The Donnas
The Donnas is the name of an all-female rock band.
Members
Brett Anderson ("Donna A") - Vocals
Allison Robertson ("Donna R") - Guitar
Maya Ford ("Donna F") - Bass
Torry Castellano ("Donna C") - Drums
History
All band members were born in 1979. As best friends, they formed in the 8th grade to play for their school's "Day on the Green." They were the only girl band in their town, Palo Alto. They were relatively unknown until they were out of high school. They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Castellano's garage nearly every day during high school. They are sometimes described as a punk band but the band themselves deny any kind of affiliation with the punk rock movement.
Experimenting with different musical styles, they underwent a variety of band names (Screen, Ragady Anne, and The Electrocutes) before settling on The Donnas. They worked with producer Darin Raffaelli for their first two albums, the first of which, simply called "The Donnas", was entirely written by Raffaelli and released on his own Superteem! record label (it was later released again on Lookout! Records). They took a week off of their senior year of high school to tour Japan and experimented with riot grrrl under The Electrocutes. They signed with Lookout! Records. As the band grew, they were urged to sign with a major label company. In 2001, they signed with Atlantic Records.
In 2002, the Donnas released Spend the Night. The album was their mainstream break through, and spawned the hit single "Take it Off". In the summer of 2003 they played the main stage at Lollapalooza. In 2004 they released their sixth album Gold Medal.
Some of their influences include KISS, L7, Bikini Kill, Shonen Knife, The Muffs, R.E.M., The Ramones, and Bratmobile.
Up until the release of 2004's Gold Medal the band used pseudonyms. Each member was known as "Donna" followed by the first initial of their surname (eg. Brett was known as Donna A). They decided to drop the stage names prior to the release of Gold Medal to present an image appropriate for the more mature sound they had adopted on the new album.
Albums
Ragady Anne
- Ragady Anne [7"] (1996) (Radio Trash Records)
The Electrocutes
- Steal Yer Lunch Money (released 1998) (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
The Donnas
- American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine (1998) (Lookout! Records)
- The Donnas (1997) (Superteem!) (1998) (re-release on Lookout! Records)
- Get Skintight (1999) (Lookout! Records)
- The Donnas Turn 21 (2001) (Lookout! Records)
- Spend the Night (2002) (Atlantic Records)
- Gold Medal (2004) (Atlantic Records)