L7: Pretend We're Dead (2016) - full transcript

- [Donita] There's
no one coming yet.

- [Suzi] Just shut up
and fuck me, dammit!

Just shut up!

- I like it when you go,
"Just shut up and fuck me,"

you know, "Just
shut up and fuck!"

- [Suzi] Oh here's a guy.

- [Jennifer] Say it.

- [Suzi] Just shut up
and fuck me, dammit!

Just shut up and fuck!

[group giggling
over van creaking]

- [Jennifer] They laughed.



- [Donita] They did?

["Fast and Frightening" by L7]

[chugging punk rock music]

♪ Her glance hits
me like lightning

♪ I heard that girl is
fast and frightening

♪ Dirty hair and a
laugh that's mean

♪ Her neighbors call
her an evil machine

♪ She's fast, she's lean

♪ She's frightening

♪ She's fast, she's lean

♪ She's frightening

[chugging punk rock music]

♪ Down at the creek smokin' pot

♪ She eats the roach
so she don't get caught



♪ Throws her mini
off in the hall

♪ Got so much clit she
don't need no balls

♪ She's fast, she's lean

♪ She's frightening

♪ She's fast, she's lean

♪ She's frightening

[static groaning]

- I'm Donita Sparks,
guitar vocals.

- I'm Dee Plakas, drums.

- I'm Suzi Gardner,
guitarist, vocals.

- I'm Jennifer
Finch, bass, vocals.

[group shrieking over
blaring truck horn]

["Shove" by L7]

[rhythmic grunge music]

- [Jennifer] There's just, um,

a limited amount of ferocious,

free-thinking kind of, I
don't wanna say oddballs,

but we were just all built
a little bit different.

♪ Bill collector called today

♪ Shove

♪ IRS is on my pay

We're a little drained.

- [Interviewer]
A little drained?

- OK, should we fill
the cup up somehow?

- We played tonight, and uh.
[Suzi moaning]

- They were very
politicized, I mean,

they spoke out against war,
they had songs about feminism.

- They were openly,
brazenly feminist,

and it was done with real
balls-to-the-wall fire.

If it was easy to describe them,

then they wouldn't
be great, right,

but, uh, it's just that
they're a powerful band,

and sometimes, when
women are powerful,

people think that that
means, they're like,

"Why are they so
mad?" and it's like,

"No, they're not mad, they're
expressing, like, strength."

[chugging punk rock music]

- The first time I saw them,
you know, it was electric.

- It was just a
constant sonic assault.

- They were punk
rockers at heart,

they would come up on
stage and rip it up.

- They had the riffs, they had
the songs, they just rocked.

[skittering and
throbbing noise collage]

[pleasant rock music]

- [Suzi] In mid to late
'80s in Los Angeles,

there were factions, there
were hard rock, hair bands,

people of the Sunset Strip,

there were punks at the
Anti Club and Al's Bar.

You could be anything
at play Raji's,

I mean, you could be Screamin'
Jay Hawkins or punk rockers.

Then, it became very cross over,

everybody was goin' everywhere.

- [Donita] That was an era
in that period of the '80s,

art and rock mixed a lot.

I was sort of more into
the Silver Lake scene,

which was just tiny,
tiny at that point,

but, you know, where rock was
mixed with performance art,

poetry readings,
drag shows, you know.

We were playing anything
we could get on.

But, you know, our
very first coverage

was from the metal scene.

[chugging hard rock guitar]

And there were all-female
metal bands, for sure, but,

you know, it was a
much different thing
than we were doing.

We liked hard rock in
the Motorhead vein,

we didn't like it
in the Poison vein.

We didn't tease our hair, we
didn't wear a lot of makeup.

We weren't wearin' bustiers.

If we were gonna be looked
at, we were thrashin'.

["Everglade" by L7]

[chugging hard rock music]

We were a very physical
band, you know,

doin' knee drops
and head banging

and flingin' our hair and
divin' in the audience.

♪ Glade told her ma,
home scene's lame

♪ I gotta go

♪ Head into town, blow
some steam at the rock show

- [Dee] Rockin', like, you
know, legs spread wide apart,

guitars low, rockin'
it, you know.

We weren't The
Bangles, you know.

No one was tryin' to
look really pretty

or worried about anything
but just rockin'.

- [Jennifer] Really, we
came with authenticity,

and I think that our generation

was about identifying
the authentic.

♪ So you wanna have some fun

♪ Well, break out the big guns

- [Suzi] I imagined
that we'd probably do

a couple regional tours, like
up to Seattle, San Diego,

San Francisco, and then
we'd probably fizzle.

L7 and the L7
trajectory is a trip.

It's kind of classic,

it's rags-to-riches-to-rags
[chuckles].

[chugging hard rock music]

[dreamy harp accent]

My mom took me to see
Liberace when I was little,

and he did 13 costume changes,
it was pretty amazing.

She didn't like rock and
roll music at the beginning.

You know, when I was a kid,
she took away the radios

because I was listening
to the devil's music.

I'd hide it under my pillow

and that'd make
her even more mad,

that I was sleep-learning
the devil's music,

but she came around.

- [Donita] I wanted
to get the hell out

of the South Side of Chicago,

which was, culturally,
pretty bleak.

At that time, you
know, you had fantasies

of movin' to New York
or London, or Berlin.

I was like, wow, I
really like surf music

and I loved, like, Hollywood
Babylon kind of stuff,

so then I completely
got obsessed with L.A.,

and, like, singular focused
to move to Los Angeles,

and I didn't know anybody.

- [Suzi] Donita and
I were traveling

in the same circle of people,

kind of LA Weekly,
music, arty crowd.

I had done some
poetry performances

and I got published
a little bit,

but that's not what
I wanted, I mean,

somebody who was a poet should
have gotten really excited,

but after a while, I
kept seeing my name

being associated with poetry

and I was actually kinda
ticked off about that.

I really wanted to rock!

- [Donita] Suzi and
I were from this

underground art punk scene
on the East Side of L.A.,

Silver Lake, Echo Park,

that's where, like, all
the arty punks lived.

Our mutual friends
were just like,

"Yeah, well you should meet
Suzi, she plays guitar,"

and they were like, "Yeah,
you should meet Donita.

"She plays guitar."

Suzi, to me, was
wild in the way of,

she seemed like a gal
with not much to lose.

Her lifestyle was a little bit,

it was edgier than mine
in a dangerous way.

Suzi hung out with
bikers and shit.

She looked very punk
mixed with metal,

and I was more like goofy wild.

I'd wear Coca Cola pants
and shit like that.

I wasn't really a fishnet
kinda gal, Suzi was.

- [Suzi] Donita seemed a little
more aggressive than I was.

[laughs] It got kind of
intense once in a while.

I wondered, like, how am I
gonna work with this person,

but, um, I stuck it out

and she thought my songs
were good, I guess.

- [Donita] I went over to
her apartment in Silver Lake

and she played me a
cassette of the music

she was working on, and
I was like, "Oh my God!"

It was hard and it was heavy
and it was, um, sludgy.

Suzi had the first
musical template for L7.

[sludgy hard rock music]

I think Suzi was concerned

that I was gonna
be too political.

Suzi just wanted purely
wanted to rock, you know?

I kind of felt like I
had somethin' to say.

I was raised to be political,

I was raised to
question authority.

Suzi wanted to
express her emotions,

I wanted to change
the world somehow.

We went through a
succession of players.

It was, like, a year and a half,

"Oh, we need a new bass player,
oh, we need a new drummer."

