FFWD Weekly
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Music by Aubrey McInnis THE DONNAS Vans Warped Tour Race City Speedway July 6 I was standing right in front of Allison Robertson (the cool-faced guitarist appearing onstage and in every boy’s dreams as Donna R) watching The Donnas bring down the house at the Lookout! Records showcase in September last year at a New York club called Life. It was so packed you could hardly move without bumping into a beer-swillin’ and boogie-chillin’ rock ’n’ roller. Everyone was there to catch the lip-glossed sass of the reigning princesses of three-chord Camaro rock. The Donnas wrapped the crowd around their frosted-pink polished pinkies. In a blonde-haired maelstrom, Torry Castellano (Donna C) beat the skins as though the face of her ex-boyfriend was painted on the snare; a lip-snarled Maya Ford (Donna F) laid down thunderous bass lines; Allison had many adoring eyes on her fretboard; and the lead vocalist and valedictorian of Rock ’n’ Roll High School, Brett Anderson (you got it, Donna A), led the party with saucy odes to hot boys, hot cars and hot food. They would return to New York a few months later to open for the queen of rock ’n’ roll herself, Joan Jett, as she performed with the Blackhearts on St. Patrick’s Day at The Roxy. The Donnas’ parents left their Palo Alto, California homes to fly across the country with the Lookout! Records gang to witness the monumental sold-out show. Since then, it’s been heart-breakin’ and party-makin’ all day and all night long. Actually, the fun began eight years ago under a different name when The Donnas were precocious 13-year-olds, in middle school and fueled on Sunkist candy. (Hey, ankle biters: this is how cool girls grow up.) "When we were 13, we used to be called Ragady Anne," says Donna A. "We were a speed metal band, we were super hyper. "(And then) at our first show we were called Scream and we played Shonen Knife, L7, Syndicate of Sound and The Muffs. We just did four covers – it was at lunch at middle school. And then with those influences, we went on to do Ragady Anne, which turned into The Electrocutes, and then for the last two years of The Electrocutes, we also did The Donnas at the same time, but it was a side-project. "We weren’t serious about it, it was kind of a joke, y’know, we were just playing around and we got to do free recordings and it was cool. So we were like ‘Awright, this is fun’ and then it started getting confusing so we decided to merge ’em together." After the release of The Electrocutes’ Steal Yer Lunch Money (1996, Sympathy For the Record Industry), Super*Teem’s Darrin Raffaelli helped the quartet make the transition from grrrls to neon angels and wrote a few songs for them which were released on his label (currently out of print). Things really took off when they signed to punkety rock central, Lookout! Records, which, according to Donna A, has done a lot for them. They would get mainstream media attention for both American Teenage Rock ’n’ Roll Machine (1998) and their third long-player, Get Skintight (1999), which was produced by the mega-pop genius duo Jeff and Steve McDonald (Redd Kross). With all the increasing hype and hullabaloo, The Donnas attracted the eyes of Hollywood and made cameo appearances in teen flicks, Jawbreaker and Drive Me Crazy. Glamour and glitz aside, they kicked out tough-girl covers for soundtracks and compilations including versions of Alice Cooper’s "School’s Out," REO Speedwagon’s "Keep On Lovin’ You," Sweet’s "Wig Wam Bam" and KISS’s "Strutter." Perfectly at home leading the pack with their old-rock-is-new-again vinyl collection starring AC/DC, KISS, Suzi Quatro, Mötley Crüe, Ramones, Poison and many others, The Donnas aren’t about to deviate from their roots. "It was basically just on MTV when we were growing up and what was on the radio," Donna A says of their influences. "It’s been around since we were little. Like Poison, I remember when all that stuff came out and when I was in school and I’d be like ‘Wow, all the cool teenagers are listening to this.’" Before heading out on this summer’s Warped Tour, The Donnas put the finishing touches on album number four. Slated for a fall release but still too early to have even a tentative title, it includes songs like the cheeky "Hot Pants" and "Police Blitz," and is said to be as loud and proud as ever. "I just like to be loud, y’know?" proclaims Donna A. "I like to be as loud as I can be. I was born with a scratchy voice, so like, I knew I couldn’t sing in a pretty voice, so I just don’t even bother." Fun facts about the American rock ’n’ roll machines · Two of The Donnas turned down post-secondary scholarships to play in the band. · Donna A is related to WKRP’s blonde bombshell, Loni Anderson. · Donna A’s aunt is dating William Shatner. · Donna R’s dad taught her how to play those mean guitar licks – he played on The Karate Kid soundtrack. · Their weaknesses are candy and anything from Japan, particularly Sanrio products. · In all their 12 years of touring, Vancouver’s The Smugglers had never seen pandemonium like that which broke out when they toured with The Donnas – they wrote the song "Teen Mob" especially for them and their GBGs (Girl Band Geeks). · Grant from The Smugglers loves to make out with Donna F – he did so on the Club Laga stage in Pittsburgh. · Apparently, Jeff and Steve McDonald didn’t exactly produce Get Skintight after all – The Donnas ditched those recordings and kept their self-produced material, but because of contractual obligations had to list the Redd Kross boys on the album. · Donna A got her diary signed twice by C.C. DeVille of Poison. It reads: "To Brett, love and kisses, C.C. DeVille." · Preferred lip gloss products are Philosophy lip dye, and Prescriptives – a colour that looks black, but when you put it on, it’s a sexy red.

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