CREEM ONLINE: Donnas — A Conversation With Donna A

"Chick band" doesn’t apply to the Donnas. Their music is rock ’n’ roll without condition. With their latest album, Spend the Night, these four girls from California smash sexual stereotypes to pieces and show that girls just want to have fun. Allison Robertson, the Donnas’ lead guitarist, tells how you don’t have to be a guy to rock like Keith, about making the decision to switch to a major label and the side effects of rock stardom.

CREEM: You recently switched from an independent label, Lookout Records, to Atlantic. What is the biggest difference in being signed with a major label?
ALLISON: Well, there are a couple big differences. The biggest reason and the reason why we switched is just that they (Atlantic) have more power. It’s a corporation. An indie label is just a couple people running a label. They don’t generate the type of money you need to get on the radio or to get noticed.

CREEM: Like promotion and airtime.
ALLISON: Yeah, and Lookout actually did a really good job, but a lot of the attention we got was just generated by ourselves. I mean, they did as much as they could afford and we would generate the extra attention and money. People would call and want to schedule interviews and stuff and it just kind of got out of Lookout’s hands and everybody that worked there told us we should really consider switching labels. After four albums it was obvious that they really couldn’t do much. They didn’t want us to just plateau because they saw some of their other artists do that. You know, where they didn’t really get big when they could’ve been huge.

CREEM: They just kind of faded out of the scene?
ALLISON: Yeah, and mostly it's just resources. Major labels can do things for you that you can’t get done without them. You just have to know how to work with them and make sure they’re using the resources in the right way.

CREEM: You’ve been playing for ten years, so at what point were you able to quit your day jobs or routine and say "OK, this is it, this is our career?"
ALLISON: Well, none of us really had jobs. I mean, we had all had part-time jobs. But, none of us were really relying on our day jobs. We were actually just about to start college, so we hadn’t gone on to the career phase yet. You know what I mean? We were still sort of in that place where you’re just out of high school and you have those bad part time jobs. We all got into UCs and we would’ve been in college full time and our drummer was going to go to the NYU acting school. We were all going to actually try and pursue careers besides music. But, when we had just enrolled and our first tour was about to be planned, we kind of had a feeling that we’d be taking a break but we didn’t realize it would be such a big break. It ended up being that the more we toured, the more attention we got and more things started to happen for us .We began touring a lot and had to put college on the backburner. So, that was basically the time when we didn’t have to quit jobs, but we knew we had to hold off on college and that this would be our career. Besides, if we were home, we weren’t home long enough to get actual day jobs.

CREEM: Touring limited the time you had for normal jobs.
ALLISON: Yeah. But, there were times, especially a few years ago, when we were home for a while and some of us would get temp jobs because so many people would think that because we didn’t have jobs that we must be making all this money. But it's like, you can’t have jobs when you’re gone all the time. You don’t find bosses very often that would let you be off for three months.

CREEM: Not many bosses would hold your job for that long.
ALLISON: Right. So, basically we were out of a job when we were home. You could get to feeling so useless when you were home and didn’t have a job and weren’t doing anything while waiting on the next gig with the band. But, we were nineteen and that’s about the time when we knew that our band was what we would be doing with our lives.

CREEM: With you new album, you’ve come a long way. Do you feel that you’ve changed from album to album or that this record may be more of who you are than Turn 21 or another previous album?
ALLISON: Yeah, I do. I think that this one has more feeling and, to me, it sounds more of what we sound like live. There were certain songs that weren’t really finished and we made sure that they were perfect. We really sat down and took the time to make sure this album was something we could live with forever. Whereas the album before this one was done so quickly and even as soon as we were done recording it, I wished there were some things I could’ve redone. We were obsessed with this album. It was our first major label release and we wanted to make sure that we were totally behind it. Not that we weren’t behind our other albums, but there are a lot of people backing us on this one and we wanted to make sure this was something we could be behind for three or four years straight and even for the rest of our lives. It also has a lot to do with touring. You don’t want to get sick of your album. We just really wanted to make sure all the songs were perfect.

CREEM: I’d heard you comment that this album was really taken care of and you were careful not to put in any filler songs.
ALLISON: Well, I think that nowadays people don’t really care about the whole album. Some people still know the difference of a great album instead of just a few good songs and a lot of filler to make up the rest, but a lot just don’t care about the quality anymore. I love being able to put on a record and listen the whole way through. There may be some standout songs that you really love, but every song is a great song. I just think that these days there aren’t many albums like that.

CREEM: I agree. I definitely think that your new album holds strong from beginning to end and it’s evident that there was a lot of work put into it.
ALLISON: Thanks! Yeah, that’s what we tried to do even with the order of the songs. We were just obsessed. It had to be exactly what we wanted and exactly what we thought our fans would want. We tried to imagine ourselves in all kinds of peoples’ shoes. We were really hard on ourselves making it.

