Spend The Night, by The Donnas (LP on Atlantic)

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The Donnas: 'Spend the night' Album Review
One of America’s most rebellious and irreverent bands is back, and they’re brasher and brighter than ever! The Donnas’ eagerly awaited Atlantic debut is the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed breakthrough, “THE DONNAS TURN 21.” Produced by Jason Carmer and Robert Shimp, “SPEND THE NIGHT” finds the Bay Area-based quartet at their powerpop-punkrockin’ best. Tracks like “Take It Off” and “Backseat” are all fit to burst with that patented Donnas attitude – loud guitars, heavy hooks, and irresistible, unstoppable energy. Sexy, smart, and sharp, the Donnas’ “SPEND THE NIGHT” is so much fun you’ll want to stay for breakfast.

“We try to make every record better than the one before it,” bassist Maya Ford says. “We’re really happy with every part of this album. It sounds like something we would all want to listen to in our car.”

“We had offers from major labels in the past but we skipped over them because we knew it was too early,” singer Brett Anderson says. “We wanted to get the most out of every phase, like putting out a record on an independent label and playing small clubs, then doing bigger records and bigger tours. I think that just made us better prepared for this whole experience.”

Having traditionally recorded quick and on the cheap – 1998’s “AMERICAN TEENAGE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MACHINE” went from pre to post-production in just two short days – this time the Donnas were able to take their time.

“It was a very different experience,” Maya says. “We’re used to writing our songs, then recording them really fast, and that’s it.”

“I’m used to doing my drum tracks in one day,” drummer Torry Castellano adds, “two days at the most. It was so different to have two weeks to record my parts. When I went in there, I was like, ‘What are we going to do with all of this time?’”

“We had time to sit on some ideas and decide if we really liked them or if we wanted to change them,’ Brett says. “Instead of just doing it, putting it out and looking back at it. The songs really are the way we want them to be. It’s exciting not to have to regret anything.”

The band spent a good chunk of spring/summer 2002 working on “SPEND THE NIGHT,” including stints at three California studios: San Francisco’s Toast (where they cut most of their earlier work), The Plant in Sausalito, and Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.

“We just did the whole Bay Area,” Brett laughs. “The Plant was probably our favorite – it’s super-comfortable, there’s a lot of history there, and Friday is Cookie Day. How can you go wrong with that?”

Having been a musical gang since the tender age of 14, the Donnas are equal partners every step of the way, including the songwriting process. All four members contribute lyrics and melodies to their idiosyncratic anthems of teenage kicks and rock ‘n’ roll fantasy.

“It’s very collaborative,” guitarist Allison Robertson says. “We like to get everybody’s opinion, just like we did we were in eighth grade. It’s more fun that way. There’s no ego. We like to split everything up evenly in everything we do.”

Inspired as ever by a wide span of rock and pop icons (including AC/DC and Cinderella, the Sex Pistols and the Dictators, George Michael and Madonna), “SPEND THE NIGHT” is largely fuelled by the Donnas’ life on the road. Tracks like the confrontational “Who Invited You” chronicle the people and places, the friends and the fights, encountered night after night after night.

“The album has a lot of true stories in there,” Allison says. “We did three full tours last year, so there were a lot of people that we met that we felt needed to have songs written about them.”

In addition, a number of songs on “SPEND THE NIGHT” offer the Donnas’ unique perspective on the music and culture that drives their work. “Take It Off” is a riotous role-reversal, with the band expertly blowing away the sexual stereotypes portrayed by some of their favorite artists.

“Cock-rock bands always talk about girls in their audience,” Brett explains, “so that song is just us changing it around, like why can’t we do that with guys? The truth is, it doesn’t work the same way. Girls take all day getting ready, finding the perfect flirty outfit that makes their ass look good. Guys don’t do that. They just show up and get drunk.”

Perhaps the most unlikely inspiration for “SPEND THE NIGHT” came from the band’s mutual infatuation with the Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs, the Dream Master himself, Mr. Freddy Krueger.

“After every show on our last tour, we’d go back to the bus and watch a Nightmare on Elm Street movie,” Maya explains. “That’s what kept us going. It just kept our spirits up. We could ignore everyone else – ‘Sorry, but it’s Freddy Krueger time.’”

“It’s pretty much a way for us to exclude everyone else,” Brett says. “We’ve been together for so long, we have a really big ‘us against them’ mentality. And there have been so many ‘thems.’ First there were the guys in school, telling us we couldn’t play. Then when we started touring and making records, there were other bands who we didn’t get along with. There’s always a ‘them’ to unify us. It’s kind of a cheap trick, but it works for us and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Donnas first teamed up to rock the world while attending middle school in Palo Alto, California. Calling themselves Ragady Anne, the quartet made their live debut busting out Shonen Knife and L7 covers at a lunchtime band show. In 1995, the girls – by then known as the Electrocutes – recreated themselves as the Donnas, quickly releasing a fistful of raucous singles and a self-titled debut album. 1998’s “AMERICAN TEENAGE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MACHINE” the following year’s “GET SKINTIGHT” resulted in a boatload of critical acclaim from the four corners of the globe. 2001’s “THE DONNAS TURN 21” took things even further, with the band’s artistic growth and international popularity growing by leaps and bounds. Throughout their career, the Donnas have gone on countless tours of North America and beyond, kicking out the jams and winning over fans every time they plant their Chuck Taylors on a stage.

“The more we’ve toured, we’ve gotten more and more of a diverse crowd,” Torry says. “We have a lot of young girls, a lot of teenagers, guys in their 30s that love the same music we do. It’s really cool because we want everyone to like us. What we don’t have yet is women in their 30s and 40s, so now we’re looking for them. That’s our goal – we want to win over the soccer moms!”

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