Friday, January 24, 2003 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Changing Tides

All-female Donnas proud of their unusual breed of rock

The Donnas' next album might be about a pilgrimage on the Mayflower. Donna A. jokes: "We've got some songs already. 'Pukin' on the Mayflower.' And issue songs about hot boys, like, you think you're with a hot boy, but it turns out he's got scurvy."

The Donnas started performing 10 years ago as pre-teens. Now, the Donnas have a hit garage-rock song, "Take It Off," rotation on MTV, an album that's selling well, "Spend the Night," and a prominent feature in Spin magazine.

So, the four Donnas -- who all go by the name Donna in lieu of their real names -- are finally MTV headliners. But singer Brett Anderson, 23, aka Donna A., corrects a few misconceptions about the playful band.

Elfman: A lot of stories about you make you out to be wild, like the Go-Go's.

Anderson: No, that's history. Things don't happen like that anymore. Plus, they were on all kinds of crazy drugs.

Elfman: So I was reading this Spin story on the Donnas, and it uses all these phrases, like, "Punks with Radio Disney hearts," and "Every mother's nightmare; every schoolboy's dream," and "girltastic" and "Power Puff Girls." It seemed kind of bizarre to me.

Anderson: Yeah, it was overly girly. The interview was fun. We liked the girl who did it. But we're not really into the Power Puff Girls.

Elfman: Part of the appeal of the Donnas is that it's sexy. You have these pictures that pop out at you.

Anderson: Being sexy is like being cool. It's not like you're: "I'm going to be sexy -- now!" Or: "I'm going to be cool." You either are or you aren't.

Elfman: I saw you a few years ago, and I could tell you guys had some fate.

Anderson: Well, we're control freaks. We started this band. We put in years and years of (hard) work and effort. We (didn't) make any money. We've been poor forever. We could have had jobs that made a lot of money. It's, like, I don't think any of us is about to turn around now and let (record company executives) tell us what to do. They may be experts on money or whatever, but we're experts on our band.

Elfman: It takes a lot of energy to fight people off, doesn't it?

Anderson: Oh my God. I can't even explain to you, I've aged like 20 years in the last six months just to keep everything the way we want it, and to get an album we want to promote and talk about in interviews.

Elfman: Yeah, you know I think my favorite part of that Spin article was how you were frustrated by the record company trying to make you change something.

Anderson: We were, like, freaking out. I cried in front of our A&R guy. I was like (she imitates a crying jag): "They can't make us do this. I can't go promote an album ... rahrahrah." And he was like: "Are you sure you're 22? Are you, like, 13?"

Elfman: So which way did the company want you to go?

Anderson: It wasn't that cut and dried. It was more like they had certain ideas that could have been good, too, but it wasn't what we wanted to do. And it wasn't our vision of what we wanted to do.

Elfman: I see.

Anderson: And our next album is going to be a concept album about a pilgrimage on the Mayflower. They might try to change that, too. (She laughs.) We've got some songs already. "Pukin' on the Mayflower." And issue songs about hot boys, like, you think you're with a hot boy, but it turns out he's got scurvy.

Elfman: Well, you know, if you keep having hits, then you can do whatever you want.

Anderson (laughing): Exactly. The ball is in our boat.

Elfman: You know, you're the only woman-fronted act on our local rock radio station.

Anderson: That's like all rock stations across the whole country. ... To me, it seems like they should be ashamed or something. Or they should be like: "Yeah, we're pretty lame. We need to find more girl bands." But they're, like, "Yeah, whatever." They don't care. They're proud of it. ... I think rock radio takes their programming too seriously. It's, like, you really listen to it, and they're like, "We gotta play really serious music -- like Linkin Park!"

Elfman: You know, our rock radio station put on their annual summer stadium show here last year, and put on all these hard-core bands. But the fans were, like, every 17-year-old boy who was released from juvie.

Anderson: That's so funny. That's cool. I kind of want to go. Where is this? Maybe we should make our next album about juvies.

Elfman: Yeah, juvies on the Mayflower.

Anderson: They'll be rowing.

Elfman: You could get some good videos out of that.

Anderson: You know it! We wanted to make our last video on a boat, but we couldn't get the budget, or the permit. Permit, shmermit, just let us get on a boat with a camera.

Elfman: What is it with boats?

Anderson: There was a Sex Pistols video on a boat. And they're cool. And they float.

Elfman: So, you saw Britney here, right?

Anderson: Yeah, a girl's weekend in Vegas. It was great. There were guys with us, too.

Elfman: What did you think of Britney?

Anderson: I think she was really hot. I kind of wanted to touch her. (She laughs.)

Elfman: Touch her where, exactly?

Anderson: You know, like, anywhere. Her shoulders. Wherever. I think she probably smells very nice. (She laughs.)

Elfman: Britney did a better job matching her lips to the lip-syncing this last time. It was so bad the first time.

Anderson: I couldn't sing and do all that running around. That's like running a mile. You're out of breath. How are you supposed to hold a note?

Elfman: Mick Jagger runs around a lot, and Steven Tyler.

Anderson: Yeah, but have you listened to them?

Elfman: Are there any questions you're sick of?

Anderson: Yeah, definitely. Like, "You guys talk about sex all the time, but it seems that you don't really, so are all your lyrics a lie?" And you're like: "So every other band in the world does exactly what they sing about? And it's not painfully obvious they're tongue-in-cheek?"

Elfman: It seems that a woman sings about sex, then a lot of people think then she has sex 24 hours a day.

Anderson: Yeah, exactly, or that she'll have sex with anyone. But it's, like, maybe you love sex, and maybe you only love sex with one person, or certain people. I mean, none of us are nymphomaniacs. That's for sure. ... I don't think that we're picky, but we're really careful about who we're with, you know? We don't, like, jump into things.