Generally, dudes who
wanted to play hard rock

had no desire to
play with women.

It was just taboo at the time.

- [Suzi] We just kept,
we had to put ads

in the paper to find new people.

Looking for a drummer
who would like Ramones,

Frightwig, Iggy Pop.

We didn't care what gender,
as long as they rocked.

- [Donita] It was
really, really hard.

Shitty gigs and just
weird people around.

Being broke all the time, trying
to keep our part-time jobs,

keep our cars running,

and there were times
when she wanted to stop

and there were times
when I wanted to stop,

and each of us talked
each other back into it,

you know, like to keep going.

It was a couple years of me
and Suzi sluggin' it out,

the dark days.

[sludgy hard rock music]

♪ Oh

- [Donita] And that's
when Jennifer came in.

[scattered applause from crowd]

There was this persistent chick

who had come to see our shows,

and she approached me and she
was like, "I wanna play bass."

She almost challenged me
to let her in the band.

- [Jennifer] I didn't really
know very much about bass.

I had been playing
with Courtney Love,

but it was very limited and,
um, I had to borrow a bass

and learn what an
amplifier was really quick.

- [Donita] We were
almost on our last legs

when Jennifer came
into the band,

and Jennifer was very driven.

- [Suzi] She was very passionate

and she knew a lotta people,
and she went out a lot,

and, um, she rocked
like head-bangin' crazy.

- [Jennifer] I knew I
would have to make up

for my inability to
play with attitude.

[thrashing hard rock music]

- [Suzi] It started feeling
more real after Jennifer joined

because, just started feeling
more like a rock unit,

and she was very
socially connected.

- [Donita] Jennifer was a kid
on the L.A. punk rock scene

and there was some momentum.

- [Suzi] She had a
network of people

that she could call
and booked gigs.

[traffic humming]

- [Donita] The fact that we
were starting to be embraced

by this metal scene was
very surprising to me.

There was a lot of,
uh, testosterone,

it seemed very misogynistic.

We were the antithesis
of that scene.

Jennifer came in in, like,
'87, we recorded a record,

and then the next year, 1988,

we went on tour
with Bad Religion.

When we came home,
it was just kind of

back to the same old struggle.

Our drummer quit, then
people told us about Dee.

[sludgy hard rock music]

- [Dee] I was in my
living room, stoned,

listening to Patti
Smith's Radio Ethiopia,

and I hear a knock on the
door and I see Donita.

I was like, "Damn, chick
is fierce-looking!"

I was like, "Oh
my God," you know,

like memories of,
like, being in Chicago

in the bathroom at one of
those punk rock places,

because I never
looked very punk,

and I almost got my hair cut off

in one of those bathrooms
without my consent.

- [Donita] And she
called me up and said,

"I wanna come down
and audition,"

and pulled up in a Country
Squire station wagon.

And as soon as she played, it
was, like perfect, you know,

and Suzi and I just looked at
each other like, "Fuck yes!"

Numerous friends from
other bands were like,

"This is your missing
link, this was the one,"

you know, now, it's go time.

["'Til the Wheels
Fall Off" by L7]

♪ You and me 'til
the wheels fall off

♪ Aw, that's right

♪ You and me, we just fit

♪ I'm addicted,
I just can't quit

♪ You and me 'til
the wheels fall off

- [Donita] There were a lot
of labels all over the country

that had strong
scenes bubbling up,

like there was
Minneapolis and Seattle

and Portland, and
Houston and Austin,

and Chapel Hill and New
York City, you know,

and Sub Pop was one of
the strong indie labels.

Jennifer and Courtney were
listening to a lot of records

out of Seattle, on
Sub Pop in particular,

and we figured, we
better get up there.

[chugging grunge rock music]

When we got to Seattle,
it was on fire.

There was just an
energy there, for sure.

They were much more
progressive than L.A.,

it was like night and day.

You had the cool
guys who were all PC

and they were all
feminists who were, like,

not threatened by us and
thought we were cool and good.

We were being accepted as
a real fuckin' rock band.

- [Dee] Jennifer was
always in touch and in tune

with this label and that,
everything that was going on.

So, the guys from Sub Pop
were coming to see us live.

- [Donita] They
liked our set a lot

and wanted to know if
we would do a Sub Pop

Single of the Month Club,
which was like a huge deal,

so we recorded Shove for
a January, 1990 release.

It sort of kicked
off the '90s for us

and we had an underground
hit on our hands.

["Shove" by L7]

[rhythmic grunge rock music]

♪ Bill collector called today

♪ Shove

♪ IRS is on my pay

♪ Shove

♪ My boss says I
should comb my hair

♪ Shove

♪ My father thinks
that I'm nowhere

♪ Get out of my way
or I might shove

- [Donita] We used
to joke that Sub Pop

was the gateway to Europe,

and it was for us
because we toured Europe.

All of a sudden, this
single, you know,

four-and-a-half years
into our band life,

was breathing life into it.

♪ Get outta my way

[noisy guitar flourish]

This scene was all over
the world at that point.

- [Donita] We knew
tons of cool bands

in the underground by then.

Everybody was getting
a lot of attention.

For L7, the momentum,
you just felt it.

[crowd cheering]

- [Jennifer] Every show
in 1990 was an epic event.

There were promoters
that didn't pay us,

that we had to make them
empty their pinball machines.

There was a promoter that
touched Donita inappropriately,

so we all peed in his hat.

We broke down in Barstow,

and my father came
and picked us up.

Craziness, vans breaking,
explosions, knife fights.

["Broomstick" by L7]

♪ I've got my broomstick, baby

♪ I've got my paperback novel

♪ I'm gonna lay right here

♪ I ain't gonna grovel

- [Donita] We were forced
to sleep on people's floors,

so in doing that, you get
to meet their friends,

and the whole scene, you know.

Usually, the people
who are asking you

if you need a place
to stay, you know,

Mudhoney were there the
week before on their floor.

[rhythmic grunge rock music]

Sub Pop said we'd like to
make a record with you,

so we did Smell the Magic.

We recorded that up in
Seattle with Jack Endino.

- [Dee] It was such a punk
rock, DIY recording session.

- He just liked raw
power comin' out.

["Fast and Frightening" by L7]

♪ Her glance hits
me like lightning

♪ I heard that girl is
fast and frightening

Fast and Frightening is an
homage to a wild female,

'cause I've always hated, "Oh,
she's got balls," you know.

And I'm like, why do
people fucking say that?

That's so lame, you know,

like why does it take
balls to be fierce?

♪ Got so much clit,
she don't need no balls

♪ She's fast, she's lean

I like to contradict, you
know, the status quo in rock.

Nobody played a V, it was,
like, considered a very metal,

douche guitar, and so I just
thought it was hilarious.

Even with my gear, I was
a stubborn non-conformist.

♪ Poppin' wheelies
on her motorbike

At that time, bands
from the underground

were getting on MTV.

If I were at a friend's house
and 120 Minutes came on,

it was like, "Oh, Sonic
Youth is on," you know,

like, "Holy shit, Sonic
Youth are on MTV?"

- [Jennifer] You know,
L7 started to talk about

what would the possibility look
like to be on a major label.

- [Donita] It was a
distribution issue for us,

it was like, "Oh, man, we have
to be in the stores more."

Even though Sub Pop was great,
once you were on a major,

then you were everywhere,

and I was very much into
infiltrating the masses.

- [Jennifer] Slash had a
deal with Warner Bros.,

and we were all friends
with everyone at Slash.

