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The Donnas
 

The Donnas

Fact Sheet

Musical genre:Rock  
Country  USA
The Donnas is the name of an all-women punk rock band that go by stage names. Donna C. (Torry Castellano), Donna F. (Maya Ford), Donna A. (Brett Anderson), and Donna R. (Allison Robertson) make up the band. They formed in 8th grade (1993) to play for their school's "Day on the Green." They were all best friends and high school outcasts, which is what brought them together. They were the only girl band in their town, Palo Alto. They had absolutely no friends or fans until they were out of high school. There was even an anti-Donnas club in the brief time that they attended college. They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Torry's garage nearly everyday during high school.

They went under the names Screen, Raggedy Anne, and The Electrocutes before becoming the Donnas. These other bands were not simply the Donnas with different names, they were different bands with different members. In fact they appeared on a college radio station as both Raggedy Anne and The Donnas in the same night! Not only this, but Raggedy Anne and the Donnas insulted each other. (No one but them and the DJ even knew that they were the same people).

They worked with producer Darin Raffaelli for their first three albums. They took a week off of their senior year of high school to tour Japan and even experimented with riot grrl under The Electrocutes (this was more musical than political, though). They initially signed with Lookout! Records. However, the band became too big for the independent Lookout! to handle and they were urged to sign with a major label compamny. In 2002, they signed with Atlantic Records.

The band has been together for 11 years. Some of their influences include KISS, L7, Bikini Kill, Shonen Knife, The Muffs, R.E.M., The Ramones, and Bratmobile. A new release is expected October 2004.




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