CREEM: The hard work definitely paid off. With the success that this album has brought you, how do you feel now, being rock stars, as opposed to the days when you played school shows and really small venues?
ALLISON: Well, it's really strange to compare the way things are now to the days when we played in our school auditorium for like 20 people from our high school. I can’t really compare back then to now, though. It's all been so gradual. I’ve never really gone onto a huge stage where I was scared or like, "wow!’ because we’ve been playing for so long. The first five years we played small stuff and the last five we’ve kind of been up and down. We’ve played really small clubs, then really huge festivals for thousands of people then back to small clubs. So, it’s really been up and down. You just have to be open to it all and open-minded. If you get used to huge venues all the time, then when you do play a small club it would be like a big blow to your ego. But, we’re used to switching all the time.

CREEM: Were any of the festivals you played over in Europe or mainly in the US?
ALLISON: Some were in Europe and one was in Atlanta at a radio festival. It was free and there were just so many people. We were pretty amazed. We weren’t expecting anything huge like that. The ones in Europe we did earlier when we were really young and probably hadn’t played anything that huge. We also did Warped Tour and that was pretty huge. So, again, we’d do big things like that then go back to the smaller clubs and play.

CREEM: What is your ideal location or venue type?
ALLISON: My favorite is to play somewhere that holds about a thousand. Not huge, but not tiny, either. When it’s really small, it’s usually uncomfortable and really muggy and you can’t get through the club without running into people. I like a place that has more space and everything is well lit. But, I don’t like it when it’s too big because it’s impersonal and you can’t see the audience. I like an intimate atmosphere, but I could do without the really small ones.

CREEM: It's good to see a band who is open to pretty much everything and into just getting out there and playing. You’ve definitely put your time in and have paid your dues over the years.
ALLISON: Yeah and we still are!

CREEM: You’re a self-made band and not put together by a label to make them money.
ALLISON: No, no—and we don’t get treated like princesses. Like, when some female artists go on the road and it's just one woman alone, they’re surrounded by men and they dote over the one girl. But, we’re four girls and we’re catty and smarter than a lot of the guys. (laughs) So, you don’t necessarily get special treatment when you’re four girls on the road. Sometimes people are harder on you and expect you to work a lot harder.

CREEM: Is there ever a time when you just want to take a break and get away from the band? Or are you all really close and always hang out on your off time anyway?
ALLISON: We’re pretty close-knit. There are some times when you want to be alone once in a while. You’re always surrounded by people whether you want to be or not, but I really think that we’ve all grown so close that we don’t do well when we’re completely alone. If we’re doing anything that has to do with the band, and I get there early to start my guitars and the other girls don’t have to be there for a couple hours, I get restless and I’m always like, "Are they here yet?’ I get kind of anxious without them.

CREEM: Are there any bands that you’ve played with that you’ve been completely impressed with?
ALLISON: Yeah, there have been a couple. I mean, I always get impressed with people we’re touring with. The Strokes are one of my favorite newer bands. When we got to play with them, I was just really impressed with how perfect they are onstage and how nice they are. To me, that’s impressive because they’re young, you know what I mean? A lot of bands don’t learn the lessons right away and some are really young and immature. But, the Strokes just kill their album onstage and make it sound even better. We’ve also played with Alice Cooper. That was kind of funny!

CREEM: I bet you have some stories from that tour!
ALLISON: Yeah, that whole tour was kind of a weird tour. We played theaters a lot and one night we played a dinner theater! It was weird. We weren’t really expecting it to be the way it turned out. We’ve been on the bill with a lot of bands. Like Lollapalooza, most of the crowds were Jane’s Addiction fans. It was pretty crazy to get to play with them.

CREEM: How have the Lollapalooza shows been so far?
ALLISON: They’ve been great. It’s been really nice, laid back and it’s nice for summer. If we did another club tour this summer, we wouldn’t get any sun or that summer feeling. We’ve toured in the summer before and you just don’t get to go outside as much as you want to. The main part of your day is later on and it’s nighttime. The club tours just have a different feeling than being able to be on a tour where it’s outside. You really get to enjoy the summer and the outdoors. Everyone is wearing their summer clothes like shorts and people are having barbecues. It’s just a really good feeling doing the Lollapalooza tours.

CREEM: Do you have a certain region or area that you prefer playing more than others?
ALLISON: Well, we like touring America in general more than any other place in the world. Not because it's where we’re from, but because it's just an easier place to tour. Buses are bigger, hotels are 24 hours. When you go to Europe, they won’t open the hotel for you. When you get to your hotel it's like all closed up and you have to ring the doorbell and get people to wake up and let you in. It’s not like that everywhere in Europe, but there are certain places where it’s just harder. Like, you can’t stop at a Mini-Mart in the middle of the night to get some water when you’re dying of thirst.

CREEM: What advice would you give to females that want to pursue a career in rock music industry?
ALLISON: Well, I think number one would be not to stop. It’s hard if people have a job or something gets in the way. I think it's important to never stop playing your instrument and like, if you’re a drummer or guitarist, to always find time every day to play a little bit. It always cheers me up. If I don’t get to play I always feel kind of sad. Like I’m forgetting how to play. And also, for females especially, you have to remember that there’s nothing genetically that makes men better to play in a rock band.

