Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Bricks And Mortar With DONITA SPARKS From L7
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, this is Danita Sparks from L seven and you're listening to the Heavy
- 0:05podcast. L seven were forced to be reckoned within the nineties. Formed in
- 0:11La in nineteen eighty five, the all female L seven were a significant part
- 0:16of the early nineties movement of grunge that saw the days of hair and glam
- 0:20metal being put on the shelves. The band became celebrated for their raw and
- 0:24rowdy live performances and uncompromising punk rock attitude. Their third studio album, Bricks
- 0:30Are Heavy, was released in nine ninety two, and it was this album
- 0:34that saw them being recognized internationally that in stunts like Tampon Gate, a now
- 0:41famous incident in rock music history where during their set at UK Reading, first
- 0:46of all, frontwoman Danita Sparks extracted a tampon from her person and lovingly sent
- 0:51it sailing into the audience. L seven are heading to Australia and New Zealand
- 0:56this December to treat fans to Bricks Are Heavy played in its tyranty plus more
- 1:00cheers for tuning into the Heavy Podcast. I'm es and this episode we get
- 1:06to chat with the legend that is Denia Sparks. Vocalist and guitarist for the
- 1:10formidable L seven as Hasn't Want to Big Cool, Big Cool. Welcome to
- 1:22the Heavy Podcast, right on, Thanks for having me Heavy Podcast. How
- 1:26are you doing today today tonight? What is it? This is? It
- 1:30is a lovely afternoon here in Los Angeles, and I'm just doing some interviews
- 1:37for the upcoming Australian tour in December. I know, how exciting. How
- 1:42how long has it been sinto you guys have been out here? I think
- 1:46it's I think we were there in twenty sixteen. I'm much Yes, I
- 1:49think so. It was kind of a reunion tour. Now we're doing the
- 1:53Bricks Are Heavy tour front to back. Yeah, yeah, and so that's
- 1:59going to be played in its entirety. Was that a daunting prospect? I
- 2:02mean, that's what I don't want to age. Is here but a thirty
- 2:06one year old album. I imagine there's some songs that you haven't played in
- 2:09a very long time. Yeah, we hadn't played the first song on the
- 2:14record. We're playing. The show's going to start with Bricks Are Heavy front
- 2:17to back, and then after we finished that, that's about forty minutes forty
- 2:21two minutes and then we'll go into our other want to be hits from our
- 2:27career. But yeah, it starts Wargasm starts it out, and that's a
- 2:34pretty intense song to play right right at the top of the set. That's
- 2:38funny and fun but we're pulling it off, so that's cool. And we
- 2:42haven't we hadn't done that song since nineteen ninety two, I don't think.
- 2:46Yeah. And then the last song on the record, the same Pleasure,
- 2:50we had never played before, and that's another fast one, so you know,
- 2:55it's it starts and ends pretty uh, pretty excitingly. I should say,
- 3:01Yeah, what kind of prip have you been doing in you know,
- 3:06do you get yourself ready for this or are you just gonna jump in?
- 3:08And well, I'm gonna have to start working out because I've got a sloth
- 3:15the last couple of months. But I need to get my I need to
- 3:19get it takes endurance to do our shows. We're very we're very uh.
- 3:25We like to put on a good show, like physically, you know,
- 3:29and that takes you know, we're older now and that takes you know,
- 3:34I need to I need to stretch before the show. I need to get
- 3:37my cardio up. It's like, you know, it's we've got to we've
- 3:42got to maintain the machine and like like we never have had to do in
- 3:47the past, you know, get gig fit. As I like to say,
- 3:51that's people don't realize how physical you need to be on stage. I
- 3:54don't think. Yeah, And I just uh, I had a rasp in
- 3:58my voice from the last tour, and I was really worried that I had
- 4:00finally finally tour my vocal cords apart, especially singing shitless, which is woo.
- 4:11But my pipes look good, so I'm really I just saw a doctor,
- 4:15so yeah, they just but you know, I've got to take care
- 4:19of them. So yeah, or there's nothing scarier than than blowing the voice
- 4:25out. Yeah yeah, all right, So I know you'd be into a
- 4:28PRIP mode right now. But how often do you guys get together normally?
