Queens Of Noise

The Donnas rock Velvet Jones, 8/5/10

by Jeff Moehlis

It cannot be denied that women have left a huge mark on rock and roll, including the early 60’s girl groups (The Supremes, The Shirelles, The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las, etc), psychedelic rock (Grace Slick, Janis Joplin), classic rock (the Wilson sisters from Heart, Stevie Nicks), proto-punk (Moe Tucker and Nico from the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith), folk-rock (Sandy Denny), art rock (Kate Bush), experimental rock (Yoko Ono), pop rock (Chrissy Hynde from The Pretenders, Pat Benatar), the singer-songwriter genre (Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon), punk (Exene Cervenka from X, Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex), punk pop (Debbie Harry from Blondie), post-punk (Siouxsie Sioux, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth), grunge (Courtney Love from Hole), alternative rock (Liz Phair, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette), and, of course, pop (Madonna, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, etc).

However, it also cannot be denied – and I’m not saying that this is a good thing – that rock and roll is primarily a man’s business. Apart from the bands associated with the women mentioned above, almost all rock groups consist entirely of musicians who have a Y chromosome.

It is especially rare to find a rock band made up of all women. One which has gotten a lot of press in the last year, thanks to the recent biopic movie, is The Runaways, the hard-rocking 70’s teenage band whose members included Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie. Other notable all-women bands include Fanny, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, The Indigo Girls, Sleater-Kinney, The Slits, and The Raincoats.

Then there is The Donnas, who rocked out in a short but very sweet set at Velvet Jones on Thursday night, their first show in Santa Barbara in the bands’ seventeen year history. Formed in Palo Alto in 1993 while just eighth-graders, The Donnas are The Runaways for the next generation, with a compelling mix of confidence and attitude, plus the chops to back it all up.

The current band includes three of the original Donnas – Donna A (Brett Anderson) on vocals, Donna R (Allison Robertson) on Les Paul guitar through a Marshall amp and backing vocals, Donna F (Maya Ford) on bass guitar – plus new drummer Amy Cesari who recently replaced original drummer Torry Castellano because of the latter’s tendinitis of the shoulder.

The show kicked off with “It’s On The Rocks”, the hard rockin’ lead track off their 2002 major label debut album Spend The Night. This album, arguably their strongest, was also represented by “All Messed Up”, “Not The One”, “5 O’clock In The Morning”, and the encore songs “Who Invited You” and “Take It Off”. Other tracks were drawn from their follow-up albums Gold Medal and Bitchin’, plus the 2009 single “Get Off” and one smokin’ Donnas “oldie”, “I Didn’t Like You Anyway” which memorably dismisses a boy as “B-O-R-I-N-G”.

Donna A, who was a “rock and roll fantasy” in a leopard-print shirt and tight jeans, in particular brought an infectious good-time energy to the songs. Her between-song banter was also quite rock-and-roll, referring for example to Santa Barbara’s Fiesta celebration by saying that “We didn’t know there was going to be a mother-f***ing fair outside”.

One hopes that The Donnas will inspire even more girls to become the next women of rock and roll.

Setlist
It’s On The Rocks
Wasted
Fall Behind Me
Get Off
Friends Like Mine
Smoke You Out
All Messed Up
Like An Animal
I Didn’t Like You Anyway
Not The One
5 O’clock In The Morning

Encore:
Who Invited You
Take It Off

Here is a video of “Take It Off” from the concert, shot by someone else and posted on youtube.