We read some interview where the
Donnas said they hated boys with bad breath
so of course fredflare.com stocked up
on mints before our first big-time foray into rock journalism. Chris,
Keith and Elizabeth popped ‘em obsessively while preparing
the interview on the front steps
of Atlantic Records. Though they’d
deny it, those three were so nervous!
Happily, the minute the Donnas (Brett Anderson on vocals, Torry Castellano
on drums, Maya
Ford on bass and Allison Robertson on guitar) arrived,
they eagerly asked, “Are you the folks
from fredflare.com?
We LOVE fred flare!” and then proceeded to tell us all the various items
they had purchased from the site. We couldn’t believe it! We’d
loved them ever since 1998’s American Teenage Rock ‘n Roll
Machine and here we were chatting with them about makeup,
t-shirts and
jewelry. They’re so for us!
With the release of their new record GOLD MEDAL on October 26th, our admiration for these
supertalents only deepens. The album is rockin’ yet reflective.
Just like their new video, it’s
darker yet somehow sparklier. Make sense? Click
here to preview their new video and you’ll
know exactly what we’re talking about or, better yet, read on to
learn more about the Donnas
in our exclusive interview.
So when you tour do you all stay in one big party room? Brett: No. We get our own rooms now.
We did that for years, though. Allison: We did that for a really long
time. We shared beds! B: But
we never got to sleep cuz we’d be lying there like, “Are
you awake? Are you still awake?” Maya: It’s hard to sleep when you’re
sharing a room with awesome people. Torry: When we did our new record in
LA we rented a house together…
So you lived there the whole time you were working on the record? T: Yeah.
That’s fun. A house with a kitchen
and everything? B: A really GREAT kitchen too! A: And it had a fenced-in backyard and
a fenced-in garage.
How long were you there? T: We were actually down there like four
or five months. When we first arrived, we started with one
producer who
didn’t really work
out so then we were in limbo for a little while but then we found
another
producer and that worked out so that was great. Then we just stayed
down there and made
the video, shot pictures for the record and stayed
and practiced…
Did you have a camera crew at the house while you were recording? T: Hahaha, no! Well, we videotaped
some stuff… A: We have our own camera.
Would you girlz ever do something like that? Like a reality show? A: No, I don’t think so. We feel
like our lives are already taped… M: We always kinda want to be left
alone, I think.
What’s that like to be so in the
eye of everybody? A: We don’t know yet! But I sorta hope I don’t ever really
know, you know what I mean? We’re still
like so normal. M: We don’t have people waiting around for us outside the hotel… A: People don’t care about us that way, like we have some superfans
that are obsessed but they
don’t live near us and you only see
them at concerts and then you’re prepared. We only really get
recognized
if we’re all together. B: Or if you have the flu and you just went to yoga and you look really
ugly… A: Exactly. Overall, though, I think we’re the kind of band that
people might recognize but aren’t
always FANS of, if you know what
I mean. Plus, a lot of our fans are totally just like us – same
age,
same personality-wise – so they don’t really want or
care to bother us.
What are some of your craziest fan stories? T: I think a couple of them have gotten tattoos of our band name, or
of us… M: One girl got a tattoo that’s just like my tattoo. She got a
little heart that says “On My Own” and
was trying to take
pictures of our arms together. A: I’m trying to think of the craziest one…. M: There was that guy in England who got us the full box of Tic-Tacs? B: Aww he was cute, though! A: He was like a young teenager and he was a musician too and he had
this little thing of Tic-Tacs
that was green AND orange. But they weren’t
out here in the States yet so for one second we were
like “Whoa,
what are those?” Later he brought back a huge box! Like he went
to a store and bought
the entire stock… B: We didn’t really want them THAT bad. M: Oh, I know one! Oscar C! He made cookies for us, each with our own
faces. And then he wrote a
letter A-to-Z of “Why Maya Ford is Great”.
Like “A, she’s Awesome… B, she plays Bass…”
What did he do for Z?! M: I forget.
Okay, can you give us the A-to-Z on the new album? B: Well, we love it! T: It’s called The Donnas
Gold Medal and we’re very very
excited about it. We wrote more songs
then actually ended up on the record
but we really wanted to make sure that every song had made
it to its
own perfection. A: Yeah, there were a few that we thought
were gonna be on there but they didn’t end up making
it, which is good!
So it’s a totally hot record… M: Yeah! B: There’s a lot of things right with it, if I may say. M: It’s the best record we’ve ever written!
That’s awesome. Congratulations! T: Thank you! We worked really hard on it! A: We usually don’t gush about our own records. We’re always
really excited about our new album
but this one is different. The last
album there were so many things we were trying to make sure of,
like
our fans coming with us to the major label switch, or the label itself
being with us, too many
people that we were thinking about. This new
record is us only thinking about the songs. T: I also think we threw out a lot of the rules we used to put on ourselves
before.
