The Donnas bring bad-girl vibe to JMU

Photo courtsey of / The Bluestone Breet Anderson of the Donnas, an all-girl punk band, performs with the group Monday in the College Center grand Ballroom.

Don't let their looks fool you. At first glance The Donnas may look like cute and innocent girls, but they are a hard-rocking, hard-partying bunch. The Donnas' concert at the College Center Grand Ballroom Monday night was pure rock 'n' roll, loud guitars, pounding drums and tons of energy.

The Donnas presented themselves as talented musicians who owned the stage with their commanding performances.

The group played a 45-minute set of about 15 songs consisting primarily of material from their latest and fifth album, "Spend the Night." Their songs had mostly classic rock ‘n' roll. The songs were about sex, drugs and partying.

The Donnas are comprised of bassist Maya Ford (Donna F.), lead singer Brett Anderson (Donna A.), drummer Tory Castellano (Donna C.) and guitarist Allison Robertson (Donna R.). According to Castellano, the group's performance at JMU is the second stop on their current tour, which began Sunday in Columbia, S.C. at Three Rivers Music Festival.

Some of their songs, such as "Take it Off" and "Please Don't Tease," seemed to allude to role reversal, flipping the sexual stereotypes portrayed by many rock stars.

Songs the audience showed the most enthusiasm for were "You Wanna Get Me High," "Hyperactive," which had thumping beats and "I Don't Care," which Anderson dedicated to all the girls in the audience.

The Donnas' current singles "Take it Off" and "Who Invited You" also were big hits with the crowd, as seen by crowd response.

The crowd mostly was comprised of college students. Although much hoopla is made of The Donnas' all-girl status, it drew a crowd that was an even mix of both men and women.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the show. Junior Elizabeth Drosdick said, "The Donnas were great, they had great energy and gave a great show. I think it was great that they came because they were able to bring a different style of music to JMU."

The only shortcoming of the show was that Anderson's vocals were often overpowered by the commanding instrumentals of her band mates.

Junior Jennifer Redmore said, "The Donnas put on an amazing show, but I thought that the mics for the vocals could have been louder. It was really hard to hear [Anderson] singing over the band."

The performers said they listen to '70s and '80s rock bands such as AC/DC, Cinderella, Kiss and Guns N' Roses. But Castellano said the group's tastes go beyond rock music.

The Donnas said their status as an all-girl band in a musical genre dominated by men gets the group more publicity than its all-male counterparts.

"I feel like we have to deal with a lot of issues that guy bands don't face, issues that are unique to girls," Castellano said. "It's frustrating."

The Donnas may get more attention because the group is all girls, but Monday night's performance proved that they deserve the hype.

"Playing live is what we love to do most and (playing for) college students is cool because they are really into music — it's a big part of their lives," Castellano said.