Tonight's Roustabout! marks the band's first trip to central Pennsylvania.
"I get really excited going to new towns," said lead singer and guitarist Leigh Fox, who has a twangy Southern accent that disappears whenever she rocks out.
Tonight also marks just the second all-female act in recent Roustabout! history, and the lineup has organizer Jeff Van Fossan excited. "We've had a couple bands [in the past] that were almost all female," he said. "But then they had a stupid drummer or something who was a boy."
The Pinkslips landed the gig thanks in part to DJ Amy Clukey, who passed a recommendation along to Van Fossan. Clukey and fellow DJ Lauren K will get the Roustabout! crowd warmed up before the Pinkslips take the stage around 11 p.m.
"The girls are definitely going to outnumber the boys [tonight], that's for sure," noted Van Fossan, whose band The Bullet Parade will play after the Pinkslips finishes its set.
Proof of the Pinkslips' knack for songwriting lie in tunes like the infectious "Jackfight"; a fictitious battle between The White Stripes frontman Jack White and musician/actor/all-around crazy person Jack Black. Jack White ends up winning the fight, but the girls have nothing against Jack Black -- especially bassist Beth Turner, who is a huge Tenacious D fan. They just really like the White Stripes.
Three years ago, in fact, before the Pinkslips existed and before the White Stripes were anywhere near famous, Fox went to a White Stripes show.
"I just remember being there and going, 'God, I love this band!'" she said.
After North Carolina college radio stations began to add "Jackfight" to their playlists, the Pinkslips were featured on the cover of the NCAA publication The Collegiate Standard.
While Fox's pretty vocals are a little reminiscent of Bangles frontwoman Susanna Hoff's, the band's self-described "femme-fatale-indie-blues-rock" style reminds Van Fossen of other gifted female musicians with a little bit of Juliana Hatfield and a little bit of "pre-sellout" Liz Phair.
But don't even get these girls started on selling out.
"Radio and media are so dominated by crap," Fox said. "You gotta support things that are being made by the people of your generation, who are just like you."
Just as frustrated is Turner, who groans at the amount of successful artists who don't write their own music. "We like to keep it real," Turner said. "Hopefully, people will start shifting back to that."
They are real, yes, but that doesn't mean the Pinkslips can't be sexy. Actually, the girls love being sexy. They just don't rely on it for success.
"We're not those people who are hired by some bigwig and then put on TV," Fox said.
The Pinkslips have been touring the East Coast since they formed two years ago and are excited to bring their high-energy set to State College.
Now, if only they could only bring some of the sunshine and warmth from down South.
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