed to do so again. This particular time, it was actually the sheer variety in the song choices for their set that really surprised me. Starting off with “High” and “Tell Me No” off of their latest album Ugly, Screaming Females ran the proverbial gauntlet in their catalog, playing material stretching as far back as their debut album Baby Teeth that was released back in 2006.

And yet, the truly impressive part of their set was how they were able to seamlessly blend the songs that ranged years apart together without dropping the beat at all. Vocalist/guitarist Marissa effortlessly blended songs together with expert guitar interludes and the energy in the room just continued to build song after song. Screaming Females has definitely gotten to the point where they can revel in the bulk of their material and play around with it as much as they like. For someone who doesn’t obsess over which song is which, I’m sure it ultimately led to the feeling of one never-ending, high-energy performance that left a good chunk of the crowd trying to catch their breath by the time it ended spectacularly with “I Don’t Mind It”.

While this didn’t leave many truly standout memorable moments to me besides Marissa fulfilling her Cambridge obligation of crowd surfing (or crowd sitting depending on the way you look at it), the entire performance as a whole was intriguing enough to remain stuck in my head, even until now and probably for some time to come. Screaming Females is truly a band that you cannot miss when they come to town and they cemented that in my mind with their performance at TT’s.