The
Donnas, made up of four very talented ladies each play very important roles in
their places within the band. Brett Anderson (Donna A) possesses a killer
voice, which sounds just so perfect for rock music. Allison Robertson
(Donna R) is the band's incredibly talented guitarist. Allison's so
confident in the way she handles her guitar playing style for every song.
Torry Castellano (Donna C) supports Maya by being the band's inspired drummer,
and is a perfect partner for Maya (Donna F), who is the band's gifted bass
player.
Maya is my favourite member of the rock band The Donnas. She is
someone who I admire for being a fellow bass player, for being bloody brilliant
at what she does, and for being so damn pretty. Maya, along with the rest of the band are important to
me because all the music they have made is, to me just an absolute pleasure to
immerse yourself in.
In
their relatively short time together as a band, The Donnas have released six
albums. Their first album, recorded in 1997 is a collection of naive
sounding songs (all notable for the fact the many of the songs are under two
minutes long). This is of no disrespect to The Donnas though. This
self-titled first album was recorded whilst they were still at high-school in
Palo Alto, California. Their next three albums, American Teenage Rock 'n
Roll Machine, Get Skintight and Turn 21 each brought forward a successive
massive leaps in song writing and song playing confidence. Their fifth
album, and the first for the major record label Atlantic, Spend The Night is an
absolute joy to listen to.
Their sixth, and current album, Gold Medal was released in the middle of 2004.
This is my favourite album by the four piece band. It took longer to get
into initially than Spend The Night, but it has since, in my opinion, become their greatest
recording to date.
I
was so fortunate to go and see The Donnas play when they toured the UK in March
2005. They were bloody fantastic to witness, and were so awesome in the
way they managed to sound so similar to their recorded sound. My memories,
photos and movie clips of this ace gig are featured on my Gigs & Festivals sub
section on this site. Click
here to access it.
The
Donnas main web site is beautifully designed, and is an excellent and friendly
place to visit and keep up to date with the band. They also have a very
active forum site for fans to interact with each other. Visit
http://www.thedonnas.com for more information.
Below are my opinions of all The Donnas albums I own...
The Donnas
There's something about this album that really does this kind of really
innocent charm to it. 23 short but great songs tucked into just over
40 minutes of an album, these nuggets are perfect examples of a young band
recording all the songs they can, because they can. Many of the songs
are musically very similar to each other, but that doesn't detract it from
the marvellous naivety that it has.
American Teenage Rock 'N' Roll Machine In many ways, to me, this Donnas album sounds quite 'ordinary' at times.
Rolling in at 25 minutes long, it's classic rock 'n roll, in the sounds that
it has. But it very seldom goes beyond that. However, there are a few
great songs on here. You Make Me Hot, is a total classic, with a cool
drum rhythm, and classic guitar and vocal sounds. The self titled
album track, Rock 'N' Roll Machine has a great guitar solo on it, while the
closing track, Shake In The Action is another great song.
Get Skintight This album features the Donnas in the true rock 'n roll sound that they are
really famed for. I love this album. It still sounds
surprisingly fresh now. Get Skintight has a much more tighter sound to
it, resulting in truly great rock songs, including Skintight, the ace
Hyperactive, and the wonderful sombre You Don't Wanna Call.
Turn 21 This album was my first introduction to The Donnas, although (confession
time) I never actually bought it until after Spend The Night came out
(sorry!). Turn 21 was The Donnas' final album on the Lookout record
label they were on before their move to a major record label. And of the four releases on this label, this is by
far their most accomplished and best. Their trademark initiative
for killer guitar licks and sounds are just so prominent all through here.
The beginning of a classic sound!
Spend The Night This album still holds so many great memories to me. This was an
instant favourite when I first laid my ears on this cool album. Every
song on here appears to be feature a killer guitar riff, choruses to sing
your heart out to and a rhythm section to completely rock yourself out to.
I've played this album far far far too many times to count. I always
have a smile on my face when I listen to this.
Gold Medal Initially, Gold Medal took a few listens for me to get into. However,
it's now by far my favourite album of theirs by a country mile. Each
track on here is an instant rock 'n roll great. Full of memorable
guitar licks and hummable songs to die for, this is a perfect soundtrack for
any rock 'n roll lover with a true heart of gold. And it sounds even
better after hearing so many of the songs being played live too!
The
Donnas, made up of four very talented ladies each play very important roles in
their places within the band. Brett Anderson (Donna A) possesses a killer
voice, which sounds just so perfect for rock music. Allison Robertson
(Donna R) is the band's incredibly talented guitarist. Allison's so
confident in the way she handles her guitar playing style for every song.
Torry Castellano (Donna C) supports Maya by being the band's inspired drummer,
and is a perfect partner for Maya (Donna F), who is the band's gifted bass
player.