- 4:31Like, are you writing new material at the moment. No, we have
- 4:34a new single coming out in September, but uh, you know, these
- 4:41days we get together when we either have an upcoming tour or an upcoming project.
- 4:46Susie no longer lives in la and so we're kind of you know,
- 4:50I live on the east side of LA. Jennifer and Dee live on the
- 4:54west side of LA. So it is, you know, it's it's it's
- 4:58kind of an ordeal to to get together and play. So we get together
- 5:05when we need to get together. Otherwise we're all kind of living our own
- 5:09lives. We're not we're not a full time band. We are. Yeah,
- 5:15we get together when we've got stuff to do. Yeah, fair enough.
- 5:17And when you do, does it feel like time has not passed at
- 5:21all? Or do you have to sort of readjust to one another again personality
- 5:26wise or musically? Oh? Both, personality I mean personality wise. You
- 5:31know, we're the you know, we're the same people, a little more
- 5:34mature at times. And and then you know, sometimes I feel, oh
- 5:40god, we've all made such progress, you know, with our with our
- 5:43with our flaws, you know, and then it's like something happens and it's
- 5:46like, nope, same old, same old story. So and I'm saying
- 5:51myself included. So, but it is fun. I think that we all
- 5:56have a love and respect for each other that goes beyond uh, you know,
- 6:00petty stuff or or you know, annoyances, I should say. Musically,
- 6:08Sometimes we're you know, if we haven't played for a while, we're
- 6:11a little rusty and we have to get back up to speed. D usually
- 6:15goes in early to play drums and just to get to shake off the rust,
- 6:19you know. So she she is the most prepared, you know,
- 6:26Like when we come into play, D's not making mistakes, you know what
- 6:30I mean, The rest of us are D is not. So she is
- 6:33totally our rock solid. She is the glue, do you know what.
- 6:39I know that there are a million drumma jokes out in the world, but
- 6:43I find that drummers are the most disciplined people. I know. Ah,
- 6:46I think the jokes were born out of people being jealous for that. Yeah,
- 6:50and I mean, listen, the most noticeable fuck up is if the
- 6:56drummer fucks up, you know. So it's like we can all kind of
- 7:01cover each other, but no one can cover D. And she knows it.
- 7:06And she when she on the rare occasion that she makes a mistake,
- 7:12she's like mortified and beats herself up for like days, you know what I
- 7:16mean, and like it's okay, it's okay, you're great, you know.
- 7:19So, Yeah, she is very uh, she's very conscientious and and
- 7:26very proud to be in L seven and wants to put on a good show
- 7:30and doesn't want to suck up. You know that's the way you want it
- 7:32too. Yeah, so you said that. You know, in some ways
- 7:36you guys have mellowed out and then other ways not. So do you feel
- 7:42like you're still full of radical ideas and opinions like you were back in the
- 7:46day. Have you still got to have you still got a drum to bang?
- 7:49We still have a drum to bang. Our upcoming single is a very
- 7:55big drum that we're going to bang. And so yes, having you know,
- 8:01piss and vinegar all the time. You know, we've never had that
- 8:03all the time, but you know, I you know, we've got that
- 8:09side of like feistiness and stuff, but we've also got some pretty decent songs
- 8:15that deserve to be presented with respect by us, you know what I mean.
- 8:22We just like everything's a joke, everything's this. You know. It's
- 8:26like, I'm very I'm very conscientious about putting on a good show as well,
- 8:33and really it's all about it's not about my enjoyment as much as the
- 8:41audience's enjoyment. So some people are very oh, I need to enjoy myself
- 8:46on stage. I don't care if I enjoy myself on stage, that makes
- 8:48it for a better show for me. But I care about what the audience.
- 8:52The audience experiences, yeah for sure. I mean they're the ones that
- 8:58have pade the money for the tickets, and at the end of the day,
- 9:01I guess you know, yes, it's your art, but you've got
- 9:05a job to do when you're on stage. Hey, So how does it
- 9:09feel to sort of then be more known for some of the outrageous things that
- 9:18you guys have been involved in and not so much those serious songs Because I
- 9:22know, just brushing myself up in preparation for this interview. You know,
- 9:28you pop in our seven and you get you know, reading festival and you
- 9:31know this, that and the other, and it took me a while to
- 9:35like delve in and like dig through to get to some of the more serious
- 9:41messages. Do you still feel like you're sort of fighting an uphill battle with
- 9:46the industry in that regard, I have nothing to do with the industry.
