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The Donnas
The GROOVIE GHOULIES
The DONNAS
The USELESS FUCKS
Live at the Elvis Room
Thurs. March 5, 1998
by Tom Colletta
Photos by Bill Caldwell
Man, you could feel the love in the room this Thursday evening.
Maybe it was because this was one of the most-anticipated shows for some time in these parts. ("Hey, are you going to see the Ghoulies and the Donnas?") Maybe it was the fact it was a homecoming/b-day party for newest Ghoulie, B-Face. Maybe it was the gang who drove 12 hours from Halifax, Nova Scotia to hit the show. Or maybe it was the undeniable cuteness factor of the Donnas that made everyone so warm and fuzzy. Seldom do so many factors converge to make for a night of fun, Fun, FUN rock and roll.
Once again this scribe's hectic schedule made him miss the first act; the Useless Fucks in their last performance with drummer Geoff Palmer. Word from those in the know however said the UFs rocked with an intensity only hinted at in previous performances. And Fuck fans (and really, who isn't a Fuck fan?), rest assured Petey and Davey are going to continue on. Any drummers out there?
The tension and anxiousness were palpable while waiting for the Palo Alto punk princesses, the Donnas. Now, one could go on about how the Donnas are part of some third wave, Camille Paglia-styled feminism, how they are the granddaughters of Gloria Steinem, the sexually confident little sisters of the Riot Grrl revolution, the Quinn to Bikini Kill's Daria. But I'll leave that for the more sociologically inclined of the rock cognoscenti. Because behind the tight tee-shirts, tough-girl rock stances and cock-teasing lyrics, one fact remains: THESE GIRLS KNOW HOW TO ROCK.
This weathered rock cynic went in thinking that maybe, just MAYBE, the Donnas might be just another in a way to sell S-E-X. The Punk Rock Spice Girls? Not exactly, but you get the idea. But from the opening guitar chords rumbling from Donna R.'s Marshall cab, to the fist-pumping rhythms of Donna F. and Donna C. on bass and drums, to the snot-inflected nasal vocals of Donna A., I realized these Donnas were very much the Real Deal.
The show stealer had to be diminutive guitarist Donna R. Her licks were firmly rooted in the Chuck Berry/Johnny Thunders rock tradition, with a little Paul Stanley thrown in for good measure. To utter the standard chauvinist epithet ("She's pretty good for a girl") is sexist, demeaning and just plain dumb. She's more than pretty good no matter what sex, race, creed, religion or phyla. Oh yeah, and she's only 18 years old.
Ditto the rest of the Donnas. Noteworthy was the solid, non-flashy timekeeping of drummer Donna C. No extraneous cymbal crashes or drum rolls, just solid 4/4 rock and roll. Add in catchy verse-chorus song structures and you had this geezer singing along by the time the second chorus rolled around. Simple, catchy rock and roll understood implicitly, instinctually by girls young enough to be my daughters. "Kill me Billy! Kill Me Goddamnit!"
Although they are often compared to the Ramones, probably because of the "Rock, Rock, Rock 'n Roll" choruses, I could hear a good chunk of Kiss intermingled in the Donnas musical bloodline. (This was borne out in an apres-gig chat with Donna R., who admitted to watching Kiss videos in her formative years. Like when was that, 1992?)
And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the new and improved Groovie Ghoulies took the stage. Now, I'm going to admit, I've never been a huge fan of the Ghoulies on disc. Catchy? Yeah, but not enough "Oomph!" for my taste. My theory (and that's all it is, since I don't have much history with this unit) is that the addition of Chris "B-Face" Barnard on bass and Dan Panic on drums has really given a solid spine to the Ghoulies pop skeleton.
With "The Face" on bass, it frees the zany, pogo-happy Kepi (the former bassist) to springboard around the stage, like some kind of pop-punk Tiger; engaging, friendly and funny. The nasally Kepster is a peppy pick-me-up anytime of the day; who, at least to this rockcrit, comes off better live than on disc. Leading by example, guitarist Roach gives the Donnas, and indeed all of us, a positive female role model in rock. Strong, powerful, peeling off solos with the confidence of a Kim Shattuck or a Poison Ivy (two of my favorite guitarists, I'm not mentioning them because they're women)... Roach: will you marry me?
This was quite possibly the best show I've ever been to at the Elvis Room, and those of you who know me... well let's just say I spend a bit of time here. If life is any better than this anywhere on a Thursday night in our rocking universe, teleport me there NOW Scotty. And get me some kleenex for the trip.