The Donnas Return

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Oct 24, 2004

The Donnas have a brand new album out, but Donnas are no more. From now on, it's Brett Anderson, Torry Castellano, Maya Ford and Allison Robertson. No more Donna A., Donna C., Donna F. or Donna R. With their latest album, Gold Medal, the California quartet have made a quantum leap. According to lead singer Brett Anderson, The Donnas approached this album a little differently. We've always shown the side of being strong and turning the tables on men and singing songs like AC/DC would sing," Anderson said. "On this record instead of when you have a conflict saying 'screw that person,' it's about when you can't say that, when it's someone in your family or someone you don't want to walk away from. This one's a lot about how to solve problems. Attitude is kind of from afar. On the last album we were showing our attitude. I think that can be a really good way to solve and problem and is appropriate for some situations. When you show your emotions it's a little closer up. We focused on different situations and how to deal with different situations."

It's been an interesting couple of years for The Donnas. After several successful albums with indie label Lookout, they made the move to a major label for 2002's Spend The Night. Their single "Take It Off" was all over MTV and the radio charts. They also appeared on numerous TV shows including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O'Brien and The View. They also toured non-stop supporting the album. That full workload came with a price. Drummer Torry Castellano started having excruciating pain every time she played. She was diagnosed with deQuervain's Tendonitis, a condition brought on by irritation or swelling of the tendons along the wrist. She was able to finish the tour with cortisone injections, but required surgery after the tour. The surgery was successful and should permanently alleviate the condition. "After my surgery, I had to work with a drum teacher to learn a new way to play," explains Castellano. "My goal was to get better in time to record my parts. It's been really hard, but I'm doing pretty good."

Gold Medal was produced by Butch Walker, who has also produced artists such as Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan. The Donnas and Walker had immediate chemistry. "It just clicked," recalls Allison Robertson. "Any band I mentioned, he knew. Any song I mentioned, he knew. We went into pre-production with him and it was great. He liked the exact same parts that we liked, and the parts that I was feeling could maybe be better, he was like 'Yeah, that could be better.' He was just really encouraging."

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