- 9:52We were not involved with the industry. Yeah. The closest thing we come
- 9:56to with an industry is like when we play festival or something like that.
- 10:03Other than that, we're just dealing with local you know, we're dealing with
- 10:05promoters and you know, local promoters or you know, we're really kind of
- 10:11our own island. We have a very small operation. We're not on a
- 10:13record label. We don't have a big management team. We've got one manager,
- 10:18one booking agent. So you know, I'm not really concerned about the
- 10:24industry at all, because the industry lost interest in US, you know,
- 10:31thirty years ago. So it's kind of like bricks are heavy with sort of
- 10:33our peak and then it just kind of, you know, went sort of
- 10:39slowly down from there. Even though I feel proud of the records that came
- 10:41out after that, and I think that they were good records, it's just
- 10:46the industry tired of us, and you know, music was moving on and
- 10:50grunge got really bloated and boring and we were thrown into that category. And
- 10:58you know, and the next generation was you know, tearing grunge down and
- 11:03they wanted new, new music. You know. So anyway, what am
- 11:07I going on about. I think, well, I would like to just
- 11:11say that I think that it's incredibly impressive. Then that, considering all of
- 11:16that, L seven is still this iconic band, you know, thirty,
- 11:20you know whatever, years on. So you know, whether or not the
- 11:26industry chucked you by the wayside, still you're still really important. I would
- 11:33like to sort of think, then, what how different do you think L
- 11:37Seven's career may have been had you been breaking through in this day and age
- 11:41then when labels aren't as important and you can sort of create your own team
- 11:46around you in music. I don't. I don't. I really can't speak
- 11:50to that. I have no idea, but I know that the work that
- 11:54we did a long time ago and the fan base that we have built,
- 12:00and our fans are very dedicated, very loyal. They stuck with us through
- 12:03our hiatus of fifteen years when we were kind of on hiatus, and you
- 12:09know, they were posting stuff to YouTube and posting photos and blah blah blah,
- 12:13and they kept us alive. And we're very grateful for that. And
- 12:20you know, some of those stunts that you were referring to, or what
- 12:22people consider stunts, like the tampon throw and the dropping of my pants on
- 12:30television, those things have kept us alive too. So somebody reads that and
- 12:35they're like, oh, I got to check this band out, you know.
- 12:37So like, even though we didn't get like on the radio much anymore
- 12:41after bricks are heavy, those incidents, you know, remain pretty funny and
- 12:48shocking and rad and people kind of, you know, check us out because
- 12:54of that stuff. So you know, for a while, I was like,
- 12:58oh, maybe I shouldn't have on that, you know, but now
- 13:01I'm just like, I'm like, I think it's I think it's funny and
- 13:05it's feisty, and it's we were being you know, the tampon thing.
- 13:09We were being assaulted with mud our entire set. So I needed to make
- 13:16lemonade out of lemon and had involved had involved a live AMMO tampon straight out
- 13:22of my body. So that's what I did. I wasn't really sure whether
- 13:26I wanted to bring that one up or not, because I feel like you've
- 13:28probably spoken about it to death, and I was conscious of the fact that
- 13:35you might be seek of talking about that incident. Well, everybody has been
- 13:39very respectful about that, with all the all of the Australian interviews that I've
- 13:43been doing, and but the fact that you didn't bring it up was why
- 13:46I started blabbing about it. So a reverse psychology going on that you're playing
- 13:52with me, which is very intriguing. Oh yeah, that was That was
- 13:56totally my pod the whole time. That was no, No, It's definitely
- 14:03one of those iconic moments in rock history. I was saying to my husband
- 14:07last night while I was prepping. I was like, you know who I'm
- 14:09talking to tomorrow, the chick that through the tampon. There you go?
- 14:16Yeah, so there you go. You guys have definitely been an integral part
- 14:18of paving the way for women in alternative music. There's no doubt about that.
