With its rich diversity and reputation in the hardcore punk scene, it’s no wonder that Portland continues to churn out melodically cohesive, cogent and buzzworthy bands. Summer Cannibals is a prime archetype, fresh off an album release (Full of It) off Kill Rock Stars, the lady-led band is already making waves at festivals like Sasquatch! and Riot Fest, just to name a few, and embarking on a full-throttled UK tour that started in October. While the burst in hype has been relatively fast-paced for the band, it took front-woman Jessica Boudreaux some time to figure out exactly where music fit in her life.

“I didn't know how great it would feel to play rock music,” she admits. “And when I did, it was like, 'I've gotta do this all the time.' I feel like I found my voice when I started this band. I just try to focus on being tasteful while still making it fucked up and cool and intense and [exactly] like rock music.”

Even with the drive ever present, Boudreaux still found a greater push within her Pacific Northwest region that allowed her to really pull the trigger and pursue music.

“I saw Ty Segall around the same time I was starting this band at Bumbershoot,” she reminisces. “My boyfriend at the time had won tickets, so we were going from stage to stage, and it was all really boring. I was not enjoying myself at all, and then we just randomly happened upon Ty playing, and it was like, 'Oh, my God.'  They go so hard, and the energy is amazing. My first thought was, 'I wonder why I haven't been seeing women performing like that at that level,' and now that I've started, I've been finding more and more, but at the time, it just wasn't something that was easily visible. That was really inspiring and made me want to play constantly so that I could get to a place in my playing and singing and performing — where I could push that hard and still play the guitar.”

With the addition of Devon Shirley, Jenny Logan and Harrison Rapp, Summer Cannibals are sharper than a Kasumi knife and pack a harder punk punch than one to the gut. During their extensive headline tour this summer, we had the chance to get to know Summer Cannibals a little better in Chicago.