Suffrajett

Chicago’s Jason Chasko is no stranger to backing up bold frontwomen. The guitarist co-wrote and played on Liz Phair’s underrated Whitechocolatespaceegg before bolting to the bigtime of New York; it was there that he founded Suffrajett with lead singer Simi, whose voice falls somewhere between the predatory howls of Karen O and the Kills’ VV. After releasing a self-titled debut in 2003, the quartet relocated to the Windy City and put out an EP (also self-titled) in September of this year. Both discs are catchy, scratchy slabs of guttural garage pop that showcase Simi’s arresting melodicism as well as her raw, blunt force; no wonder that the screamer and her crew were handpicked as an opener by both Cheap Trick and the reunited MC5, the latter of which took Suffrajett on a month-long tour last summer. Now on the road with Bob Schneider, Suffrajett promises to equal — if not upstage — the main act with its sultry, hormone-saturated brutality.