- 14:24So how do you feel watching some of the women today that are just
- 14:26kicking us and taking names and knowing that bands like El seven opened those doors.
- 14:33Well, I don't know if El seven opened the doors for Amy Taylor
- 14:35of Emil and the Sniffers, but I think she's phenomenal. I saw her
- 14:41live. I met her on the street in my neighborhood, which was amazing.
- 14:43But I saw a crossing the street. I was like, that looks
- 14:48like a dealer. And I pulled the car over and I went out and
- 14:52I introduced myself and she knew who I was. She was like, yeah,
- 14:56Danita Sparks. I'm like Oh my god, how do you know who
- 14:58was more struck? You all her? I think I was more starstruck.
- 15:03I'm not sure, but I went to see her that night. She put
- 15:07me on the guest list, and I thought she was great. And I
- 15:09think her videos. I think their videos are great. And I just think
- 15:15she's a firecracker of a performer. She's like she's like a very She's like
- 15:20a long, exploding firecracker, like from the beginning tend of the set,
- 15:26you know what I mean. It's like she's just on. And so I
- 15:31like her quite a bit. And I like the chats. The chats are
- 15:35good other bands from Australia, I'm not that schooled. Was it a deliberate
- 15:43move for you guys to form an old female band or did it just it
- 15:48a fool that way? It just fell that way. We had a boy
- 15:52drummer when we started, and he's the only person that we ever let go
- 15:58from the well is he is? He? I don't know, but we
- 16:00Yeah, he had a he had a tough time, he would he had.
- 16:06He drank too much and he didn't like taking He did not have the
- 16:10dedication of d on the drums. Let's just say that, but and he
- 16:12didn't like taking any any comments from women about his playing. But but I
- 16:21wanted to get back to something you said about us opening doors for women in
- 16:25alternative music. Yes, that is due to a certain extent, but there
- 16:29were women before us who opened the door for us, and the women of
- 16:33the punk movement and the new wave movement and the post punk movement, and
- 16:38you know, uh, we just fit into our own recipe of of a
- 16:44of a band, and uh, people saw us and were inspired by us,
- 16:52but we were inspired by others before us. So so you've just you've
- 16:56just passed it down the line. I think things have gotten exponentially better for
- 17:00women in the music industry, but I feel like, also there's always still
- 17:04a little ways to go. How are you guys finding it now? Is
- 17:08and pardon the term, but as seen is in the music scene these days.
- 17:15Well, I think for the most part, we get a lot of
- 17:18respect, which is great. And there's not like because we're older, there's
- 17:23not those dinosaur guys who are like, oh, what's it like to be
- 17:26in at what's it like on the bus? You know? There was always
- 17:30this like kind of like pervert kind of angle to that, like what are
- 17:36you employing like we have we have like naked pillow fights or something like.
- 17:40I was just about to say the whole pillow fighting you're undis thing. Yeah,
- 17:44you know, so it's like that that kind of I don't know if
- 17:48it's because we're older or because that's not as common and the dinosaurs have just
- 17:52died out. It's kind of not acceptable that much to go down that road,
- 17:59because you know, we've certainly done our job of shaming those guys over
- 18:03the years. But so I don't know how how the young the young girls
- 18:07are doing it. I hope that they're I hope that they're faring well out
- 18:12there. As a girl in a band these days, it's it's mostly pretty
- 18:17good, but you do still come across some fuck faces. Yeah. Do
- 18:22you think else seven would have been able to have been as outspoken and sort
- 18:27of campaign for certain things like you have had it been a mixed gender band.
- 18:34I don't know. You know, when Susie and I first started out,
- 18:37it was it was tough to get anybody to play with us, you
- 18:41know, like like the art punks thought we were too a little too metal,
- 18:47and the punks thought we were a little too mid tempo at times.
- 18:53I don't know, it was tough to get people to play with us,
- 18:56and that's how it kind of ended up all females, because you know,
- 19:03you're all fighting the same battle. Probably, yeah, And I'll tell you
- 19:07you know, back then, it took a certain kind of woman to want
- 19:11to be in a rock band, and so a lot of alpha's going on.
