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| 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. 10/11/04 |
