The Donnas
| The Donnas | |
|---|---|
 The Donnas in November 2004 - from left: Brett Anderson, Torry Castellano, Allison Robertson, Maya Ford |
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| General information | |
| origin | Palo Alto , California , United States |
| Genre (s) | Rock , punk rock |
| founding | 1993 |
| Website | www.thedonnas.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Brett Anderson alias Donna A (born May 30, 1979) |
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| Allison Robertson alias Donna R (born August 26, 1979) |
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| Amy Cesari | |
| Maya Ford alias Donna F (born January 8, 1979) |
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| former members | |
Drums |
Torry Castellano alias Donna C (born January 8, 1979) (until 2009) |
The Donnas is an American rock band from Palo Alto , California .
Band history
Foundation and first years
Brett Anderson, Allison Robertson, Maya Ford, and Torry Castellano met during high school and quickly became friends. In May 1993 they formed a band together to play the Jordan Middle School's "Day On The Green" school talent competition. They played their first concert there in June 1993 under the name Screen . A short time later they renamed themselves Ragady Anne . It was followed by other appearances in high school band competitions. In early 1995 they recorded an EP . A short time later the band renamed itself The Electrocutes , which musically went a bit in the direction of Trash / Riot Grrrl .
In it Raffaelli , a member of the garage punk band Superchargers , got to know the band. He was looking for a women's band that would play songs he had written in the Ramones style. The four women allowed themselves to be persuaded and founded the side project The Donnas . They gave themselves the pseudonyms Donna A. , Donna R. , Donna F. and Donna C. , based on the Ramones, where each member had given the artist surname Ramone . Both projects ran in parallel for a while. Sometimes they performed both as Donnas and Electrocutes on the same evening . In the meantime, however , the Donnas attracted significantly more audiences than the Electrocutes . In 1995/96, three Donnas singles were recorded on Raffaelli's Radio X record label . In 1996 the women recorded an Electrocutes album called Steal yer lunch money , which was released in 1998. In 1996/97 a Donnas album followed on the super * teem label. The Electrocutes activities were finally abandoned in favor of the Donnas .
The time at the Lookout label!
The important, independent punk / rock label Lookout! signed the group in 1997/98. The new album was called "American Teenage Rock'n'Roll Machine" . This album was produced quickly and cheaply. Only two days had passed from pre-production to the finished mastered album. In addition, the previous Radio X and super * teem singles have been compiled under the title The Donnas . In 1999 they had guest appearances in the films Drive Me Crazy and The Sugar Sweet Death , where they played prom bands.
To avoid criticism, the Donnas wrote the following album get skintight completely without any influences from Darin Raffaelli . Accordingly, the style of music finally changed away from LoFi - "Bubblegumpunk" more towards Rock with an 80s influence. The album Turn 21 followed and along with extensive tours , the band's popularity continued to grow. Since the sales and advertising capacities of the indie label Lookout! were limited, a recording contract was accepted with the major label Atlantic Records in 2002 .
breakthrough
With their major debut, Spend the Night , a kind of international breakthrough was achieved. The record company gave the band two weeks to record the album, which was initially unusual because the previous albums had always been recorded faster. In the USA the album achieved a gold award. In Germany it reached number 73 on the album charts. In the same year, a US tour followed, followed by a European and world tour, which also included appearances at the Rock im Park and Rock am Ring festivals . This tour had to be canceled later because drummer Torry Castellano suffered a tendon overload in her wrist. As a result, she had to learn a new striking technique that was easier on the joints. Singer Brett Anderson summarized the extensive tour as follows: “It took me eons to recover from the stresses of the tour . Your voice is going completely wrong and at some point you sound like Marge Simpson's sister. After we got home, I did everything I could to regenerate my voice. "
On October 1st, 2004 they played as opening act for Green Day at a concert in Bochum . In the same year the album Gold Medal was released . The first single from the album was called Fall behind me , the second I don't want to know . They also said goodbye to the "Donna names" Donna F./Donna C./Donna A./Donna R. A year later, they shot a commercial for PETA . In 2006 the group and Atlantic Records separated prematurely. The band felt little supported and the label was not very satisfied with the style of music and the moderate success of the album Gold Medal .
