W W W . E X O D U S T E R . C O M

The Donnas, Bratmobile and Selby Tigers
@ Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC
3/7/01

As par for the course, coming late to the show allowed me to miss the first band. In this case, it was Selby Tigers (Hopeless Records). I caught the last two songs of the Tigers and by that I was glad that I missed them. They played the type of punk rock that the Traveler is privy to; straightforward, almost oi style, punk rock.

There was this girl dressed like one of the ladies from the Donnas in front of me and thought, "that's kind of gay, dressing up like them. What is this KISS?!?!?!?" But my mistake it was actually the lead singer of the Donnas. In addition, the, argghhhh, riot grrrrrrrl, singer of Bratmobile was behind me. Hence, creating a little punk-rock sandwich. A note on the crowd: this show had the largest variance of people that I have ever seen. Some high-schoolers, college-agers, but a host of thirty-somethings and some legit parents. I think the novelty of the Donnas attracted a number of creepy older men, the type who are into Internet porn. What's worse is that they were all trailer park NC trash. Thus, I hope they had some security with them…scary.

Bratmobile (Lookout Records) came up and rocked out hard. Surfy, riot grrrl punk, they were composed of guitarist, singer, keyboardist and drummer. The singer had the whole rock-star punk-rock girl thing going on. Thick-rimmed glasses, short-hair and singing with one hand on the hip. Meanwhile, the guitarist looked as though she was ready to kill. The best part of the set was the butt-shaking contest between the singer and a roadie. After checking out some of their recorded material, they are much better live. So check'em out.

Finally, the Donnas (Lookout Records) took the stage and prepared to rock out, psyching themselves up with "Video Killed the Radio Star." Looking at bit older and more mature than I expected after seeing photos, all four were poised to rock. Their set mostly covered their three latest albums and some singles. It was so obvious from their set how far they have progressed in few short years. The new material is heavily 70s rock influenced, with testerone-laden guitar solos and riffs, as compared to previous straight-ahead punk. The guitarist is simply outstanding, playing the axe as if she the master of all she surveyed. The biggest contention with their set was that they played about a beat too slow for all of their songs. So many of their fast numbers kind of dragged, which was mildly depressing. However, the Donnas are doing and their sound is what music today needs more of.