Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Backstage With DONITA SPARKS From L7 At GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2024

Transcript

Backstage With DONITA SPARKS From L7 At GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL 2024 · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: All right, get overyon Jimmy and Carr from Heavy mag
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and we are here with the Natas box from L seven.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Hey going, I'm going, Well, that's great. It's a little warm,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: and my shirt is Rayon, it's used and it's it's
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: inappropriate for today, but whatever, it looks good.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's appropriate for that, honest. But welcome
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: back to the country this year, the third time back.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It's our third time post reunion. I guess time post reunion. Yeah,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we were just last year, so that's kind of cool.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: We were playing clubs last year.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, how was the club run?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Awesome? Really great? We'll hold down.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Did you play you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: From the Gove in adelaide To? I don't know. We
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: played two different places here in Melbourne. I can't remember
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the names. No, that's okay, three nights in Melbourne. It
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: was cool.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Watch your vibe, the club vibe, all the festival vibe.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Well, I prefer a light show, so and L seven
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: usually plays in the daylight at festivals, so I prefer
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the kind of run down theaters are my favorite actually.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, different fads of them. Yeah, there's a lot
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of history in that.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: You can feel a lot of you can feel the history.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: It's threadbare. It's you know, a little trashed, but not
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: too trash. It's just the patina is perfect on those
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: old theaters.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: How do you find out Aussie crowds.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I find them appropriately maniac It's good can appropriately. Well,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: you know, they're loving, they're loving maniacs. I suppose they're not,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: uh maniacs. Yeah, they're not violent, you know, they're just
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: kind of enthusiastic rock fans.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: You know, cool, awesome. So let's talk about the reforming.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Of the band.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: What was the for that. Here's the background of that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: story of it all coming back together.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Well, we we went on an indefinite hiatus in two
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: thousand and one, long time ago. But it kind of
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: talk of us kind of doing some shows. It started
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: with us working on a documentary stemmed from our home
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: movie footage from the nineties, and so I got in
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: contact with all the gals we had been estranged and that.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: So that first started happening through email, and then our
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: booking agent said, hey, would you consider doing some shows?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: And you know, I was like, I don't know, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: reunions whatever, Yeah, it's like a reunion overkill, you know,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But I have to say that I really enjoyed seeing
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the sex Pistols reunion. I never saw him back in
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the day. I got to see him when they reunited,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: so and the Stooges too, So I was like, fuck it,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: if they.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Can do it, we can into And what was the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: journey like kind of refining the energy and the love
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: for the music and how do you continue to push
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: that out?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that we are you know, we we
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: we're together for the music. You know, we're not the
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: best of friends, I would say, but when we get together,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: we have fun. And we had you know, we joke
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: around a lot, but the music always brought us together.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: So that's always been the motivating factor. I think when
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: we started out, we just wanted to do something cool
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: and be in a band, you know, And it was
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: so like it was such a high falutin that we
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: didn't even want to necessarily be famous. We didn't have
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: those we didn't have those aspirations. It was just we
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: just enjoying it totally totally. There was no pipe dream involved.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: It was just like, oh my god, let's let's do
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a band that would be cool. And so that and
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: then and then one thing led to another over many many,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: many hard years. So and we're not rolling in the
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: detor or anything by any means.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: So you know, that's music, laugh though, isn't it. I
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: think everyone thinks that everyone who's made it is rich
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: and famous and they have it all made.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: It's like it's not, no, no, the case. Yeah, we're not.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Really we're not. We're neither rich nor famous. We're kind
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: of known to some You either know us you don't,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: And back in like the day starting out, did you
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: ever envision that you'll be having seven studio albums traveling
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: to Australia and still churing today or just no?
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, like I said, when we formed,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: it was just kind of oh man, you know, when
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Susie and I started the band, like the goal was
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to get a drummer and a bass player and that
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: was really difficult. That took a couple of years to
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: find Jennifer and d Yeah, and then we wanted to
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: play a show, and then we wanted to play a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: weekend night show, and it just kind of you know
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: that we wanted to play an out of town show.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: So it just kind of went like that. So no,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: did I think I'd be sitting here with you guys,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: you know when we started the band in nineteen eighty five. No,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I don't think you guys were born. Were you born?