Really, it was such
a great move for us

as far as being part of a
historical Los Angeles label.

- [Donita] We got a shit
deal from Slash, you know,

but on the other hand,
we became worldwide.

As far as major labels

knowing what to do
with us, they didn't.

We didn't have a
good record deal.

I don't think I've seen a dime
from the sale of our records,

but we signed to Slash, I
quit my job at the Weekly,

and then we were in the
studio with Butch Vig.

This fuckin' big fuckin' moment,

and they treat us,
we're treated--

[traffic roar drowns out dialog]

- [Jennifer] Suzi,
just start singin'.

♪ Well, I met gin-soaked
bar room queen in Memphis

♪ And I had to take
her upstairs for a ride

[cowbell thunking]

♪ Well, she had to
heave me round on the

[both laughing]

- [Jennifer] Excuse me, ma'am,
why are you staring at me?

- Elvis stayed here.

- [Jennifer] Who?

- Elvis.

- [Jennifer] Can you point me--

- [Donita] Would
you speak to Elvis?

- I believe it's the
one that you're in.

- [Donita] The
one that we're in?

- [Dee] Elvis stayed in the
same suite that we're in?

- [Donita] In the
abnormality suite?

- Thank you.

- [Donita] Dee, what did
you just order, honey?

- I ordered, uh, two Miller
Genuine Drafts and two Sharp's.

- [Suzi] Party down!

- We're partying down here--

- [Suzi] Party naked!

- Look, this is rock and roll.

- Well, OK, a toast, we're
stuck here for a month.

[group cheers]

- Our first record that's
gonna make Billboard.

[group laughs]

♪ Please don't hate me
'cause I'm beautiful

♪ Please don't hate
me 'cause I'm lovely

[Dee humming a tune]

♪ You'll be better
off when you all

Or would you rather be a stool,

a stool is a pile of excrement,
in case you didn't know.

[Suzi cackling]

- Here's Suzi and I's bedroom.

You know, there's no safety
liner over the toilet.

- [Donita] We're
now talking to John,

who just, uh, informed us

that he's marrying the chick
from The Smashing Pumpkins.

- And now, there's
something I'm gonna ask you,

but believe me, don't think
this, I'm being silly,

but it's important
because, like I said,

I'm an experienced,
married woman, you know.

I mean, how's the sex?

It's pretty awesome,
that's good.

She gives good
head and all that?

Hey, that's an important, look!

Kirk woulda dumped
me in a second

if I couldn't suck the
chrome off a trailer hitch.

[all guffawing]

- [Manager] This is L7.
[group chattering]

- [Dee] Look at all the
records they've done here!

- [Donita] Is this the single?

- [Dee] I know, I was gonna say.

- [Suzi] Ow!

- [Dee] I like that
photo, kinda interesting.

- Seltzer, seltzer,
Pepsi, Mountain Dew,

and triple X is, of
course, ice cold Frosties.

- [Donita] OK,
this is all for us?

- It's illegal to advertise
if there's anything

other than triple
X in there, so.

- [Dee] But there's
really beer in here?

- Yes, ice cold Frosties.

["Diet Pill" by L7]

[chugging hard rock music]

♪ Nightmare, nightmare

♪ In the daylight

- [Donita] [chuckles]
That was cool.

♪ Written on the wall

- [Butch] Pretty
good, it sounds cool!

- [Suzi] Part of it, all of it?

- Why does everything
take five hours?

- Because we're professionals.

- [Butch] That's a good answer.

- Because we're pro!

- Because we're professionals.

- No, because we
care, because we care.

- While we were in
the studio with Butch,

Nirvana released
Nevermind and it blew up.

It would be like
if, all of a sudden,

one day you woke up and your
kid sister or kid brother

was internationally
famous, overnight.

That's what it felt like.

Everywhere I go, everywhere I
turn, I see this fucking face!

Frankly, I'm sick of it and
then there's White Zombie.

- [Suzi] White Zombie
and Teenage Fan Club
are in there, T!

- And Superchunk.

- [Suzi] Superchunk, see,
all our friends are in this--

- And we'll never be in there.

- [Suzi] We'll never make it!

- Are you singing on
the chorus on this?

- [Donita] Yes, I am!

- We gotta, we gotta
do this chorus.

I don't want her to
do the back vocal,

er, her vocal, until
you do your vocal,

because she's singin'
under you, right?

- [Donita] Yeah, I'm
mounting her, as it were.

[Butch laughs]

- Three weeks on the road

and we're playin'
ball in the hall.

- [Dee] You ready?

Begin.

[Jennifer counting over sporadic
whoopee cushion gurgles]

[group laughing]

- [Donita] Suzi, would
you get the walnuts

that are in the kitchen

so we can leave 'em
for the squirrels?

- Oh, yeah.

Hey, look, the squirrels
are lookin' for ya,

they think you're nuts.

[group moaning]

- [Cameraman] OK,
now come towards me.

- Da Bears, Da Bears!

Yeah, yo Mike Ditka!

- [Cameraman] Come towards me!

- [MC] Suburban, middle
class white America,

get ready for the
most dangerous women

in the country.
[crowd shouting]

L7!
[crowd cheering]

[sludgy grunge rock music]

["Lost Cause" by L7]

[thrashing hard rock music]

♪ Look at that fact,
look at those eyes

♪ Look at those legs

♪ She's a lost cause,
she's a lost, lost cause

[group chattering]

[group cheering]

[peppy Latin jazz music]

- [Suzi] Rollin' a join
on the Nirvana Spin!

Screw in '92!

[traffic humming]

[crowd laughing]

- Are you supposed to be
extras on the Weird Al video?

- Why yes, we are, let's go!

- [Donita] [laughs] Oh, Jesus!

- No, we're doing our own video.

- [Donita] Hey are you
guys goin' over there?

- Yeah.

- [Donita] Tell 'em
L7's at Stage Four.

["Pretend That
We're Dead" by L7]

♪ When we pretend
that we're dead

- [Dee] We did the video
for Fast and Frightening

with Gore Verbinsky,
that was our first video.

That was really fun, that
was like, punk rock, too.

That was just like the opposite
of doing Pretend We're Dead.

You know, Pretend We're
Dead was like a big,

you know, music video.

- [Director] Playback!

♪ They can't hear
one word we've said

♪ When we pretend

- [Dee] That caused
Donita a lotta grief.

She was not pleased
about a lot of the stuff,

was fighting for her
creative view, you know.

What she wanted and, you
know, what they wanted,

and, "Oh, you can't have
the roadkill in there,

"and you can't have," you
know, and it was just like,

we just started gettin' that
taste of being on a major.

Donita did not like
losing control of the art.

It was exciting, since
Suzi got hit in the head

with the crane, of course,
that wasn't exciting.

- [Suzi] All of a sudden,
I hear somebody shout

really loudly, like, "Hey!"

Then the camera came
down and the matte box

hit my hear and it
ripped my ear off,

not all the way, but
ripped my ear, like,

so the whole back of it was a
cut, like [mimics squishing].

It broke a bone in my orbital,

I still have numbness
to this day from that.

The, uh, album is
titled Bricks Are Heavy.

- But we're changing that
since Suzi's crane accident

to Cranes are Heavy.

- Yeah.

- We blame Suzi for everything.

- Yeah, I know.

- She broke the
camera with her head.

- You know, it
fell on me from 20,

the camera fell on me
from 20 feet in the air,

and I narrowly
escaped with my life.

["Wargasm" by L7]

- [Jennifer] Here she
comes, culo first.

- I can't find my other boot!

