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Lively Arts / Nightlife
Lookout for the Donnas
by James Sullivan
The four members of the Donnas -- Donna A., Donna C., Donna F. and Donna R. -- are only 18, but they're already five-year rock 'n' roll veterans. Playing trashy tunes with go-go energy and lyrics that often begin ``Now I wanna . . .,'' the group has been compared to pioneering New York punks the Ramones. Actually, says guitarist Donna R., ``I haven't listened to a Ramones record in probably three years. ``I don't not like them,'' she explains. ``I liked them when I was in sixth grade. They're the kind of music you listen to when you're a kid.'' Just signed to Berkeley's Lookout! Records, the Donnas will release their second full-length album, ``American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine,'' in January. The young women graduated last spring from Palo Alto High School; two members now attend the University of California at Santa Cruz, one is at UC Berkeley and one plans to attend New York University. As befits their garage-band attitude, all four are self-taught. ``I kind of taught myself guitar by watching videos,'' Donna R. says. About their adopted names, she adds, ``We couldn't really call the band the Donnas if none of us were named Donna. It's fun because no one knows our names.'' At Palo Alto High, she says, classmates were aware that the four young women were in a band together. ``But we weren't really popular exactly, so no one really gave a s--. We were a terrible band in middle school, and everyone thought we were freaks.'' Given their new affiliation with the arbiters of punk taste at Lookout!, do the Donnas feel like punks? ``Not at all,'' Donna R. says. ``I don't have a problem with punk, and when we were younger we wished we could be that. ``But I don't see the point of trying to be punk. I'm much more into being an individual. A lot of punks I know think you can only listen to punk music or ska. I'd rather have nobody tell me what to wear or what to listen to. ``It's just rock 'n' roll to me.''