What were some of those rules? B: Well, like certain words were “too smart” to be Donnas
lyrics… M: Like anything over two syllables! T: But I also feel like with our last record, which was our first major
label release, we really wanted
to make sure people understood that we
were a rock ’n roll band, not a pop group or ‘rock-pop’ or
‘punk-pop’ or
whatever. You know, there’s so many things people can think of
when they first see
you. We really wanted to control that and we felt
the way the way to do that was to make all the
songs on that record super
fast and to TEN all the time, just ROCK all the time. I think with this
record it was like, “Okay, well we did that. Let’s throw
out the rule that we can’t have a slower song
or maybe a darker
song…” A lot of the songs on this record are about darker
subjects.
Like what? B: Just like personal things that we’ve been through since our
last album. Before that, we were
kinda kids still. We had relationships
but it was no big deal and we had breakups and it was bad,
but whatever,
and we would go on tour, just livin’ our lives… In the last
two years we find we’re
making decisions, big decisions, about
where we’re living and who we’re living with and all that,
how we’re living our lives. We never really had a “home” those
whole two years – we spent more
time here in New York than we did
at home – so we’ve been trying to figure that all out.
Where are you guys based now? T: We’re all in California. Three of us are still in the Bay Area
and Allison’s out in LA.
You guys are all from Palo Alto, right? B: That’s where we met. We had
all moved there from other places and that’s how we became friends.
We were talking outside about how it’s
amazing when you’re
younger to be able to find
even ONE person that’s into the same
things as you. We think it’s incredible that the four
of you
found each other to begin with AND then managed to start and last as
a band as well. B: Well, we definitely enjoyed the same music but we totally agreed on
other things, too. Like we all
loved “Twin Peaks” and a lot
of the same clothes and stuff… It’s still fun to have all
that in common. M: When we got together as a band all of us were kind of like outcasts,
I guess, and didn’t really fit
in at our school… A: Yeah, so when you’re kinda a weirdo, even at a young age – like
I knew Torry when I was nine – you can kind of influence each other
so when you’re growing older you both become even weirder
together…
You can take someone with you into Weirdohood! A: Yeah. Because if we had moved around and hadn’t stayed with
each other that whole time, it
would have been hard to have ANY friends.
Or at least I would have had a hard time. I was so shy! M: Me too. But it did kinda start because of the music. I hung out with
Allison because she made me
R.E.M. tapes and Bikini Kill tapes. I remember
I made a Nirvana tape for Brett…
Do you still have ‘em? T: Of course. B: Totally! We have it all. We have all the notes we sent, the pictures
we drew of the other bands at
our school, sucking.
So do you have any friendship advice for
staying pals and in a band for so long? T: I understand, because we live together
and we work together and we’ve
been friends for so long,
that some people are like “Wow, you get
along!?” and being excited about that but, for us, we’re
just
hanging out with our normal friends and that relationship is the
most important thing about the
music, above anything. I think we all
really WANT to get along and we put that as a priority. M: Because we know we have the most fun when we’re all happy. T: Yeah. And I think that it’s really important when people are
starting bands and just in friendships
in general to really think about
the other people’s feelings and leave them alone when they need
their space and talk if they need to talk… M: And also it’s good to start a band with your real friends, like
not just find someone in the
newspaper. I mean, that’s a great
way to go about it too, but if you have a band with people you
know really
well and you’re best friends, it’s definitely going to be
solid. T: It also helps that we’re all in the same boat, you know? On
days when we’re all really tired
because we’ve been on the
plane, or we’re all nervous for a show or whatever, you know that
everyone else knows exactly how you’re feeling. B: It’s so great just knowing you don’t have to run up on
that stage alone…
Do you girlz have any weird items you can’t
tour without? Your binky? A: Well, when we go out on tour in November I’m going to bring
this doll I got called the Ugly Doll.
They’re like stuffed animals
but they’re really ugly AND they’re really cute… My
boyfriend and I
bought 2 of them so we each have one. Whenever one of
us is traveling, we each take one… M: I always bring this really weird retarded picture frame with a picture
of my boyfriend. T: I’ve been trying to pack lighter so hopefully I won’t
bring everything! But I guess I can’t travel
without all my wrist
stuff. I have wrist problems so… Oh, that’s not a really
fun answer! I used to
travel with a teddy bear for a long time but it
got really old and really messed up and if I lost it I’d
be really
sad.
You didn’t throw it away, did you? T: Oh NO! B: That’s her childhood!
We get sad when when see stuffed animals in the street. We have to save
them. ALL: I know!!
SPEEDROUND! fave color? T: Green A: Blue B: Green M: Pink. Orange. Red
fave movie? B: Bottle Rocket T: Do the Right Thing A: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure M: Blue Velvet
fave candy? B: Nerd rope T: Peppermint Patty M: Skor bars B: And homemade fudge… A: That’s a really bad question cuz we could go on and on…
Awesome. I guess our final question is just this: Are you girls gonna
vote? T: Of course! And we encourage everyone out there to vote! A: We made sure that if we’re not in our home vicinity that we
can still do absentee. Wherever
we’re gonna be we’ll be able
to vote. We asked months in advance… B: It doesn’t make sense not to vote. It really doesn’t.