Is that place open over there?

- Yeah.

- [Donita] Can you go inside?

- Yes.

- OK, thank you.

- [Jennifer] Are you
gonna walk over there?

- I'm gonna piss somewhere.

Oh, Jesus [laughs]!

Black reel material.

- [Jennifer] Whoa, look at that!

- Wow, I'm impressed, Donita!

Look at the over spray on that!

Hey, can we get a
tape measure out here?

♪ Sex farm baby

♪ Got to get out
of this hellhole

- What, did you
get a new camera?

- [Jennifer] Yeah, we got a new
camera, now, check this out.

- Oh, that tickles, I can't
tell you how much I like this!

- [Dee] Oh, we know, you freak!

Wait, turn around!

- [Donita] Let me help
you, son, you [laughs].

[group laughing]

Let me help you, son.

[group laughing]

- [Dee] Don't hurt her!
[Donita screaming]

Don't hurt her!

[all laughing]

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Donita] We brought out the
exhibitionist in our roadies.

- [Jennifer] It just seems that
if you're involved with L7,

you probably are just
something of like a nudist

and life-lover, so you don't
mind running naked on stage.

[chugging hard rock]

- [Donita] We didn't
ask them to do anything

beneath their dignity,
they volunteered.

[chugging hard rock music]

- We're gonna be stayin'
up in hotel rooms,

smokin' big cigars.

Having big old bags of
beads, countin' our money.

We gotta hire a different
guy just to count money.

- Please welcome L7!

[audience cheers]

- [Suzi] I don't
know if meticulous

is the right word
with the band image,

but we were aware
of the scrutiny

that we were getting
for being all gals.

Uh, how to put this into words,

I guess I just have to say it.

You couldn't be too sexy.

If you were too fluffy
or cutesy or something,

then you weren't gonna be
noticed as being a musician.

And, um, I think we
were aware of that.

- So, lemme ask you, I mean, um.

I was thinking, well, how
do I ask them a question

that has anything to do
with being four women

without one of 'em
wanting to, like,

hit me or something
like that, are you--

- How do you know we're women?

- How do you know we're
women, are you sure?

- I've--

- No one knows but
our hairdressers.

- Maybe it is a big assumption.

Is this something that everybody
still asks you guys about,

is being a
quote-unquote girl group

and do you just
not deal with it?

- Well, you know, it's
a part of us, I mean,

we are who we are, you know,

but there's many
parts of us as well.

- We not only have poontangs
we also have armpits.

- [Host] That's right, many
parts to the anatomy, exactly.

- [Suzi] We really wished that
gender would just go away,

that we would be seen
as rock musicians.

You know, Donita did a
really good job with, like,

screwed up, crazy
lipstick and eyes,

and Donita and Jennifer would
put stripes on their bodies.

"What is it like to
be a girl in a band?"

It just was annoying, you know?

The point was to rock and please
recognize us for our rock.

- When L7 formed and
they started playing,

they were an anomaly

because they were as
heavy as the fuckin' boys.

- What I liked about L7 is they
were not afraid to be ugly,

but they knew that
that's not enough.

That's not enough to
just be a cute face,

and, uh, their music was
raunchy and a bit ugly, too.

- They weren't tryin'
to appeal to anybody,

they weren't trying
to appease anybody.

- You know, they were really
the first band that I saw

where they looked
very, you know, raw.

They were not, I mean,
even if they wear makeup,

it's not to look hot

or they're not trying
to sell sex at all,

which is why L7 is a really
big inspiration, I think,

for everybody that was kind
of exposed at that time.

- There are a lot of women
in the audience tonight,

so while you're doing
your thing in the pit,

please be considerate of them,
that's all we're askin', OK?

- Unfortunately for women,

they have been sidelined
to a certain degree.

They're not necessarily
always seen as legitimate,

or as important, or as
deep or intellectual,

or whatever word you want to
use as their male counterparts.

- What the fuck, we're girls!

What is up with that?

- There was so
much blah-blah-blah
about women in rock

at that time that I just
think back and I cringe.

It was noteworthy and it
was worthy of conversation,

but it got so tedious
being asked all the time

what it's like to
be a woman in rock,

and I can only imagine
what it felt like for them.

- I think they had
a good time, like,

making fun of a lot
of interviewers,

and [chuckles] they
poked fun at everything,

but it's unfair for them
to be labeled in that way

and I think a lot
of female musicians

got really pissed
off about that label.

[chugging hard rock music]

- So, you put on an L7
record and it rocks,

and so then, it
transcends all that,

you know, gender and all that.

- Just forge through and
just play a badass show.

They always did, you know,

and that was constantly
inspirational,

but that's the only
response you can give 'em,

really, is turn it up!

♪ Hello Daddy, hello Mom

♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch
cherry bomb

- [Donita] The abortion
rights issue was really,

just, gettin'
hammered, you know.

I have been, you know, in the
80s, I was protecting clinics,

you know, on a Saturday
morning and shit,

draggin' my ass outta bed.

So when we got some clout,
we wanted to do a pro-choice

benefit concert and partnered up

with The Feminist
Majority Foundation

and started Rock For Choice.

The first show was at
the Hollywood Palace

and it was Nirvana, L7, Hole,
and Sister Double Happiness.

We did a lot more shows in L.A.

and then they spread
all over the country.

If you think of any big
act from that time period,

I mean, from Iggy
Pop to Joan Jett

to Fugazi to the
Offspring, Beastie Boys,

Chili Peppers, Bikini
Kill, The Lunachicks,

Babes in Toyland, everybody
did a Rock For Choice show.

[pounding hard rock music]

Did ya'll sign the pro-choice
petitions out front--

[crowd cheering
drowns out dialog]

All it takes is a signature.

- Here's L7 at the White House!

- [Onlooker] Hey, hey, ho, ho

George Bush has got to go!

- [Donita] The Positive
Force DC show was historic.

It was the night before
the March on Washington

for pro-choice and it
was with Bikini Kill,

Fugazi, and L7.

We've been under a
lotta pressure lately

and, you know, it
would really, like,

allow us to blow off some steam

if you danced for
us onstage tonight.

- Onstage, yeah.

- [Dee] And we have a
costume for you to wear.

- [Suzi] Ian, we're simple
women with simple desires.

- You are simple women,
there's no doubt about that.

[Dee laughs]

- Oh, that's gotta hurt!

- Oh, God, that made me
hurt my feelings, oh, gosh.

- [Suzi] We're simple
women with simple minds.

- [Ian] Fair enough.

I can't argue with
that kinda logic.

- I called Ian and his band
the Alan Aldas of punk.

He called us the Carol
Burnetts of punk.

[pounding hard rock music]

I think we had the most
feminist moment onstage

with Slymenstra Hymen coming
out and doing her fire dance,

but the audience
kinda poo-pooed it,

like, they couldn't
get the humor of it.

You know, the GWAR and Fugazi
scenes were very different.

I mean, how can you not
fucking love Slymenstra Hymen?

[chugging hard rock music]

Maybe we overshot it, we
were activists in that way,

but, like, as far as, like,
becoming spokespeople for stuff,

we kinda thought, well,
shit, we're a band.

You know, 'cause in
interviews, we wanted to talk

about the music, we wanted
to talk about our touring,

but it was getting very
focused on pro-choice.

And so, even though Rock
For Choice kept going

and still had huge concerts,

we had to pull back
and focus on the band.

- L7, in the history of rock,

is like really, really,
really important,

but I think L7 was way
more impactful in my life

because it was all girls and
also, it was really aggressive.

