w/ Soce, the elemental wizard; DJ Shiva
Melody Inn, 3826 N. Illinois St.
Thursday, May 8, 10 p.m., $7 (or $5 with Tegan and Sara stub), 21+

Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable — the super hero names for the self-described genderqueer rappers that make up Olympia, Wash., duo Scream Club — borrow from mainstream hip-hop, glam, punk rock and vintage electronica to forge a sparse and rough sound that foregrounds their clever, sex-positive and occasionally raunchy rhymes. In the midst of a three-month tour that included an encounter with Cyndi Lauper (a “long lost mother,” the duo call her), Scream Club will join New York-based anti-folk MC Soce, the elemental wizard and Indy’s own DJ Shiva for a show at the Melody presented by the alliterative Kunt Krusaders. NUVO spoke with Scream Club by phone between stops in Canada.

NUVO: How did you two meet?

Sarah Adorable: We met in Olympia, Wash., about six years ago. I had just moved there — well, actually, Cindy had just moved there as well. I was working at the local porn store and Cindy came in looking for a job. She didn’t get the job but she got me. So, we started dating pretty much right away, and started Scream Club about six months later. And we’re not dating now; we’re BFFs now, but that’s how it all began. Cindy was doing solo stuff and asked me if I would want to join her. We played our first show at a roller skating rink called Skateland in Olympia.

NUVO: What was that like? I assume it was more hip than the skating rinks I’ve been to?

Cindy Wonderful: What is unhip about a roller skating rink? Roller skating rinks are hella-fun. I go every Wednesday.
Sarah: The show was really cool because we got to perform in the middle of the rink, and people rollerskated around us. It was pretty awesome.

NUVO: How has your style developed over six years?

Cindy: It’s evolving. We used to be more just crazy, raw punk rock. Sometimes we’d get naked; we hardly ever do that anymore. We might get topless every once in a while; it’s kind of about loving your body and just throwing away social norms. If you have body issues, being naked is really empowering because you’re choosing to show to the world that you’re OK with yourself. We used to dress in underwear — just wild stuff — and now we have more choreographed dance moves, and try to have more of an awareness of each other on stage.

Sarah: Before too, aesthetically anyway, we used to be totally identical: We had matching haircuts, matching outfits. Now, we still match, but Cindy’s the butch bombshell, I’m the blonde bombshell.