CREEM: It just seems to be a male-dominated profession.
ALLISON: Yeah, and it's just how the world is right now, but a lot of girls think that to play the drums you have to be muscular or bigger or something. Or a lot of people think that they can’t play an instrument at all because they feel that they weren’t born musically inclined. I think our band is just four people who want to and like to play music and really appreciate the music culture. You know, we didn’t start out as virtuosos on all of our instruments or like the stars of the jazz band at school. We were the people who didn’t know how to play for a long time. For like five years people would tell us how we couldn’t play, but we always knew we kind of had something there. Something that bound us together musically. But, individually, none of us were really awesome when we started. So, I think that people just kind of give up sometimes and think that they’ll never be able to play as good as the bands they hear on the radio. I used to think that, too, but then I just started trying. It's frustrating because there are still things I can’t play. I feel like some people are playing on another planet. But, I feel that it's important for people to know that anybody can do it. You don’t have to be a certain body type or look. I want younger girls to know that they can play guitars and not feel that it’s a manly thing to play or that you have to look a certain way. Especially when you’re in high school, you don’t want to be considered a tomboy or have people to make fun of you. But, I believe that there are a lot of people who think that girls are still sexy and smart when they play guitar. And you find all that out when you get older.

CREEM: In your song "You Wanna Get Me High", it alludes to the popular kids from high school coming out of the woodwork and trying to be your friend now that they know your name. Do you find that that happens a lot now?
ALLISON: Yeah. I definitely think that there are a lot of people that pay attention to us now that wouldn’t have a few years ago. But, at the same time, we don’t really like that. It’s not like revenge for us now. "You Wanna Get Me High" is more like making fun of it all and how it's stupid to try and be friends with someone now just because they’re famous or popular. It's not necessarily that it makes us feel good or that we’ve done something better than them. Some people ask us, "Doesn’t it feel great when you see someone from high school and they’re kissing your ass?’ And we’re just like, no. It really doesn't. They just don’t get it.

CREEM: It's like they just want to be with someone famous?
ALLISON: Yeah. The fact that they’re kissing your ass doesn’t mean that they respect you more now than they did in high school. I mean, I still have my feelings hurt from high school. (laughs) So, when I see people from back then, it's just kind of strange. But, a lot of the time it's people you didn’t even know and that’s what makes it funny and humorous. It's never like the one person you wanted to pay attention to you or the one person that made fun of you all the time. It’s always some weird person that you knew who sat in the back of the class and didn’t say anything. Then they show up and are like, "Hey! Remember me?’ and I’m like, "I remember you, but we never talked. Ever.’ You know? So, what’s the point in talking now? But yeah, you have those people show up sometimes.

CREEM: Can you relate to the way your fans react to you as being similar to the way you reacted as a fan?
ALLISON: Well, I’m a weird, obsessive fan. But the thing I don’t relate to, is if I met one of those bands I was obsessed over, especially in high school, I would never show or tell them that I drew comics books with them in it or I drew pictures of us as a couple. (laughs) You know? I would never tell or admit any of that. And we’ve had people come up to us who were like that. So, it's not that I don’t relate to them, it’s just that I don’t relate to that aspect of it. If I ever met the people I idolized, I wouldn’t want them to know how crazy I was! But, most of our fans are pretty low-key. There are a lot of fans that I could see myself hanging out with. Every once in a while I’ll get that fan that’s kind of pushy or obsessive and that’s what I don’t relate to. When I was younger, I never expected to meet any of the bands that I went to go see. I never expected them to be by their bus or around the club. A lot of our fans get mad if they can’t find us. Some of them will go on the fan forum and post things like "They were hiding!’ or "They’re rock stars now. The used to talk and now they don’t.’ They sometimes think we’re being mean or reclusive. I just can’t imagine thinking that about someone I liked even before I knew what the lifestyle was like. I always thought that’s what you were supposed to do. I always liked rock bands being mysterious and not knowing every thing that they were doing all the time.

CREEM: It kind of keeps a mysterious aspect to it all.
ALLISON: Yeah. Not that they’re better than anyone, but I just always thought you were there to watch the show. You might run into them after the show and get their autograph or something, but to me it was better if they were a mystery. There are so many people that wait at your bus and get mad or take it personally when you can’t stick around to talk. They get sort of demanding sometimes.

CREEM: I could see some of that when coming into the club tonight. You have some big fans waiting in line to see you!
ALLISON: (laughs) Yeah! It’s all kind of crazy, but really cool at the same time.

CREEM: Do you find that most of your fans tend to be female?
ALLISON: I think it's more mixed now. It used to be more guys than girls. But, now I think it’s a lot more even. We also attract a kind of older male crowd due to the kind of music we play. A lot of people say they’re dirty old men coming to see younger girls play, but it's just that they’re more into ’70s and ’80s rock a lot of times and that’s kind of what we specialize in. It reminds them of when they were kids. We attract that, as well as younger guys. Most of the girls we attract are girls our age or a little older than us. So, we try to make our music attractive to all types and ages. We don’t have all these special effects and added crap in our music. It's just rock 'n' roll, plain and simple.

—October 2003

Photo by Stephan Stickler