- We just listened to them
all the time, constantly,

in the garage and in my bedroom

and on my Walkman CD
player walking to school,

walking back from
school, in school.

- That time period
was really incredible

for women in music.

It was a time when girls
were feeling empowered

to go out and be aggressive,

and I don't mean just turn
around and punch somebody,

but go out and do whatever
it was they wanted to do,

encouraged to be themselves.

- Hello, I Donita
Sparks from L7,

don't hate me because
I'm beautiful,

and whenever we're
in The Big Apple,

we watch, [groans],
On Patrol Video.

- [Interviewer] Really?

- Really, well,
that and Geraldo.

- Let's see.

- [Dee] That's when my dad,
my sister told me this,

and she said, "he watched
you on David Letterman,

"from his big chair."

- Uh, tonight, making their
network television debut,

please welcome L7!

[crowd cheering]

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Dee] And he, "Ah,

"I guess she did know
what she was doin'."

Up till that moment, you know,

he didn't believe it
could be a career for me,

until I was on the
TV, and of course,

'cause that, he could
tell all his friends,

"My daughter was on David
Letterman, did you see it?"

Like, "Oh, yeah,
we saw her, Harry,

"knockin' over everything."

[noisy hard rock music]

- L7, Paul, whatta ya think?

- Yeah, swingin' band.

- I just hope the
girls aren't starting

to run around with
the wrong crowd.

[audience laughs]

- [Jennifer] We flew to
England and we got picked up

at the airport by London
Records in a limousine,

and I remember, Donita
and I were like,

"Who's paying for this?"

OK, who's paying for this?

- You are!

Get in the car!

- [Jennifer] We
were in this limo,

going to our hotel or whatever,
right into interviews,

and our publicity person
said, "How does it feel

"to be in the Top of the
Pops?" and I was like, "What?"

I don't think I
really understood

what they were talking about,

that L7 had really
broken a huge barrier

in England pop culture,
in British music.

I was still working as a maid,
like I still had a day job.

[engine rumbling]

- [Donita] Are you
playing here tonight?

- Yeah.

- [Donita] We're
playing there tonight.

- Are you L7?

- [Donita] Uh-huh.

[man shrieks]

- L7!

- [Suzi] We were becoming more
a part of the music machine,

you know, um, with publicity

and all those
things going for us.

I mean, if you don't
do those things,

then you're not gonna chart.

♪ Hey, there, Georgie girl

♪ La la la la la la la la la

["Slide" by L7]

♪ I put your stuff
out on the porch

♪ Lettin' you slide

♪ You piss in your pants
and put out the torch

♪ Lettin' you slide

♪ You splattered the
bathroom with your hair dye

♪ Lettin' you slide

♪ I'm a-kickin' you
out and you know why

♪ Yeah, I been lettin' you slide

♪ You been along for the ride

Is it on, why
isn't the light on?

- [Interviewer] Donita,
welcome in our studio.

- Thank you.

- [Interviewer] OK, let's
start with Los Angeles.

- Um, trashy and beautiful.

- [Interviewer] Touring.

- Um, pleasure and pain.

I feel like I'm on a game show.

- [Interviewer] Well, it's
kind of a game, this is, yeah.

Holland.

- Um, wooden shoes and
windmills and talking backwards.

[crowd chuckling]

- [Interviewer] Glamor.

- L7.

[crowd chuckling]

["Venus in Furs" by
The Velvet Underground

♪ Kiss the corn of
shiny, shiny callous

♪ Shiny callous, on my toe

♪ Get the pad of
furry, furry velvet

♪ Furry velvet, by Doctor Scholl

[punchy hard rock music]

- You just got back from
tour over in Europe.

- Correct.

- Right, you know, I was
talkin' to the other girls

and they said that
went real good.

- It went very well,
very fruitful tour.

- [Suzi] I noticed
something happening

from our inception to
charting in England and stuff.

It is getting bigger.

- So, it's gotta be
kinda wild 'cause things

are really startin' to
happen for L7 right now.

I mean, just from being
this really core of people,

that all the people that
listen to college radio

were into L7, but now,
it's like, a lotta people

that are out there buying
Pantera or Ozzy Osbourne.

- Who sit on chairs like this.

- Who sit on, yeah, and on
shows like The Headbangers Ball!

- I really didn't think
women could play rock,

but then I saw you and
imagine my surprise!

What do you think about that?

- I despise Marcy now.

- Yes.

- [Announcer] This is 5PM Live.

[pleasant orchestral music]

- You will not be sorry
you tuned into this show.

This is a show with variety.

Today, we're going to meet
people who want to be mummified

when they die,
that's a new trend.

And where do old
rock and rollers go?

Well, to a rock and
roll retirement home,

such a place is in the works,

and we're going to
meet the band L7.

You didn't want us to say that
you're an all-female group,

well, obviously, you are,

so, I guess we don't
need to say that, do we?

- No, we don't, Paula.
[group laughing]

- But I just did, sorry.

Well, now I heard that you had
done as well as The Go-Gos,

as they first started
out, is that true?

- [Donita] We're
nowhere near, look,

we've gone copper
with our record,

they went, like,
multi-multi-platinum.

We're only in the semi-precious
metal category right now.

- [Paula] Well, how long
have you been doing this?

- [Donita] Seven years.

- [Suzi] I think I'm gonna pass
up the rock retirement home

and go straight
to the mummy guy.

That's how long
I've been at this.

- I love how you've been
paying attention to 5PM Live.

What do our four-legged friends

and our feathered
friends have in common?

Sometimes, they're friends
with each other, stay with us.

[crowd shouting]

- So, what's up?
[crowd shouting]

Oh, thank you, they're throwing
mud at us, that's lovely!

Welcome to Redding, nuh-huh!

- [Reporter] L7
have become famous

for their riot grrrl anthems,

including this one, my
own particular favorite,

which contains the
timeless lyric,

"Got so much clit, she
don't need no balls."

♪ Got so much clit,
she don't need no balls

- [Reporter] Exactly.

- [Donita] That show
was a big deal for us,

to get on that show,
you know, it was big.

Nirvana was the
headliner, at their peak.

[rhythmic hard rock music]

We had no sound check, they
just threw ya out there.

[mic feedback humming]

- Well, we're having some
technical problems up here,

being the professionals
that we are.

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Suzi] As a performer,
what makes a difference

between a really good
show and a piss-poor show

or one that you had a bad night,

if the sound is crappy
onstage, just forget it.

You're fakin' it,
you're pretending

that you're havin' a good
time because you're not.

You're actually,
you're thinking,

"How in the hell can
I get outta here?"

- Wait a minute, wait a minute,

wait a minute, wait a minute!

It was tough out there
and the monitors sucked

and we were pelted with
mud the entire time.

Redding is like a sheep farm,

so it's like mud
mixed with shit.

Doh, you got Suzi's
guitar, that's so uncool!

And God bless Becky
Wreck of The Lunachicks.

Becky was eggin' on the crowd

to throw the mud at her,
and not us, you know.

Got me, ha ha ha ha ha!
[crowd shouting]

Got me again!

One of the reasons
why I threw the tampon

was, like, to save me
from this situation,

you know, I just
wanted to do something

that would amuse me to, like,

'cause I wasn't
having a good time.

I couldn't get my pants down
because they were duct-taped,

'cause I'd had no belt.

It was ridiculous, it was
just not smooth at all.

I had to announce
what I was doing

'cause there were no
jumbotrons or anything.

All right, I got a
little present for y'all.

