Heavy Cream

Hailing from Nashville, the mostly female garage-punk outfit Heavy Cream channels the Ramones’ blunt, militaristic simplicity and power along with the Runaways’ defiant, rebellious attitude, all refracted through lo-fi noise textures and irreverent pop-culture humor. Vocalist Jessica McFarland, who arrived in Nashville during 2002 to enroll at Belmont University, founded the group. Initially drawn to the entertainment business, McFarland grew disillusioned with the mainstream industry the more she observed it and turned instead to punk, launching an earlier project called Meemaw. When Meemaw disbanded in 2009, McFarland promptly assembled Heavy Cream by enlisting guitarist Mimi Galbierz, bassist Seth Sutton, and drummer Tiffany Minton. Amid a renewed wave of underground punk activity across Nashville throughout the 2000s, the band performed regularly at clubs and house parties, issuing its debut album Danny in 2010 via the local independent label Infinity Cat Records. Operated by members of Jeff the Brotherhood, the imprint also booked Heavy Cream as an opening act on tour, allowing the group to sharpen its live performance and establish itself as a leading Nashville punk attraction while building an expanding regional audience through constant roadwork. The quartet headed to San Francisco to cut its follow-up album with producers Ty Segall and Eric Bauer, resulting in Super Treatment, which Infinity Cat released in spring 2012.