Guitarist Allison Robertson moderated from May 16, 2007 until the release of the new album in summer 2007, followed by a US tour as a radio host and DJ on US rock station WRR (Woman Rock Radio) for one hour each Wednesday evening. This should attract a lot of attention to the station, especially since the station only plays music by female rock bands and performers.
New label and line-up change
On September 18, 2007 the album entitled Bitchin 'was released in the USA (Germany: September 28, 2007). The album contains 14 tracks and was released due to the separation from Atlantic Records on the group's self-founded label called "Purple Feather Records", which is distributed by "Red Eye Distribution". The album was produced by Jay Ruston, who has worked with Meat Loaf , among others . Musically speaking, this album shows more of a return to the "Partyhmynen", as they were represented on the album Spend the Night , and more of a departure from the more serious sound of its predecessor Gold Medal .
The first single from the album is Don't Wait Up For Me and can be heard on the band's Myspace page.
In July 2009 it was announced that drummer Torry Castellano would be replaced by long-time friend Amy Cesari due to tendinitis in her shoulder (which had already been treated surgically in autumn 2003). A year later, on July 9, 2010, Torry announced on the band's official website that due to persistent shoulder problems they would definitely get out of the band and stop playing drums. She is currently studying Political Science (Political science) at Stanford University .
style
The musical style of the Donnas was and is often referred to as the "girlie version of the Ramones", sometimes also as "Dixie Chicks on electric guitar". On the first album The Donnas the style of music is faster, punk reminiscent of the Ramones. The later albums, especially Spend the Night, have a much more rock orientation and tie in with the glam rock of the seventies and eighties by Kiss and AC / DC . Rock clichés are ironically adapted. The songs also became increasingly melodious. Production also became increasingly professional: the recordings of the first albums often took no longer than two days, while Spend the Night took two weeks.
The lyrics of the first albums mainly revolve around the themes of "party" and "boys". The lyrics radiate a certain sexual self-confidence and play with sexism with a wink: Men are shown as toys that bring joy.
According to statements, the lyrics were often inspired by experiences they had on their tours. Several song titles sound like attempts at picking up: "Too bad about your girl", "Do you wanna hit it", "You've got a crush on me", "You wanna get me high", "Take me to the back seat"; some sound like rejections: "Who invited you", "Not the One", "Dirty Denim".
The Gold Medal album, on the other hand, seems more mature, adult, more personal and more serious than the previous albums. With this further development, however, the popular "drauflos attitude" of the earlier Donnas was somewhat lost. Furthermore, the Donnas became musically more diverse and more willing to experiment: While the previous albums were recorded exclusively with the classic rock music instruments electric guitar, electric bass and drums, you can also hear acoustic guitars and piano on Gold Medal .
Discography
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- The Donnas (1998), (compilation of the singles released in 1997 on small labels)
- American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine (1998)
- Get Skintight (1999)
- Turn 21 (2001)
- Spend the Night (2002)
- Gold Medal (2004)
- Bitchin ' (2007)
- Greatest Hits Vol. 16 (2009)
Others
The song I Don't Want to Know (If You Don't Want Me) is the theme song for the first season of the US series "South of Nowhere", which has been broadcast on "The N" since autumn 2005.
The band plays three pieces in the film Drive Me Crazy : Get Rid of That Girl , Outta My Mind and Keep On Lovin 'You (a cover version of the classic by REO Speedwagon )
The film Detroit Rock City features a cover version of the Kiss song Strutter recorded by The Donnas .
The song "Take it off" can be heard on the soundtrack of the 2009 film Hangover .
Web links
- Official website
- The Donnas at laut.de
- The Donnas at Lookout! Records
- Woman Rock Radio - US radio station on which Allison Robertson has her own program every Wednesday