The Donnas

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The Donnas
Past members

The Donnas were an American

rock & roll
party".

After gathering a

major label commercial success in the early 2000s and afterward as their music mixed punk, metal and classic rock sounds.[4]

History

Origins and early years: 1993–2001

All four founding band members were born in 1979;

vocals), both on January 8. They all became friends by eighth grade and formed as a band in May 1993[5] to play for their school's "Day on the Green." One of two all-female bands in their town Palo Alto, California,[6] 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 their years at Palo Alto High School. They called themselves "Ragady Anne" in their early days and shortly thereafter changed their name to "The Electrocutes".[5]

Towards the end of their high school days, while they were still known as The Electrocutes, they decided to create another band (with the same members) that would play softer tunes without distorting the metal queen image of The Electrocutes. To help their fans distinguish between the two bands, they all took matching "Donna" monikers, where all of their names were Donna and their last names were the first initial of their last name (Brett Anderson became Donna A, etc.), which they used only when performing as "The Donnas."

They worked with producer

Lookout! Records. As the band grew, they were urged to sign with a major label company. In December 2001, they signed with Atlantic Records.[7]

Atlantic Records: 2002–2005

In 2002, The Donnas released Spend the Night as their Atlantic debut. The album represented their first attempt at mainstream success. With their single "Take it Off" they were booked for appearances on Total Request Live, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the Late Show with David Letterman. In the summer of 2003, they played the main stage at Lollapalooza. In 2004, they released their sixth album Gold Medal. In February 2005, they toured Australia with the Big Day Out music festival, playing from Sydney to Perth. While in Australia they performed "Take It Off" live on national prime-time show "Rove Live" with Rove McManus.

Atlantic repeatedly placed the Donnas' music in video game soundtracks. "You've Got a Crush On Me" can be heard in the

PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii), released by Harmonix
in 2008, features the track "New Kid In School" which was released exclusively on Apples iTunes service. "Fall Behind Me" was also used in a national television commercial advertising the Nissan Xterra while Take It Off was used in a Budweiser commercial.

Atlantic also energetically marketed the Donnas through placements in numerous film soundtracks. The band appeared in the movie

What's New, Scooby Doo?. "Who Invited You" is featured on the soundtrack of the 2003 movie What a Girl Wants
.

New label, lineup change and dissolution: 2006–2012

Performing in 2008

On May 19, 2006, The Donnas announced on their public message board that they had "parted ways with Atlantic Records," claiming "[t]he decision was entirely mutual and completely amicable and will not impact the band, nor will it impact upon the writing, recording or touring for the next Donnas album."[9] In March 2007, the Donnas released a single, "Don't Wait Up For Me," and had a new band logo designed.

The Donnas independently released their seventh studio album titled Bitchin' on September 18, 2007 Purple Feather Records label. Bitchin' was produced by Jay Ruston and The Donnas and contained the single "Don't Wait Up For Me".

In 2008 The Donnas toured with the Melbourne-based, Australian band Kisschasy as part of their Skin and Bones tour. They also toured the U.S. and Canada with The Hives.

In July 2009, the band released a retrospective collection titled Greatest Hits Vol. 16 to celebrate the band's 16th year together. The album contains new songs, re-recorded older songs as well as some unreleased material. The band toured that summer with Pat Benatar and Blondie on the two's joint Call Me Invincible Tour. Drummer Torry Castellano was unable to play on any of these tour dates as she was suffering from tendonitis of the shoulder, which was accredited to the fact that as a self-taught drummer she had held the drumsticks incorrectly (even though it felt right to her) and sustained long term damage over time. Long-time friend Amy Cesari of the band The Demonics has been chosen to fill in for Castellano.

On July 9, 2010, Castellano announced via the band's website that due to her continued shoulder problems she would have to retire from drumming and performing with The Donnas. She returned to school at Santa Monica College and then Stanford University, where she graduated in 2013 and went on to Harvard Law School.[10]

In August 2012, the band was reported to be recording their eighth studio album and also premiered a new song called "Tramp" at a private show.

In November 2016 Cherry Red Records re-released the band's fifth album, Spend the Night, to include six bonus tracks which consist of B-sides and songs from previous albums.

In an interview from 2017, the band's lead vocalist, Brett Anderson, discussed "the end of the band" [1] and turning down offers to "reunite," implicitly confirming the band is no more. In the same interview, she also mentions that there are no plans to release previously-unreleased studio-recorded songs.

In April 2023, for Record Store Day the band released a compilation of earlier material entitled The Donnas - Early Singles 1995-1999.

Band members

Timeline

Discography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Brett Anderson Talks Life Since The Donnas, Scoring Commercials, And Shooting TV Pilots That Never Aired". Stereogum. October 24, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Record Details / Artist: The Bobbyteens / Label: Super*Teem!". Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "The Donnas: Biography : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "The Donnas | Music Artist | Videos, News, Photos & Ringtones". MTV. Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Huey, Steve (February 12, 2004). "The Donnas". AllMusic. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  6. ^ Snyder, Julene (October 29, 1995). "Girls Aloud / Who says having a garage band is a boy thing? These girls rock and roll". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  7. ^ "Rock band the Donnas take control after stumble". Reuters.com. June 23, 2007. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  8. ^ "Girls to the Stage: 7 All-Female Punk Bands From the Bay Area". KQED. Retrieved August 17, 2020. with band members even appearing in the 1999 teen comedy Drive Me Crazy as their alter egos, the Electrocutes.
  9. ^ "The Donnas have "parted ways" with Atlantic Records". brooklynvegan. Retrieved May 13, 2007.
  10. ^ "Top five Stanford alumni in the music industry". The Stanford Daily. January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2017.

External links