[Jennifer laughs]

Eat my used tampon, fuckers!
[crowd chuckling]

- [Jennifer] Oh, Jesus,
watch out for tuberculosis.

- [Donita] After that show,

we walked offstage
feeling deflated.

Jennifer and I both kinda
looked at each other.

That was the first
hiccup that I felt,

and I think she felt it, too,

because we both kinda were,
like, sorta speechless.

But, we just went into a trailer
and there was our publicist

and I said, "Get a
press release ready."

["Scrap" by L7]

♪ I met a skinhead named Scrap

♪ He lived in my friend's garage

♪ Everyday, he's shakin'
that spray paint can

♪ And comes out seein' stars

♪ Grab a paper bag
like an oxygen mask

♪ Until your mind starts to gel

♪ 'Cause the ball in
the can has a crazy beat

♪ The funky dying brain cell

- You'd lie to
me, you lie to me.

- No doubt about that.

- [Manager] You lie to me
about anything else [chuckles].

- [Suzi] We're getting
our instructions.

- [Donita] Hey guys.
- Beep-beep.

- [Donita] What's happenin'?

[group chattering]

Oh, look at that
crane, oh, Jesus!

It's just waitin' to
land on someone's head.

- [Jennifer] Suzi, just look up.

- [Donita] Suzi, you look
smashing against this backdrop!

- [Jennifer] Just look at, look
at all the things above her.

- [Donita] You look
very swinging London.

Our appearance on The
Word was kinda weird

because the whole
show was pretty silly.

It was kind of an
all-over-the-place
sort of variety show

and we showed up and they had
a male bum contest going on.

- [Host] Tonight on The Word,
the best buns in Britain!

[explosion rumbling]

- [Announcer] The Word!

- Take it from me, tonight's
show is gonna be hot,

hotter than Windsor
Castle, in fact,

and to kick off tonight,
[audience chuckling]

this is our full-color,
four new girls, L7 to take--

- One, two, three, four!

["Pretend That
We're Dead" by L7]

- [Donita] And I
knew it was live TV,

and I just decided
to get weird with it.

[rhythmic hard rock music]

♪ Come on, come on,
come on, come on

[rhythmic hard rock music]

[crowd cheering]

- L7 made a big
splash on The Word,

but producer Paul Ross says L7

won't be banned from the show.

Next time, however,

the group will be required
to wear suspenders.

- [Donita] Then we got
home and we got an offer

to play Brazil,
that was massive.

[audience cheering]

We didn't know how
we would be received,

we had no idea how big we were,

but we were, like,
huge in Brazil.

- [Suzi] The whole
experience was really surreal

from the moment we touched down.

- [Dee] All the
kids were waiting

at the airport for the arrival!

- [Suzi] We got on a bus, there
were all these other bands.

They were in different
buses, we had security guys.

The had guns in their
sock, they had, like,

ankle holsters
with guns in them.

It was just really weird,
handguns, you know.

They were packin'.

- At the hotel they'll
be thousands of kids.

Every time you leave the hotel,
you're gonna get gripped.

What might happen is, you'll
never go out by yourself.

That's rule one, never
leave the hotel by yourself,

and in most cases, there
will be a security person

with you when you
go out, all right?

In a lot of cases,
you'll be leaving

through the back
door of the hotel.

- [Donita] Aw, they're
all girls, how cool!

- [Jennifer] Oh my God!

- [Donita] That's awesome!

[crowd screaming and cheering]

[group chattering]

- [Crowd] L7, L7, L7, L7!

[crowd cheering]

- [Donita] It was
a great experience,

but it was also very
sort of alienating.

- [Suzi] Police
escorts to the stadium.

It was funny and surreal,

but you could also see
where that would get

really scary after awhile.

- [Jennifer] Dude,
I got a stomachache.

[group chattering]

- [Suzi] I forget who
all was on that festival,

but it was Nirvana,
The Chili Peppers.

[group chattering and singing]

- Yes, I am a rock
and roll slut!

Yes, I am a rock and roll slut!

Yes, I am a rock !

- [Onlooker] No, see,
what you are is obnoxious.

[crowd cheering]

- [Suzi] Playing in front
of all those people,

that was serious pinch me.

It was the biggest show I
think we'd ever played before.

- [Donita] I just remember
trying to remember

how to breathe,
just keep breathing.

I mean, it was ridiculous,
it's a sea of humanity.

[crowd cheering drowns
out hard rock music]

All right!

["Deathwish" by L7]

[crowd chanting over
throbbing hard rock music]

♪ She wakes up wet
in a shower stall

♪ Sewn together, bangs
her head on a wall

♪ She goes hitchhiking
at three a.m.

♪ Bruised and bloody,
does it all again

♪ She's got a deathwish

♪ In a self-destructive blitz

[throbbing hard rock music]

♪ He's got a car
that goes real fast

♪ He's got a life,
but it won't last

♪ Doesn't even look disturbed

♪ When his Chevy
takes out that curb

[noisy hard rock flourish]

- [Jennifer] Good night!

[crowd cheering over
snarling guitar]

- [Dee] I was like, "

Oh, I would like more
of this please, yes!"

It's only up from here!

["Shitlist" by L7]

[snarling grunge rock music]

- [Suzi] Japan is really fun.

♪ When I get mad
and I get pissed

- [Suzi] We had done a photo
shoot with those sick masks,

and the whole audience came
with the masks the next night.

♪ You've made my shitlist

[rhythmic grunge rock music]

♪ For all the ones
who've bummed me out

♪ Shitlist

♪ For all the ones who
filled my head with doubt

♪ Shitlist

♪ For all the squares
who get me pissed

♪ Shitlist

♪ You've made my shitlist

♪ Shitlist

Vagina!

Those are beautiful!

- I've just been to the
doctor in Beverly Hills.

- [Dee] When I was a little 17,

sneakin' into the
punk rock bars,

John Waters was such a big part

of the punk rock scene
in Chicago, you know,

so to be in a John Waters
movie was, like, what?

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Donita] He said he like
our attitude and our politics.

He said, "I don't care
what it sounds like,

"I don't care what
the lyrics are,

"I just want it to be
called Gas Chamber,"

and so, we wrote it in
character as Camel Lips.

♪ Almond blossom-scented cyanide

♪ Gas chamber

- [Suzi] Right at the crotch
was a prosthetic lady parts,

the outer vag area was on
the outside of the pants.

- [Donita] I mean, how could
you not love those pants?

They're just obscene
in all the right ways.

♪ Only way you think
you'll keep me down

[noise stick groaning]

[Donita screams]

[distant traffic humming]

[snarling hard rock music]

- [Dee] Joe.

- [Joe] Joe Martin.

- [Donita] Joe Martin.

- This right here
is Suzi's solo.

- [Dee] We recorded
Hungry for Stink.

There was a conscious decision

to make it sound
a little dirtier,

a little less polished
than Bricks are Heavy.

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Donita] I got really dark
and paranoid on that recording.

I wanted to move out of L.A.,

I was really afraid
of being carjacked.

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Dee] And Motley Crue
were recording there, too,

at the same time.

They invited us to come in and
listen to a track of theirs,

and we walk in and
there are magazines

taped all over the
room of naked women.

- Look at all the peenuckles.

- [Dee] Donita
sent out a runner,

'cause beh, you know,
we had a runner!

He was sent out to
get boy magazines,

and we hung those
up all over the room

and then we invited them to
come in to listen to the track.

- I don't understand,
all I know is

I'm not gettin' paid enough
to deal with all this penis.