- 19:17And we've got a lot of alpha's in L seven. So but I
- 19:22think it took that kind of spirit back then to even pick up a guitar,
- 19:26bass, or drums. So because you know, it was kind of
- 19:30a dude's world, so especially in the hard rock world. Uh yeah,
- 19:37So what have you done with yourself outside of music? I feel like,
- 19:41you know, someone like you has probably been involved in some pretty cool shit.
- 19:45Well, I got a PhD in microbiology. I'm kidding. Oh,
- 19:52it's about to be so impressed, Gelfy impressed because it's not true. I
- 19:56do know. I do know rock stars who have gotten amazing degrees. I'm
- 20:02not one of them, you know, I've just I don't know. That's
- 20:06a tough question, but I will say this. I do is snorkeling very
- 20:11much, and I play Oh my god, I love snorkeling. Awesome.
- 20:14Where are you at in Australia. I'm not anywhere near the beach, unfortunately.
- 20:18I went to Thailand a while ago and snorkeled for the first time and
- 20:22now I want to snorkel everywhere. Yes, and I do at the Great
- 20:27Barrier Reef. So at the end of the Australian tour, my plan is
- 20:32to go to the Great Barrier Reef. So if any of your listeners have
- 20:36any hookup whatsoever, because I think it's going to be crowded because it's like
- 20:40Christmas time, you know, so yes, if anybody you know wants to
- 20:45support the arts and let you know, Danita. You know, I don't
- 20:48want to bunk with anybody, but if they've got a place that or have
- 20:52any suggestions of where I should go to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, I
- 20:56would appreciate it very much and you can contact me through my Instagram Danita Sparks
- 21:03Official. I do know some people up in cans which is up that way
- 21:07far north Queensland. It's an absolutely stunning part of the country and I wouldn't
- 21:12be surprised if you go up there and you just don't want to leave.
- 21:15Yeah. Now I've seen I've seen videos of Hamilton Island, which I know
- 21:21is a further is further south than that, but I've I've been checking it
- 21:23out. I want to find out where to go. I'm hoping I can
- 21:26find some kind of a you know, cool place to stay and but that
- 21:32is on the agenda. Yeah, that's amazing. So other than snorkeling,
- 21:37what else you looking forward to about getting over here and interacting with your Ossie
- 21:41fans? Well, yeah, I think I think Ozzie fans really love rock
- 21:48and roll. Yeah, like really really into good rock, you know,
- 21:52and a lot of great bands have come out of rock bands have come out
- 21:56of Australia, so there's a sensibility down there that's very It's like it's open
- 22:02minded rock. But they really like to rock, you know, So that
- 22:06we're looking forward to. I wish that we were playing an all ages venue.
- 22:11They just don't really exist anymore. It's really sad. It breaks my
- 22:15heart. And I think if we were a bigger band and we could play
- 22:18a theater or something, or like a bigger like a stadium or something,
- 22:22that that could be all ages. But we're just not that big, so
- 22:26that breaks my heart that the kids. You know, yes, it's liability
- 22:30issues, it's insurance issues. It's a pain in the ass, and I
- 22:36feel bummed out about that, but it's a It's an issue I've been speaking
- 22:40with a lot of musicians about recently, because you know, we're all sort
- 22:44of becoming older and thinking where are the where are the newbies coming up the
- 22:48ranks. There's they're not able to get out to see shows, so therefore
- 22:52they're not being inspired to play music. And you know, I have a
- 22:57fifteen nearly sixteen year old steps on and he's a middle head, and all
- 23:02he wants to do is go to shows and they just aren't any It's heartbreaking,
- 23:07you know, yeah, heartbreaking. I mean I could never go to
- 23:10clubs when I was a kid, but I could go to a concert,
- 23:12you know what I mean. So it is heartbreaking, you know, in
- 23:17LA the clubs, you know, I hear that there's not a lot of
- 23:21residencies for artists, which which have been helpful in the past, and you
- 23:26know, new artists and stuff. So we've got to get back into the
- 23:29groove of like you know, bringing up the next ones, passing thee and
- 23:34come on, keep them comment turn them up. You know. I just
- 23:41hope that the kids maybe hear this and we'll go check us out on YouTube
- 23:45or you know, enjoy us virtually somehow. Yeah, definitely. I mean
- 23:53there's not even any high school Battle of the bands anymore that I see around.