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: You were not. You're ninety four, baby, and you're I
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: was born yeah, five years old, you're about five years old.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: And when people talk about L seven, they guess thrown
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: so many genres tip punk things, They that, who do
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: you think you are? Where do you sit? Or in
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: prison day when you look back when you're no, no.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: No, we would this. I think we've always been an island.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: I think we've been grouped in those different things, and
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I think it's really cool that we're invited to participate
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: in all of those tribes. But we've always kind of
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: been kind of a outlier, oddball kind of band, you know. So,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I mean some people said we were riot girls. We weren't.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Some people, you know, we never we never called ourselves grunge.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: But now I don't care if they call us either
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: or a metal band or punk or anything whatever. Just
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: hashtag us for crying out please.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: I think when I first came across is was kind
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of mid to late nineties, and there was that kind
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: of the new metal thing, wasn't quite happening, but it
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was edging there and poking in, So anyone who was
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: doing anything that was a little bit alternative kind of
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: got clustered in there. I think that's where I first
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: come across your band name and the music was back then,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: because yeah, because you have that different like alternative punk,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: alternateive metal.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I have to say that we've always
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: been embraced by that scene. You know, it's it's we're
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: an anomaly for a chick band. It's rare like to
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: be our age, and back then we were embraced by
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that crowd. Now we're embraced it. It's you know, who
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: else has I mean, I guess Jone Jet maybe I don't.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Know a little bit before me, I don't know that.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, it's cool, we've
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: we've and metal bands and hard rock bands have always
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: been pretty much kind to us and supportive of us.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I guess this lineup with Good Things is kind of
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: perfect for you with that because it is quite a
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: mixed and broad lineup as well.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And actually the Violent Firms were on our when
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: they were on Slash Records. We were on Slash Records,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: so we kind of were on the same kind of
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: indie label out of Los Angeles. That's kind of cool.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, that's cool.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: To go back to the nineties. So nineties was great.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: I think one of the best times in music. But
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: that's just that's my thoughts. I was a teenager then.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: So I loved you know.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: But back at the nineties, you found at a festival
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: call Rock for Choice, Yes, and ended up doing I
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: think I read thirty something different locations over two years.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Like it became a pretty big movement.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It was over two years for sure. I mean it lasted,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: it had Rock for Choice lasted probably for about ten years.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I mean it technically still exists. It's just inactive.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: It's a it was a benefit organization to support pro choice.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's where I was going. With the current
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: kind of political environment, is there a possibility of it
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: resurfacing in a festival type form.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: We're encouraging women of child bearing age to carry the
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: mantle of that. You know, it's it's their issue now,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: you know, it's all of our issue, but I mean
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: they're the ones who are affected the most. So I
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: think it would be cool if some young bands picked
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: up that.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Grew the legs and got it walking, so to speak.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: What's that grew the legs and got it walk? They
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: got it pushed out again?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: What is that an expression?
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Yes? It is what sign we're giving it some legs
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: to get that movement.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, I thought you met like through the legs, like
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: between the legs, like wow, okay, between the legs, don't
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: get knocked up, get an abortion? What have I said?
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: So Augie slang will get to that bit in a minute.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: So you talked about the documentary that happened. There's been
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: a couple of those, right, He's a couple of documentaries
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: in a short film or something.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Uh Oh. Chris Nevaselek from Nirvana made a weird kind
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: of art film with starring us called I think it
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: was called The Beauty Process something. But that's just that
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: was kind of his axe to grind against the music industry,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: using us as the actors. So that was kind of
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: a fun thing that we did because his band was
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: opening for us, not Nirvana. His band after Nirvana was
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: opening for us and they were on tour with us,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: so they he made a film kind of an art film.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: I go anything else on the cobs with that? What
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: do you mean another film? Another documentary? Got plenty of
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: stuff the.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Web enough already, else seven fucking docs? The question? No,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I think that we're kind of in this
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: place where, you know, when we go to France or something,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: we're on like the Arts channel or something. We're kind
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of in a cool place. So it's like cool, we're
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: in the arts and we're in the metal and we're
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: in the punk. It's kind of cool, you.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Know, just loving it, just working with what's going on.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: I am I loving it. You know, that's a loaded
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: question because because no, it's a nice question. I am
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: loving it. And when I when I screw my head
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: on straight and I get into a place of gratitude
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and appreciation, I do love it, you know. But sometimes
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: some of the nuts and bolts can frustrate you or whatever,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: or like.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: The stuff that's not the music stuff, bullshit.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: The bullshit is always kind of you know. But then
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: it's like, well, I'd rather have that bullshit than work
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: at a desk, you know.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Which is what I do for diadrog.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're here, this is just the sideh whatever,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: you know, all right, So that's good.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Back to the music then, So tell us about the Shy.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: What are you going to deliver to Australian audience as well?
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You're well, it's a forty five minute set, so we
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: had to make it, you know, pretty concise. But there's
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: kind of you know, there's stuff from most of our records,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: and yeah, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be barnstorm
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and I think full of our wanna be hits and
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: I love it so really honest, I'm got to ask
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: one question before we wrap it up. Being labeled as
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: a girl band, how could you feel a certain way
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: about that? Or are you just like, can we not
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: just be a fucking band? Like, why does it have
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: to be always? That's like it always comes with L seven.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I think in most places we've eclipsed our gender finally,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I don't think we're referred to
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: as a girl band very much. We're kind of an
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: established band now so that that happened a lot earlier,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: but then as time went on, it's just like, you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: I would say we're more of a dinosaur band than
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: a girl band at this point, you know what I mean.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: We're looking for the term legacy act.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: They call it AKA dinosaur. But yeah, it's kind of cool.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: We're not We don't get that very much anymore. Sometimes
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: as a question like you just asked, but not like
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: in a in a headline or something. Girl band, I'll
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: have it. It's like if you don't know we're female
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: by now, It's.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: Like, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: You got to you got to get between the legs
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: and whatever you said that expression. Yeah there you good
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: for the band. We are going we're finishing this mini
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: festival tour of Australia and then we are going to
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: go to South America with Garbage, which is going to
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: be really cool because they're really fun. Yeah, and then
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: we're going to do a cruise which is it's a
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: booze cruise and that's with X and Social Distortion and
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: a bunch of the punk fans and that's it. Yeah.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: I've never been on a cruise and this venue here
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: at the racetrack looks like a cruise ship. So I'm
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: just thinking we're going to be on one of those.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: I've never been on one of those. Just getting you ready, Yeah,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: it is, it's aspirational.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Do we want to wrap it up with some slang
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: questions since we got caught there.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Slang questions.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Just give us a couple a couple of times we
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: used to see you can figure out what they mean.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I'll give you see if you recognize them. So, what
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: does go on for a hidden miss mean? What gone
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: for a hidden miss?
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Gone for a hit and miss?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: You hit on someone and there you try to you
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: try to get lead. Do you know what? I'll take
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: it and we'll leave it there.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: That was amazing.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having Thanks