A Stellar Moment with Donita Sparks

By Max Conroy  

 

The co-founder of the great all girl rock/metal/punk/raunch band L7, Donita Sparks, has just released her first solo record since the band’s break up eight years ago.  The amount of time between break up and solo effort might make some fans a bit skeptical as to the quality of her new material, but a lot has happened to the music industry in the past eight years, and it’s a lot more difficult to make a record these days when it’s on the artist’s dime.  Allow me to assuage any trepidation that you might have regarding this record because of how long ago 2000 seems.

I first heard that Donita Sparks and her new band the Stellar Moments were releasing a record not by Mojo or Pitchfork, but on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  The review was by Ken Tucker, their music critic, whose reviews I greatly admire.   

I hadn’t thought about L7 for awhile, but they definitely have a place in my subconscious.  Bricks Are Heavy and Hungry for Stink are several albums that came out at that magical time for me, where development goes into overdrive and everything was confusing, troubling and magical; the junior high, early high school years.  They were big players in that soundtrack of those awesome, yet horrible times for me and most people that I can relate to now whether they realize it or not.  For example: a couple of years ago, I met a new friend and we were hanging out at his place; he was into psychobilly music and I was into protopunk at the time; the first record he put on was Bricks Are Heavy and it was the perfect choice…we both knew that we had a lot in common at that point.   

Natural Born Killers was also a polarizing experience for me when it came out; looking back on it, it seems like the A Clockwork Orange of my generation.  I can remember smoking weed out of a pop can with my two best friends on an outcropping in front of the movie theater before attempting to sneak into the film because we were underage.  Shitlist is still my favorite song on that soundtrack and the scene where Juliette Lewis puts the coin in the juke box and slices up that redneck while it plays, the most memorable in the film.

I also was lucky enough to have seen L7 on the ‘94 Lollapalooza tour at Pine Knob in Detroit when I was fourteen.  I was lucky enough to have some college-age neighbors that I grew up with who knew I was into music heavy.  When L7 went on early in the day, I remember looking to my friends and saying, “Those are some crusty bitches.  I wouldn’t mess with them.”  And that’s been my impression of them ever since; intimidation based on their hardcore stage presence.

Nostalgia in art and literature is regarded as something to be avoided at all costs.  I guess that it kills the ability to think in the present and clouds memories in a grotesque rosy hue.  But I’m a nostalgic person at times and all of this history came back to me as Terry Gross’ intro faded and the first notes of Need to Numb came through my speakers.  I had to stop what I was doing and listen.  It’s a straight ahead NY Dolls style rocker that convinced me right there before the review even began that this record has to be good.  Tucker’s review was laudatory and included clips of Creampuff, a take on the 60s girl group sound, and He’s Got the Honey, probably the most commercial song on the album; a good overview of the record.

A little while later, I acquired Transmiticate (the album title is a made-up word, combining transmit and communicate) and am quite impressed by it.  Make no mistake, it’s a departure from L7, but the evolved sound is an appropriate balance of maturity and the best of what L7 had to offer: fuzz and great hooks.  The album incorporates modern electronic effects, particularly on layered backing vocals, and the classic human/band feel beautifully.  The production by Ethan Allan is par excellance and the drums played by Dee Plakas, the only other member of L7 on the record, are fantastic, tight and big. The record successfully jumps tempos throughout and ends with a ballstothewall rocker, Into the Hi Fi.  If you are looking for new music that’s provocative, a fan of L7, or interested in supporting people out there that still give a damn about rock and roll, you should find this record.

A few weeks after hearing the review of Transmiticate on Fresh Air, I was presented with the opportunity to interview Donita in conjunction with her show here at the Magic Stick on June 11th.  I jumped at the chance, but was a bit cautious based on my teenage impression of L7.  I did some research and watched some interviews that she’s done recently and was happy to learn that she’s a seemingly normal person that probably wouldn’t put me on her shitlist and knock my teeth out if I mumbled the wrong question. 

Here’s my stellar moment with Donita Sparks…

Cousins:  The new record sounds great.  The production’s excellent.  What can you tell me about Ethan Allan?

Donita:  Ethan co-produced the record.  He used to work with Daniel Lanois at his studio in New Orleans.  He’s currently working on project with Tim Finn in New Zeeland.  He also produced Gram Rabbit and another band I really like the 88s and 50 Foot Wave with Kristen Hersh.

Cousins:  The new record is a bit of a departure from L7’s sound.  How consciously was the sound conceived?  Did it just happen or were you looking to change your sound?

Donita:  I was looking to change my sound a bit.  I think that it kind of happened with the newer technology that’s available.  Also, I recorded a lot of it myself and played around with it before I brought it in to mix it.  I started doing fun, cartoony things with some of it.

Cousins:  There’s a subtle electronic feel to the record, but the human aspect is in the forefront.  Usually, it seems to be one or the other.

Donita:  I think that it’s a good meld, a departure, but not completely foreign to people that have been following me for awhile.  You’re still going to get your rock on, but you’re going to want to dance instead of head bang.

Cousins:  How long have these songs been on the shelf?  Have you been constructing them for the past few years or did you do them in the studio?

Donita:  Most of them over the last couple of years.  There’s one on the record, Creampuff that I wrote in L7, but never brought into the band.

Cousins:  You seem to be getting a lot of younger fans, based on what I’ve seen on the Internet.  How does it feel, eight years after L7 to be having some success?

