Sometimes I have to remember just how good I have it as a writer for Splendid. It's not the full rock and roll life style, mind you, but it has perks. The greatest of these, even above getting into shows free, is the ability to get into a show when it is sold out. Especially when your name has never made it onto the guest list in the first place. Thanks to the benevolence of The Donnas' great tour manager, Narci Martinez, I was swept through the line of the Metro and had my place in the photographer's pit just in time for Mooney Suzuki to bring a refreshed meaning to the term "ready to rock". In a word, these guys are nuts. Certifiable, easily. The two frontmen, lead singer/guitarist Sammy James, Jr. and guitarist Graham Tyler, could not be held captive by the borders of the stage. Jumping down to play in the photographer's area in front of the stage, crossing the protective gate to play in the middle of the audience, even scaling the lighting towers on either side of the stage to seek new echoes of feedback, James and Tyler were everywhere. I lost track of them more than once in all the commotion, and I loved it. I came to see the Donnas, whose new album Turn 21 is akin to walking on water with me right now, but Mooney Suzuki were easily the best part of the night. Mooney Suzuki's music is rooted in the sixties, specifically in a rough and rugged sound like The Monks or The Animals on a raucous night, and I couldn't help but think of a description once applied to another sixties band. To paraphrase, Mooney Suzuki were the most dangerous band in rock and roll last Saturday night.

It wasn't just the theatrics that had me hooked, though. Mooney Suzuki can play pop music. Each song is a three minute drill about the usual suspects of getting the girl, loving the girl and losing the girl. James' voice has the same pulled-taffy quality to it as Elvis Costello or Eric Burdon before he went off to War. The rhythm section of D. Jones on bass and Will Rockwell on drums sets down a rock-steady, blues-infected groove, upon which rides the back and forth guitars and two part choruses. I'm on a lucky streak with opening acts at the Metro: Unwound played with Blonde Redhead, !!! kickstarted the night for At The Drive-In and now Mooney Suzuki. Not only do these bands play great music, but they know what an opening band is suppose to do: get the arriving crowd out of the doldrums of the outside world and ready for a (hopefully) great night.

Next up was the reunited Bratmobile. A large portion of the crowd was apparently there especially for Bratmobile -- at least if the volume of catcalls and screams can be used as an accurate indicator. I personally sit on the fence with the band. I don't outright hate them, but I'm not a big champion either. That said, you can't beat a band that has their own theme song to kick off the show. Dressed in matching red and black T-shirts with the word "Metal" ironed on the front (save drummer Molly Neuman, who was sporting a Chicago White Sox tee), the band quite literally bounded on stage to their instruments and launched into their set. Listening to Bratmobile, I get the impression that when these women where in high school, they beat up the cheerleaders and then went home and practiced their own cheers. Singer Allison Wolfe is the peppiest punk rock rebel I've ever seen. Keeping to a good balance of funny banter and songs, she lead the band through a pleasant set. Of more interest to me was guitarist Erin Smith. Smith has a great surf rock/garage sound (and the matching tear drop guitar!) that keeps Bratmobile's songs from sliding off into outright demented cheerleading. It would be neat to cross-pollinate her with Mooney Suzuki, just to see what sort of hijinks would ensue. With about twelve songs down and a couple of cart wheels back and forth across the stage, Bratmobile left the building.

When I was five or six, my mom signed me up in the Kiss Army. I got a sew-on jacket patch, some stickers and a tour book. It was fantastic. I'm half hoping that The Donnas commission their own army. I've gone into detail elsewhere on Splendid about The Donnas Turn 21, but to reiterate, I am reborn to rock through it. It's not mind bending Fuguzi-esque rock, but rock music of the foot-stomping, ass-moving variety as personified by AC/DC and the aforementioned Kiss. All the more strange, then, that the Metro PA system was playing eighties new wave hits just prior to The Donnas taking the stage. Even weirder was the impromptu sing-along that began in the audience as Soft Cell's cover of "Tainted Love" came out of the speakers. Outside of turning up at one of his shows, I never thought I would find myself in a room with the Marc Almond choir.

First to the stage was The Donnas' drummer, Donna C (aka Torry Castellano) dressed in, what I think, was an appropriate mechanic's jumper. As she climbed behind her kit, the rest of the band -- bassist Maya "Donna F" Ford, guitarist Allison "Donna R" Robertson and singer Brett "Donna A" Anderson -- took their places, said a quick hello and then set into the first two songs from Turn 21, "Are You Gonna Move It For Me" and "Do You Want to Hit It". Without being over the top like Mooney Suzuki, The Donnas can move a crowd. They have stage presence to spare, and the music is drum tight. Many of the songs were performed at a more relaxed tempo than on the record, but none of the energy was lost. In place of speed was a growl in Ford's bass and several short, to-the-point guitar solos by Robertson. Anderson stalked an invisible runway between the drum kit and the lip of the stage, striking great rock singer poses at the right times. Castellano is a great drummer who skips flash in service of the song, but she looks like Animal from the Muppets when she plays, her arms and hair flying around. I never heard a bum note from her, though. The middle of the set was a quick succession of songs that should be hits, beginning with a rousing "Hyperactive" and ending with a version of "Hook it Up" that ought to have ended with exclamation points. From the tone of the room, I wasn't the only one who felt this way either. People had come for rock and roll and The Donnas were providing it. My best evidence for this was something I witnessed during the song "Wanna Get Some Stuff". In what is one of the funniest things I have ever seen at a rock show, at the front of the stage, amidst a throng of people jumping up and down to the song, a girl was kissing someone I took to be her boyfriend. This was an all out embrace, the two almost oblivious to the mass around them. I say almost because the girl was still making a connection with the room around her. With her arm stuck straight in the air, she was giving the "metal" sign to The Donnas on stage. Good to know there is someone with an even stronger commitment to the band than me.

Following a five song encore highlighted by their version of Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight" and their own "Huff All Night", The Donnas left the hall full of amped up, sweaty people. If only they had a recruiter there.

Article and photos by Jason Broccardo.