The Donnas Prep 'Bitchin' New Album

http://www.billboard.com/news/the-donna ... 5425.story

The Donnas have unveiled additional details about their new album and label, first tipped by Billboard last month. The group has set a Sept. 18 release date for "Bitchin'," which will be issued by its own Purple Feather label through Red Eye. It's the Donnas' first release since parting with Atlantic after two albums.

"I wouldn't say we did much of anything different [on 'Bitchin''] after leaving Atlantic, though it helped that we had more time than we've ever had before to write it. It was very liberating not to have a deadline," bassist Maya Ford tells Billboard.com.

The set was produced by Jay Ruston and features the all-girl band's signature big guitar riffs and sing-along choruses. The punk style of "Girl Talk" is a return to the Donnas' earliest songs, while tracks like "Here for the Party" ring of bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard.

Ford particularly likes "What Do I Have to Do," one of the album's fastest tracks, containing the lyric, "I'm being way too nice/you're being cold as ice." "It's about this guy who was torturing me," Ford says. "It was a good way to get the whole thing off my chest. We all need a little turbulence in our life."

The band will be supporting the record with a headlining tour kicking off Sept. 16. "That was our original love anyway," says drummer Torry Castellano. "We may have been in a lot of magazines and we pride ourselves on putting out good records, but we win over the most hearts at our live set."

The group last released "Gold Medal" in October 2004, which has sold 87,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Donnas' best-selling record, 2002's "Spend the Night," has moved 424,000.

---

Amazon.com
Gone from the ranks of the major label (Atlantic) that signed them, the Donnas return on Bitchin' to the ranks of indie rock while still reaching ambitiously for stadium-proportion rawk. From the leather trousers and dope-smoking feather on the cover to the album-opening chowder of slow kick drum thumps and chunky feedback-glinting guitar riffs, the Donnas are after the arena-rock vibe. And this is the stuff that made arenas churn in the 1970s, retro, yes, but potent. They go for AC/DC's simple one-two rhythms, the brawny choruses that became FM radio's signature, and lyrics like this: "The first time I saw your face/I got wasted on your love." Yes, it's reductionist as indie rock goes, but Bitchin' is also exhilarating--the chant-like vocal choruses, the guitar effects, the more-cowbell enthusiasm, the hands-in-the-air pacing. The Donnas are clearly looking to keep rock & roll a collective experience, the stuff, again, that made arena crowds pump their fists through blue smoke all those years ago. --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description
BITCHIN’ is the aural thunderclap that is THE DONNAS' brand new record, an unapologetically anthemic hard rock album. Their luscious locks must have been a four-way blur of headbanging fury at this recording session. Thirty shout-along, swaggering rockers were slimmed down to an album-length fourteen tunes, all written or co-written by THE DONNAS and co-produced by Jay Ruston (The Polyphonic Spree, Meat Loaf). Standard Jewel Case.

1. Bitchin' (Intro)
2. Don't Wait Up For Me
3. Wasted
4. What Do I Have To Do
5. Save Me
6. Like An Animal
7. Here For The Party
8. Better Off Dancing
9. Love You Till It Hurts
10. Smoke You Out
11. Girl Talk
12. Give Me What I Want
13. Tonight's Alright
14. When The Show Is Over

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TLUFMI/?tag=imwan-20

I love The Donnas! They rock harder than the Bangles or Go Go's but still have great pop style and melodies. If it wasn't for sucky pop radio or if they had come out back about 10-15 years ago, they would be huge now.

I also wonder which one is on the cover???

I just found out they had a new album coming, because they're coming here. It's a Wednesday, but I'll probably go. So few bands appeal to me enough to want to see live...

I'm playing the new Donnas right now at work. More of a heavy-metal move this time, rather than the pop-punk of the last couple albums. They still got a way with a hook, though.