That's the bottom fuckin' line.

- [Donita] I like pranks
and I like shocking

and I love Johnny Rotten
and Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

and, you know, that kinda stuff.

After the Suzi thing,

we put out a press release
every video we made

of some catastrophe
which never happened.

Like on Andres, I
had our press agent

say that I was
attacked by a poodle

and admitted into
Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

So, when we hit Lollapalooza,
it was kind of up in the air

if we were gonna
get asked or not.

We weren't asked any
of the years before,

so we sent them a fax that said,

"Who does L7 have to blow to
serve Coors at Lollapalooza?

"Love L, always the bridesmaids,
never the brides, 7."

[static crackling]

[pleasant electronic accent]

- Lollapalooza is back
for the fourth year.

This year, music industry
weasels are picking

outrageous all-girl
band L7, who you saw,

to break big as a
result of the tour.

Now, their new album, Hungry
For Stink, great name,

hits stores on Tuesday, we'll
see what happens, Bianca.

- Good luck to
'em, thanks, Dave.

["Questioning My Sanity" by L7]

- [Donita] Expectations
for L7 were very high

in the wake of Nirvana,

but we weren't
cracking a gold record.

We were not getting
hard rock airplay,

so that will hurt you,

'cause when you're
signed to a major,

there must be results.

♪ I'm questioning my sanity

For me, even with
these amazing shows,

I started to feel our
trajectory starting to slow.

I had a lot of fun
on Lollapalooza,

but it wasn't like
professional triumphs.

It was, like, hangin'
out with other bands

and being bad and
just fuckin' off.

[muffled rock music]

- [Suzi] We played
in the daytime

and we were playing in a lot
of these things called sheds,

which are a small amphitheater
with a, like, roof over it.

That was an awful experience,

'cause the audience
was just sitting

and they were really far away

and they were just sitting
there, and it was the daytime.

It just was wrong.
[crowd cheering]

- Look at, there you go.

Panties, I gotta dry
my panties some way!

♪ You pissed in your pants
and put out the torch

♪ Lettin' you slide

♪ You splattered the
bathroom with your hair dye

♪ Lettin' you slide

♪ I'm a-kickin' you
out and you know why

I think we hated
playing in the daytime

almost as much as Nick Cave did.

[rhythmic rock music]

- [Donita] How Suzi and
Jennifer did that sober,

hats off to them because
Dee and I just wanted

to, like, get fucking wasted,
you know, after every show.

[rhythmic rock music]

- [Suzi] It just was
difficult being sober.

At that level, it's
a constant party.

- Oh, no, no!

[rhythmic and thrashing
hard rock music]

- [Donita] The '90s
were a great hurrah,

there were drugs
everywhere, I mean,

heroin was falling out
of people's pockets.

- [Dee] It's an old
story in the book

about artists and playing
around with drugs.

- [Donita] But we were all
fuckups at one time or another

and we were all
concerned for each other

at different stages
of our career.

[fireworks screeching]

- [Suzi] I checked myself,
because I was doing

some really stupid stuff.

I was supposed to be at
soundcheck at like five,

and it's like seven,
but I'm in bed

'cause I took acid and
drank a bunch of beer

and I'm eatin' Chef Boyardee
Beefaroni out of the can.

Donita's knockin' on my door,

and I answer the door
naked and I turn around

and there's all these
coins stuck to my backside.

I partied like a
maniac for 13 years,

and then had to put
a lid on that shit.

- [Jennifer] And
then Kurt's death

and losing people close to us
was kind of a wake-up call.

Hello.

- [Dee] 'Cause if that could
happen to Kurt Cobain, fuck,

you can't believe it!

It changed everything,
things got darker.

It affected everybody!

[audience cheering
over snarling guitar]

["Welcome to Paradise"
by Green Day]

- [Donita] And then Green
Day fucking came out

and they were totally on fire.

Green Day were just the
new thing, you know.

Nirvana was dead and
here comes Green Day.

The kids loved it 'cause
it was, like, upbeat

and it wasn't, you
know, grunge angst.

♪ It seems that I am
out here on my own

♪ And I'm feelin' so alone

- I think it's kind of cool
that we've all got past

the grunge revolution and we
can now go into a new thing.

We're optimistic, uh.

- What do you call that?

- [Donita] The sponge.
- What's the new thing?

- The vaginal sponge revolution,

the vaginal sponge revolution.

- I've never been
this hard before.

- [Donita] You know those kids
that showed up for Green Day

were on a total bummer
once Nick Cave came on.

You know what I mean?

It went from, like,
adrenaline to heroin,

like, with us in between
on qualudes and booze.

- [Jennifer] We
are L beer gut 7,

the soft white underbelly
of grunge rock and roll.

["Deathwish" by L7]

♪ Passed out drunk on
the living room floor

♪ Gets up and pukes so
she can drink some more

- So anyways, let's get the
cliche stuff out of here,

like what kind of year has
it been for you and all that?

How's it been?

- It's been annus horribilis.

- Yeah?

- No, it's been a good year.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- It's been fun.

- So like, how'd the album
do overall as it compared

to Bricks Are Heavy or
your previous releases?

- I think it sold about the
same, is that right, Dee?

- Yeah.

They, um, they had high
expectations for this record.

- Once again, we've
let them down.

They had high expectations,
once again, we let them down.

- So, basically,
all the same people

that bought the last
record bought this one.

- Right, we did not broaden
our fan base one iota.

[Dee chuckles]

- We didn't break on
through to that other side,

if you know what I'm sayin'.

[group shouting]

- [Donita] In hindsight,
not at the time,

but, you know, it was probably
subconsciously at the time,

but in hindsight,
I see that year

as kind of a unraveling
sort of year.

[rhythmic rock music]

People were expecting
us to go gold and so,

you know, when that
doesn't happen,

you can start to feel that,
that we let people down.

And then Umbar died, you know.

- [Jennifer] We had a very
dear friend and roadie

who, um, died on our tour bus,

and we weren't on the bus
with him when he passed away,

which is frustrating.

[sustained guitar chord]

And I know that, you know,

we all were very hit with grief.

My feeling was we almost
became inconsolable

over that grief.

- [Dee] It really is
kind of a blur for me,

and I also shut
down a little bit.

- [Suzi] There's no
way to sum it up,

it just was really devastating,

losing another person
close to us that way.

It just was like,
"OK, enough already."

[chugging hard rock
with screamed vocals]

[crowd cheering over
noisy feedback tones]

[distant traffic humming]

[rhythmic hand claps]

♪ She's on the
town, off the wagon

♪ She's on the
town, off the wagon

♪ She's on the
town, off the wagon

♪ She's off the
wagon, wagon, wagon

♪ Wagon

[rhythmic hand claps]

["Off the Wagon" by L7]

- [Donita] Cool, I
guess, is it cool?

- Yeah, I think
that sounds good!

- [Suzi] I think I
was always surprised

that Jennifer left in the
middle of a recording session.

- [Dee] I just remember
sitting outside

at a table, chillin',

and it's all kind of
a blur, but a little,

like, torn piece of notebook
paper was given to us,

and it was a letter from
Jennifer written in pencil.

And that's how she told us
she was leaving the band.

- [Jennifer] I remember starting
to have a lot of concerns

over my health and I
might have to leave.

My own control issues
were getting fired up,

I was having money concerns,

I was grieving over the
loss of my father and Umbar.

Any one of those things
would've not been a problem,

but all of them kind
of converging together,

it was just gonna
be hard to continue.