- 23:57And I discuss at L seven because high school friends of mine when I
- 24:02was only fifteen, were in an all girl band and they were obsessed with
- 24:07you guys. So it's, yeah, we need we need the more young
- 24:11people in rock and roll for sure. Yes, for sure. And that's
- 24:15where it hits you the most emotionally when you're when you're young, and really
- 24:19it's kind of for some people it's kind of saving their lives. I mean,
- 24:22not to sound too grandiose or anything, but like I completely agree,
- 24:26the only truth they may be hearing in their lives maybe coming out of the
- 24:30speakers, and it's like, you know, they may get bullshit at school,
- 24:34they may get bullshit from their parents, they may get bullshit on all
- 24:38fronts for who they are, but maybe they're connecting with the person who's singing
- 24:45in some kind of way that that helps them out. You know, Yeah,
- 24:48absolutely completely agree. I'm going to have to wrap things up because I
- 24:55have a day job to get to, which is really gross. But I
- 25:00had like one little fun question that I wanted to ask you before we finish
- 25:03up. If an l seventh song had been selected to be the feature song
- 25:07for a major motion picture, which song and for which movie? Would those
- 25:12be? Oh? God, that doesn't exist already. I mean, like,
- 25:17you know, shitless was in Natural Born Killers. A lot of people
- 25:19really liked that movie and that scene with Juliet Lewis doing a fantastic job in
- 25:26that scene. I'm talking like grand scale, like my heart will go on
- 25:30Titanic style. I think fast and frightening would be pretty rad, you know,
- 25:36like in a chase scene or something, or you know, some kind
- 25:40of high action thing. You know. Man, it was almost in the
- 25:45Brie Larson Superhero movie. What was that Captain America? I don't know,
- 25:52Marvel, I don't know what it was, but it was she was.
- 25:55I wish I could help you, but I'm really bad with superhero movies.
- 25:57Yeah she was. She was training too fast and frightening. Oh amazing.
- 26:02Yeah, she was doing her fight scenes to that and training and it almost
- 26:06got in the movie. And then we were we were we were bumped for
- 26:08nine inch Nails. Nah. Yeah, so those same those same things keep
- 26:14happening to us from the nineties, you know what I mean, Like we
- 26:17get bumped out by somebody else. But nine inch Nails have been in their
- 26:22fair share of movies. They can they can share right right now. And
- 26:26the thing about this movie was that it took place in like nineteen ninety two,
- 26:30So it's like that would have been right in the wheelhouse, you know
- 26:33what I mean. So I would say fast and frightening in a in some
- 26:37kind of a high energy scene would be really cool. Let's just say for
- 26:41us and fronting in the movie that it should have been in yes, yes,
- 26:47right, Well, thank you so very much for your time to Anita.
- 26:51We're really looking forward to having you back in Australia in December. Yeah.
- 26:55Pack your summer clothes because it's going to be hot. Yeah yeah,
- 26:59Well, thank you so much for having me. Much appreciated and we're very
- 27:03pleased that we're getting a lot of love out of Australia, so we always
- 27:08we very much appreciate it. We see we will see you in December,
- 27:14Australia. Don't miss L seven when they are in New Zealand and Australia this
- 27:21December. Tickets are on sale now and hey, if you know a guy
- 27:25and you think that you can hook den eat her up with some red snorkeling
- 27:27opportunities. You heard the lady. Get in touch with her on Instagram.
- 27:33L seven commence the tour on December sixth, then Auckland. They hit Sydney
- 27:37on December eight at the Metro Brisbane, December ninth at the Tivoli December twelfth,
- 27:42they do Adelaide at the gov Perth on December thirteenth the rose Mount Hotel,
- 27:48and they wrap things up in Melbourne on December fifteenth at the Croxton Band
- 27:52Room. Keep Live Heavy and thanks once again for listening to the Heavy pod.
- 27:57Peace Out on my Head, Ran Down, All swear till gun be
- 28:06you my shat