Music

"To be a threat is a good thing" – An interview with L7

25. Aug. 2016

Donita Sparks spoke with SIEGESSÄULE before the reunited band's show at Columbia Theater on August 30

Through sheer force of Facebook demand, the original fast and frightening rockers Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch and Dee Plakas of L7 returned from a 14-year hiatus last year. Pre-dating riot grrrl by a wide margin, L7 formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, and the foursome were a full-fledged phenomenon in the 1990s with decidedly progressive politics and anthemic, riff-driven grunge, rock and punk. No one will be pretending to be dead when they return to Berlin on August 30 at the Columbia Theater. Guitarist and vocalist Donita Sparks spoke with Walter Crasshole about the return of the queens

Jennifer Finch is back in the band, and she was the first one to leave after Hungry for Stink. How did that happen? Jennifer was the first one to say yes. It was almost like a “What took you so long to call me?” kinda thing. It’s interesting, because in those years, Jennifer became a cancer survivor and Suzy was taking care of her mother, who passed away two years ago. So those guys wouldn’t have even been available anyway, because they were going through major life shit. It just all happened at the same time.

You’re coming back together at the same time as a lot of really strong women-centric bands of the 1990s. Do you see a new demand for this wave of hard-rocking woman bands now? I don’t know about that. But back in the 1990s, it was quite a diverse group of people. Women in particular. Getting in Rolling Stone and SPIN magazine. Now it seems a little bit more like the pop star woman has taken the place of all that diversity. I would say [now] there seems to be a lot of non-threatening, feel-good music out there, which is great, but to be a threat is a good thing, too. I don’t think enough young people get to see bands that are a bit of threat to the status-quo.

So you’d say there’s a hole going on in pop culture? There’s always been a hole in pop star culture, but maybe you’re correct that in pop culture in general, there’s a lack of that sort of in-your-face trip. It’s been coopted by a lot of pop stars who have think tanks about how to do something outrageous, whereas we were all kind of doing that on our own. [Nowadays] I don’t see any Kim Deals out there. Who are the current fucking Kim Deals?

Do you feel like role models now? To young girls or to misfits in general? I think we’re role models to both. And I think we’ve always been a friend of the misfit. We’re misfits ourselves. You know, I just had an interview and they were like “Oh, your lyrics are so feminist.” And I was like, “Well, yeah, they’re feminist, but we speak for all the underdogs.” That’s how we’ve always felt. Which is opposed to more riot grrrl stuff. Riot grrrl stuff was always a bit more female-centric. We were always a bit more androgynous with our trip.

You’ve been pretty outspoken and political in the past. Is that something you are still engaged in today? We are all activists as individuals. Is there a need for Rock For Choice, right now? Yes! I wish some younger people would pick up that baton because we have a limited amount of shows that we can do. We kind of put in our time for that – we raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for pro-choice [causes]. I feel like the younger kids need to step up and do benefits and think big.

What do you want from music these days? I don’t listen to very much rock in my free time. But a lot of promotors want to pair us with the new L7. We don’t want the new L7 of your town. We want The B-52s of your town. Who’s the quirky gay guy with the great songs? That’s what we want.

What can we expect from your music these day? We’re gonna play our biggest songs and it’s gonna be fun. We’re gonna rock that motherfucker.

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