The Donnas: Brett Anderson (vocals, piano); Allison Robertson (guitar, background vocals); Maya Ford (bass guitar, background vocals); Torry Castellano (drums, percussion, background vocals).
Though the Donnas' sound bears elements of punk (they did, after all, start out on Lookout Records, original home of Green Day) and garage rock, they've largely eschewed the trappings of either since the very beginning. As with their previous five records, GOLD MEDAL is simply a straight-up, no-frills rock & roll album, owing as much to the Runaways as it does to the Ramones. The Donnas have come off as tough girls since the beginning, and they don't soften their sound a bit here. Biting, primal guitar hooks, snarling vocals, and thundering, martial drums rage from start to finish, full of grit and fire, but streamlined to the bare essentials by Chris Lord-Alge's high-efficiency production. By refusing to bow to the genre specifications of pop-punk, alt-rock, or anything else, the Donnas craft a timeless edifice of rock & roll fury on GOLD MEDAL that's both eminently accessible and undeniably powerful.