The Donnas – Interview

A sit down with Bassist Maya Ford (aka Donna F.)

Were you always looking to go to a bigger record label?

[Lookout Records] always wanted us to go to a bigger label. They told us if we wanted a change and that they couldn’t do much for us and we needed more that we should go to a bigger label.

Do you ever meet guys you like and they are nervous about being with you because they don’t want to end up being a song?

That is an interesting question. I’m sure a lot of guys feel that way and are a little bit scared; maybe that is why I don’t have a boyfriend. Especially since this album is about guys who are really lame.

Were you ever afraid to go to a big label because they might want you to make the songs more G-rated, not that they are dirty, but suggestive?

No, not really, we were more afraid they’d try to make us into something we aren’t.

I was just thinking a label that is worried about their image might not want “Take Me To The Backseat” on a record.

(Laughs) [Atlantic] actually wanted that to be the first single. And really I wanted a parental advisory sticker; I kept asking if we could get one.

Is it an unfair double standard because guys can sing about sex and no one questions it, but you do it and it’s a shock?

Yeah because people think we are these big ho’s and stuff. People are like ‘why are you doing this?’ and I tell them that this is what rock is about. Every song I like is like that. It’s about sex and stuff, that’s what’s cool. (we both laugh)

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

Totally.

Do fans come up to you after a show and go ‘wow, I didn’t think you could actually play an instrument’?

It happens all the time. You’d think it would stop because we’ve been touring for five years. What do they think we are playing a dat behind us and we are like this air band?

What is the goal for a good album?

We just want to make the record something we won’t get sick of. We try to make every album have some humor and want it to sound really loud.

Do you enjoy touring?

I love it. It’s a new town every night; we get to see new things, its like camping.

What do your parents think?

My parents are really excited about it. They always have their Donnas shirts on. My mom always asks for new Donna’s stuff. They are really proud of us.

Did they think it was something that was going to pass early on?

None of us thought anything was going to happen. We were just a couple bored kids who liked music. We couldn’t find anything to do; we never thought we’d do anything with it. We just wanted to play.

+ charlie craine

Had labels made offers to you for a while?

Yeah, a lot of labels did call, but they had crazy ideas about us. They would want to re-record the album and make it poppy and put it out again. Or they wanted to give us a huge sum of money, but then we had to make like ten records for them.

Did you take the same approach in recording the new album?

Yes, except we wrote more songs. Usually we write the exact amount of songs we need because we are pressed for time. We actually had songs to spare this time.

You seem to put out a lot of music too. Most groups need five years to put out one record; the Donnas get four albums out in five years.

Yeah I know. We only spent five weeks recording this record.

Do you write in the studios?

We work them out before. We made a lot of demos for this album.

Is getting people to take you seriously a problem?

(Laughs) Actually no one takes us seriously. They think we are fake and that we can’t play. They think someone writes our songs or that we are a pop group and not a rock band. We want to be taken seriously, but we don’t write songs that are serious because they don’t make you sad, they are about having fun.

I always loved that about the tracks because they even make you laugh. Not a lot of groups can do that without sounding corny.

Thanks. We believe we are the fun generation.

Does it drive you crazy to see all these people making a ton of money in music and not even writing tracks or being musicians?

It does. They are so bad. They trade to make all these statements but they are all just retarded. (I laugh)

Do you get guy groupies?

(We both laugh) Yeah.

Do guys come and hang outside of the bus waiting for you to come out?

Yeah. I mean you want to try and be nice to them, but we don’t want to like hanging with these guys. I think they think we are just all partying all the time, but we usually just hang out on the bus and party with each other. We aren’t big groupie people.

It’s funny because you don’t usually think of guy groupies.

Totally.

Do you get a lot of creepy people?

A lot of creepy people, I think most of our fans are made up of creepy guys. We seem to get a lot of old guys too. I think we get older men who used to like Kiss in high school.