If you need some new music to listen to, Bad Seed Rising is the way to go. They are a rock band from Frederick, Maryland and consist of (left to right) drummer Aiden Marceron, vocalist Francheska Pastor, bassist Louey Peraza and guitarist Mason Gainer.

They are currently signed to Roadrunner/Atlantic Records.

I had the opportunity to talk to the vocalist of BSR, Francheska Pastor, about her experience being a female and a minority in the rock/hard rock scene.

While it can be a bit tough at times, Francheska makes some great points about what her sex represents in the rock industry today. You can read more about her band and life as a touring musician below.

1. For those who don’t know, who/what is Bad Seed Rising? What would you describe your music as?

We are a band from Frederick, Maryland, a four-piece, alternative rock/harder alternative rock maybe? I don’t want to put us in a genre (categorize us) ‘cause that’s when we start fading into all the other bands, you know?

2. What message does your music send to your listeners?

So far, our last EP “A Place Called Home” pretty much talks about you finding yourself, and me finding myself and standing up for myself. Also, we have a song called “Carry On” that we wrote. I wanted people to listen to it and be able to have hope when they listen to that song. I’ve been through depression and I constantly still fight it, but I am better and I want people to know that they have a chance to be better too, regardless of whatever is happening in their lives.

3. How does it feel like being a girl in this music scene in particular?

I don’t really see anything different. I don’t know if there’s anything really different. When I’m hanging out with other bands, there’s not really much of a difference when it’s me being a female in a band compared to like, all the other guys being in bands. I don’t really see much of a difference except for the fact that I am a girl. That’s the only difference that I see that people react to. Usually it’s a very good response. It encourages other women to be more involved in the music scene and just enjoy harder music like rock. It just kind of gives women confidence but it also turns off people ‘cause of misogynists and all that; ‘cause certain types of guys are like, “Oh wow you’re good for a girl!” and it’s like, what the f**k do you mean dude? What do you mean, “for a girl?” People will just bash on me because I'm a girl. They just want to figure out different things to beat the hay on me for. I am just a musician as everybody else in this crew right now.

4. What are the pros and cons of being a girl in this music scene?

Like I said earlier, there are pros. It’s easier to get to know people and I’m more approachable I suppose, even though some people think I am intimidating, which is really odd to me ‘cause I’m not. And then some people just don’t want to... it’s not like they don’t wanna listen to me because I'm a girl, but some people have a harder time biding with it; that I’m a girl and they’re gonna be singing lyrics that a girl is singing. And sometimes it’s just not as enjoyable as when you listen to a guy. It’s something I’ve discussed with other female vocalists and other dudes too. Say we lined up a full female bill. When you do that you have to describe the fact that it’s a full female-fronted band. And it’s not like, “Oh, it's all female.” It doesn’t matter. We’re all musicians. We’re all artists. You know what I’m saying? There’s no difference. If you were to put a situation out there where all the bands were female, there wouldn’t be as many concertgoers because for some reason, it’s just not as interesting, or it’s just a b***hfest. And there’s a stigma behind that.

5. Have you ever had any weird experiences because of your race or sex?

People catcall. When I’m on stage some dumb kids will be pretending to throw money at me like I’m a stripper. It’s not that bad, it’s just annoying and disrespectful. But now I’m seeing that girls are also saying sexual things to guys on stage and it’s just like, you wouldn’t want that either, you know? You gotta be good people. You don’t want that for other female musicians, so don’t treat guys the same way. You need to treat people the way you wanna be treated.

6. Do you have any advice for females or people of color in the rock scene?

You need to be unapologetically humble and confident. You can take advice, but don’t take all of the advice. People are gonna tell you what they want you to do, and it’s not fun when people do that. Sometimes you do need to take their advice but sometimes you really don’t. You just have to be who you are and you just gotta do what you wanna do and you don’t have to be sorry about it. I struggle with being sorry too many times- all the time. Every single day, “I'm sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I’m tired of being sorry and I just wanna be. People have to understand that they should be okay with who I wanna be.

Even if you’re not familiar with Bad Seed Rising, you’ll be hearing of them a lot more this summer when they play Vans Warped Tour 2016.

They’ll also be on the Strike The Match Tour 2016 with I Prevail, The White Noise and My Enemies & I.

You can keep up to date with them via their Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Keep an eye out for their first full-length record coming out in September, along with a new single releasing very soon. You better be prepared for the storm that Bad Seed Rising is brewing.

This will be one hell of a summer.