Donita:  It feels great to be playing and having the record out.  The record took me a long time to finish because finding Ethan was a challenge; finding someone who got what I was trying to do.  Sometimes people have preconceived ideas of you as an artist and they really want to stay true to what they think is true.  And they don’t listen to you when you say I want it to sound like a fucking cartoon and they want to put these balls on it.  Ethan really got that.  Then the process moved forward in a timely way.  I was able to do some things, but I have some limitations with technology.

Cousins:  If he worked with Daniel Lanois, I imagine he’s at the top of his game.

Donita:  Yeah.  He knows what he’s doing.

Cousins:  So what’s up with CASH Music and SYNC licensing?

Donita:  CASH stands for the Coalition of Artists and Stake Holders and it’s about creating a community of artists and a community of music lovers.  The artists offer up things that would be shot down by a label and the fans are asked to pitch in to sustain our careers.

Cousins:  So everyone chips in and everyone gets a piece?

Donita:  Basically, we’re encouraging our fans to create their art out of our art and in doing so, we can make a living.  Sparksync is something I’m offering through CASH where if people really want to play record label, they can actually be a part of the profit participation of the Sync license of He’s Got the Honey.

Cousins:  So if it makes it on a car commercial, everyone strikes gold?

Donita:  That’s right.  The number of shares that I’m selling would equal exactly what a label would own.  I retain ownership, but I’m selling partnership in it.  It’s a fun way that people can spend a hundred bucks and watch the whole thing play out.

Cousins:  Now that the CD is dying and record stores are going under, what’s your take on the music industry now?

Donita:  I think that there’s a world of possibilities, but right now it’s going through major growing pains.  The tricky thing for an artist at my level is touring.  We’re going to be in a van and that’s expensive.  I’m just trying to figure out if that’s going to be a part of my future.

Cousins:  When was the last time you did a national tour?

Donita:  We opened for the Donnas back in October and did a month long tour and that was a challenge; and now we’re going out on our own and going to make it work.

Cousins:  Rock and Roll.

Donita:  That’s right!

Cousins:  Who all is in your band?

Donita:  Dee Plakas is on drums.  She was in L7 as well.  My lead guitar player is Allan the Italian, my bass player is Dat No, and I’m bringing a guy named Logan to play rhythm guitar because I put down the guitar for half the set.

Cousins:  You grew up in Chicago.  When and why did you leave?

Donita:  I moved after high school.  I wanted to get out of Chicago and became really obsessed with surf music and decided to move to LA.  But instead of ending up on the beach, I ended up in Hollywood and from there got into the club scene.

Cousins:  I saw L7 back in the day at Lollapalooza at Pine Knob.

Donita:  That place is a hell hole!

Cousins:  Since then I’ve pretty much been intimidated by the image of L7.  How much of that was a show?

Donita:  I can’t speak for Pine Knob because that was such a weird show.  The crowd was really far away.  There were reserved seats up front with people eating pizza and they were waiting to see the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins.  We had a lot of fun in L7, and maybe too much fun.  We didn’t take a lot of things seriously, but we took having fun very seriously.  Some people saw us as scary and intimidating; some people saw us as buffoons; and some people thought of us as somewhere in between, which is where I view us.

Cousins:  In retrospect, that’s how L7 comes across, as people having a good time.

Donita:  We did do stupid shit on stage all the time.  In Dallas, on the Lollapalooza tour, we reenacted the JFK assassination on stage!  We were all Jackie O and had on pink pillbox hats and the Bad Seeds were the secret service and our friend was JFK.  It was fucking ridiculous.  No wonder we didn’t sell a million records.

Cousins:  Yeah.  That would have probably alienated about 90% of the record buying public in Dallas.  How did you feel about the Seattle scene and being lumped in with it?

Donita:  All of the guys on Sub Pop also had a really good sense of humor, Mudhoney, Tad, Nirvana.  The mood at Sub Pop was play really well and take the piss out of it a bit.  And when it got huge-mega, it got huge-mega.

Cousins:  Here at Cousins, we focus on vinyl.  Have you thought about releasing your record on vinyl?

Donita:  I’ve thought about it.  I don’t know.  MP3s sound like shit.  You can’t listen to them on headphones really, and that’s how I listen to music.  I love vinyl.  I’ll play it when I’m buzzed.  Vinyl is magical; holding it, putting the needle down onto it, there’s a connection there.  To be honest, I don’t listen to a whole lot of music because it takes away all of my concentration.  If I listen to music, it’s a full-time thing and everything else stops.

Cousins:  What albums influenced you growing up? 

Donita:  Growing up, I had the Rolling Stones’ Hot Rocks and the Beatles.  My sister had Electric Warrior by T Rex.

Cousins:  Yeah.  Your new record has a bit of a glam sound.

Donita:  It’s fun pulling influences from bands that I don’t necessarily dig too much.  When the Ramones came along that was it.  My sister brought home Rocket to Russia.  That was the first Ramones I heard, Rocket to Russia, and I was like holy shit!  Who is this?  Oh my God, they play so fast!  They have catchy tunes!  Oh my God, they have irony in their lyrics!

Cousins:  The sad thing is that with the Ramones, they might not have meant to incorporate irony.

Donita:  Yeah.  But Dee Dee wrote most of the songs and I think he had a lot of craziness and irony in him.  That was the first time I had head bang neck, the first time I saw the Ramones.  I thought I’d really damaged myself.

 

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