The Donnas get "Bitchin'"

By Laura Robida

Allison Robertson, Torry Castellano, and Maya Ford walked along the sidewalk outside Boston's Paradise Rock Club and headed out in search of pizza. They stopped in the middle of busy Commonwealth Avenue and began an animated conversation.

Other pedestrians passed them without a second glance. The trio of friends could have easily been mistaken for students from any of the nearby universities. But, no, these weren't college students. If it weren't for the fans that had been walking only a few feet behind on their way to a local sports bar for beer and sandwiches the powerhouse guitarist, drummer, and bass player for rock quartet The Donnas may have gone completely unnoticed.

"You know, if you get hit by a car there's no show tonight, and I want a refund," one fan called out as she walked by.

Bassist Maya Ford barely glanced up. "We don't give refunds," she called back straight-faced.

"That's too bad, but I guess its ok. I've already done three shows and I've got five more left of this tour," the fan said.

The threesome all turned to find out who could possibly be giving them this much grief. Drummer Torry Castellano's face lit up instantly with recognition and she fired back a huge grin.

"Oh my god! Again!"

Guitarist Allison Robertson was next, falling in with a huge hug: "Hey!"

The group stood chatting in the street for a bit, oblivious to the angry horns blaring in the street, before finally parting ways. Torry, Allison, and Maya were heading across the street to their favorite pizza shop in Boston before meeting up with singer Brett Anderson(who had gone out shopping with some family members) for sound check.

A few hours later, Robertson sidled up next to the same fan outside the 'Dise shortly before The Donnas' show and engaged in a 30 minute chat fest about, well, nothing at all. Passersby assumed the two were friends chatting about Coca-Cola Zero, traveling and Poison (the band, not actual poison.) while those who stood behind the fan in the line for the venue stood in an awkward state of confusion and jealousy. After all, the twosome had a quite bit in common. They'd been in all the same places at the same time for the past few days, were both guitarists, both influenced by the same musicians, both in bands, and both had a strange affinity for vinyl records.

Impossibly, only a short while later the same women strolled onto the stage and their off-stage personalities had disappeared. Standing in front of sold-out crowd were rock and roll divas, taller than mountains and with more sonic abilities than the deadliest of explosions.  They were The Donnas.

"I would describe a Donnas' show as being an action-packed, head-banging fest. We start the set with 'Bitchin'', a slow heavy riff that suddenly gets really fast. It scares the crowd into submission; then they all sing along for the rest of the show," says Ford. "We get extremely sweaty and make ourselves laugh by running into each other and making heavy metal 'Zoolander' faces. We try to have as much fun as possible and still play the right notes."

That onstage formula of having as much fun as possible has lasted the band for an impossible fifteen years and has seemingly kept them going strong.  And while Ford's description may be accurate from the band's point of view but for concert-goers, a Donnas show is more than just an "action-packed, head-banging fest." The Donnas' live show is an experience. For many, each show is one more chance to see old friends, meet new ones and of course, enjoy their favorite band. And for those who have never seen The Donnas live it's a chance for the band to win over new fans.

"We may have been in a lot of magazines and we pride ourselves on putting out good records, but we win over the most hearts at our live set," Castellano says.

But what is it about this high-energy set that seems to continually earn the band new fans? Sure, none of the band members are train wrecks to look at but it seems to go beyond that. A Donnas' show is the only place where you'll find audience members from all walks of life and of all ages.

"We have so much fun, and onstage it's not an effort, I don't have to get into the mindset or get 'into character.' I just hear the music," Anderson says.

There is something fun about The Donnas that makes them so appealing for both band and audience members. Even their most serious album to-date, "Gold Medal," is a fun, rollicking rock and roll adventure. And with a quick examination of the band's seven albums and more movie soundtrack songs it's easy to see what's appealing about this band. They're playing rock and roll and the quartet's brand of rock isn't dressed up in formal attire. It is what it is. The Donnas' music can only be likened to that one member of your family that always shows up to family functions in jeans and a t-shirt and is the guy to start the beer chugging contest. Maybe he's that fun-loving uncle who just doesn't give a damn.

“Our theme was that we represented the fun generation. It still is,” Ford says.

And while the band's music really is all about having a good time, not everyone has always liked The Donnas. In the band's early days of "Riding the Rocket" at their high school's lunchtime show, Robertson has related on numerous occasions that none of the other bands performing wanted to "play with the girl band." As time progressed the band has been accused of everything from ripping off punk icons The Ramones to being a gimmick to selling out from their indie days on Lookout! Records.

"We loved the band too much to stop," Robertson says. "That’s why when people accuse us of selling out, I’m like, hello! Our first 10 years as a band, we didn’t make any money. There was no reason to keep going. Nobody really liked us. Our friends barely liked us, as far as the music was concerned. But they’d always support us, and we loved them for it.”

Fans of The Donnas, known affectionately as The Donnaholics, are certainly glad the band never gave up. You can talk about a great rock band all day long but for The Donnas, they've attracted a very unique group of fans. The Donnaholics are a group so rare that fan club members carry membership cards in their wallets, can immediately identify other members even in foreign cities, and have no qualms about walking up to fans they've never met, buying a round at the bar and having a party.

"I think our fan base changes and grows with us, and the more people we have listening the more we have to stay true to who we are and what we want next from ourselves, I think that’s what our true fans like the most about us," Robertson says. "We love all of our albums and eras, but a real band doesn’t stay in a bubble; trying to be who we were 10 years ago would be hilarious."

After fifteen years of staying on the music scene, The Donnas have continued to improve with each release. Their latest offering, 2007's "Bitchin'" is just that, it's a bitchin' sonic assault by one of the most talented rock bands currently active. Having cut ties with major label backers Atlantic Records, the band cut out on their own in early 2007, crafting an album that debuted fairly high on the Billboard Top 100 for an independent release. And while it has been perhaps overly compared to artists like Joan Jett, "Bitchin'" has quickly become a fan favorite.

"I wouldn't say we did much of anything different after leaving Atlantic, though it helped that we had more time than we've ever had before to write it. It was very liberating not to have a deadline," Ford told Billboard last summer. The album's final track list was whittled down from 30 songs, written in more than a year, to 13. "We've always loved bands like Cinderella and [Motley] Crue, but we also always enjoyed pop music," Ford says. "We haven't deliberately moved in any direction."

To hear the latest offerings from The Donnas, visit their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/thedonnas or their official Web site at www.thedonnas.com

Editor's note: The fan at the beginning of the article is your humble author who followed The Donnas through eight shows in a row of the band's Fall 2007 run of the Feather Nation Tour from Buffalo, NY to Birmingham, Ala.