Break Up With Boring At Museum’s Alt V-Day Party

For AJ Haynes, lead singer/guitarist of Shreveport band Seratones, performing is all about “animating a space.” Drawing inspiration at the same time from artists like punk rocker Kathleen Hanna and soul singer St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Haynes says you never know what’s going to happen at a Seratones show: Whether engaging with her fellow musicians on stage or with the audience, she likes to test her boundaries.

“I always feel like a live show should make people put down their phones; either put down their phones, or reach for them because a really integral moment’s happening that they want to capture,” she shares. “So how do we try to change the energy in a room and draw people in? And a lot of that has been like, ‘Bam! Here’s something that’s loud and fast.’ And oftentimes women aren’t seen in that kind of position — often, women in music are seen as soft, or not loud or not fast… [So] it’s kind of like energy work — you’re making this ball of energy and you’re just like, ‘Where am I going to throw it?’”

Haynes and the other three members of Seratones will be throwing that rocking/ bluesy/soul-stirring energy around Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville Saturday when they perform for the sixth annual Black Hearts Ball — the museum’s nontraditional answer to February’s heartcentric holiday. The event is part of the Artinfusion series, which aims to create unique, multi-sensory art experiences for its members that help them connect with the space and the art in exciting ways, making it a perfect fit for Seratones.

“Where a lot of [Seratones’] roots are is in experimentation and [with] (debut album) ‘Get Gone,’ we were shooting for kind of raw power, really energetic, attention-grabbing,” Haynes says. “I get excited about kind of freaking people out a little bit, or making them feel things that they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I felt that today.’ I’m very interested in the physical element of it, [and] I feel like being at a show can be like a reset button, you know? People see each other in a different light, see themselves in a different light.”

Courtesy Photo Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville hosts its annual (anti) Valentine event, the Black Hearts Ball, on Saturday. Music will be provided by the fiery Seratones (pictured).