- Meanwhile, Jennifer
Finch has announced

that she's leaving L7
to go back to college,

leaving that veteran,
all-female group

to start searching
for a replacement

to tour behind
Finch's swan song,

a new album due this winter.

- [Donita] I was angry, but I
think I was mostly really sad,

'cause Jennifer was so fucking
good and she was so loved.

Getting someone to replace
that, that's tough.

- [Suzi] I remember feeling, uh,

very nervous in the
pit of my stomach,

like, "What are we gonna do?"

But we just got proactive
and started auditioning,

uh, put the feelers out and
auditioned a few people.

- The battery's
totally gonna go dead.

OK, here we go!

[group chattering]

- Gail, um, came to us

from a recommendation
from The Lunachicks.

She said, "Oh, you oughta
check out Gail Greenwood.

"She'd be perfect," and,
um, indeed she was, yes.

We scored with Gail.

[rhythmic hard rock music]

Musically, she's awesome,
she fits into the band

with the personality and
everything's just clickin', so.

- That's cool,
that's always nice,

and they have a new CD out,

it's called The Beauty
Process: Triple Platinum.

- [MC] OK, um, so I'd like
to make a toast right now

to L7's new album!

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Donita] When
Jennifer left the band,

it was a huge wake-up call
and it made Suzi and I

get very serious about,
uh, what we were doing

and we got very focused again.

It was do or die, we felt.

Now, with Gail in the band,
The Beauty Process was a record

that we all kinda got
our shit together on,

which we were really proud of.

- [MC] Set yourself free
by buying the new L7 album.

[muffled hard rock music]

["Antichrist Superstar"
by Marilyn Manson]

- [Suzi] We got used to
these kind of cycles,

touring and then writing
and recording and touring.

I think people assume that
you're rakin' in the cash

if you're on the cover
of Spin magazine,

but unless you sell an
insane amount of records,

you're really just a
working stiff at best.

I'm attaching these
balls to the hats so, uh.

- [Donita] Ka-chink-chink.

- Ka-chink, yeah, rake it in.

- She's sewin' on the balls.

- [Suzi] Tours are promotional,

but you make money
on merch or whatnot,

and a lotta times, by the
time you go on a tour,

you're in debt, and
so you come back

with five grand or whatever
and that's already,

you already owe that,

so all of a sudden, you're
in the hole really fast.

[squealing guitar feedback]

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Donita] In our peak year,

I think we were makin'
500 bucks a month, each.

It's like "Here,
you've got a tour bus!"

It's, "Oh, wow, we've got
a tour bus, how cool!"

Like, not realizing, "Oh,
that's comin' out of your ass."

- [Suzi] What the fuck!

- [Dee] Fuck that crowd.

[Suzi groaning]

[static crackling]

♪ Look out, world, 'cause
we're comin' to getcha

♪ Look out Sydney

What if this is a
Titanic situation?

- Don't say that!

♪ Yo ho, yo ho

♪ A pirate's life for me

[rhythmic hard rock music]

♪ Look out, world, 'cause
we're comin' to getcha

♪ Look out Osaka

Get your top up.

- [Dee] Wait, wait, wait!

- [Donita] Top up, top up now!

[all chattering and chuckling]

- She had her top up
and he walked right in!

[group chattering]

[punchy hard rock accents]

- [gasping] Oh, oh, God [gasps]!

Oh, God, oh my God!

- I'm comin' down!

String bikini style.

We're speakin' about
profit margin here.

[group laughing]

- Suzi panties, right here.

[group laughing]

[speaking foreign language]

There you go!
[group cheering]

- I wore them.

- Whoa [laughs]!

- [Suzi] Get your panties here!

- You want green or white?

- [Suzi] White or green?

White or green?

That was maybe like a sign,

when Warners didn't do a video,

that something was wrong.

We had very little sleep
and we flew from Portugal

to play a show in Finsbury Park,

and it was a show with Kiss.

[rhythmic heavy metal music]

And it was early morning
and we were at this venue

at the park and
we were backstage,

and it was just really strange

the way people were
kind of distant

or, you know, people,

our press agent was kind
of distant or weird.

I don't know, it was
just really bizarre,

and come to find out
later that afternoon

that the record
label had dropped us.

It was so surreal,
like, getting dropped

and playing with Kiss and
being so sleep-deprived

that I felt like I
was on hallucinogens.

It was really weird.

[machinery rattling]

The decline in the band,
meaning you don't have

support of a big record
label and their press machine

and different things,
then you go back

to the level that
you started with,

which is, do it yourself, DIY.

- This guy was on
his way to work

and he saw that we were leaving

and he just happened to
have our single on him.

- Just so happens, the rare
collector's, very rare.

- [Dee] Were you takin'
it to work to tack up

by your little cubicle?

- Right on, yep.

You're gonna go right
up above my desk.

- [Dee] All we have is us,

us and a booking agent,

and by this time, um,
Gail's out of the band.

That didn't work out.

She probably thought
that she is gonna be

touring the world and
making decent money,

and, uh, that just
wasn't the case.

- So it's been a long time

and we have another
familiar face.

Some of the Reality
Check viewers may know,

Janis is in L7!

- Hi, Danny.

- Yeah, good.

Yeah, [stammers] damn,
this is so awesome.

I mean, Janis has always
been the driving force

in every band
she's ever been in,

so, I mean, she is
just perfect for L7.

- Cool.

- [Dee] We're back
and we have no money,

we have no label, we have a
booking agent and we have us.

And that's it.

- [Donita] We kinda
had the feeling,

"God, if we could just stay
together, keep making records.

"If we can just tough this out."

♪ Parked on the freeway, sippin'

♪ Stick to the plan

- [Suzi] We're not gonna
give up at this point,

so we started Wax
Tadpole Records.

[chugging hard rock music]

- What about your
Slap Happy thing?

- [Donita] That's our new
CD, we started our own label

called Wax Tadpole Records.

- [Roseanne] Why did you
start your own label?

- Because we were
sick of the suits

getting all the hookers
and cocaine, so we wanted--

[Roseanne laughing]

So we wanted the
hookers and cocaine,

so we are now record
company moguls.

[chugging hard rock music]

- [Suzi] Through all of the
trials and tribulations of life,

playing was always
a positive thing,

but it did seem like it was
getting harder and harder

and I was getting older and
I didn't know quite how,

I wasn't gonna be able
to maintain an income.

Everything was falling apart.

[drums crash to stage floor]

- [Dee] The next thing I knew,

Donita told me that
Suzi called her

and quit over the phone.

Not a letter, but a
phone call, so that's it.

- [Suzi] I think the
stark reality of being 40,

I had no way to support myself.

Maybe we shoulda quit sooner,

and maybe I should've made
a family and, you know,

all this shh-shh, you
know, it was really harsh.

There was a lot of self-loathing

because I thought I'd
fucked up my life.

You know, you tell that to
anybody and they're like,

"What do you mean,
you traveled all over,

"you played music, look
at these videos [laughs]!"

But I felt like,
"What am I gonna do,

"I don't have health insurance,
I am a piece of shit!"

Like, what have I
done to my life?

- [Dee] I was in shock,
I couldn't believe it.

I was really stunned.

I don't remember, but probably,

Donita must've said to me
then, well, that's it then,

because without Suzi, I mean,

we're not gonna
get another Suzi.

I don't remember who I told,
I don't remember if I cried.

I probably did, probably
was stunned for awhile.

- [Donita] You know, early on,

one of the first
songs Suzi wrote

was You and Me 'Til the
Wheels Fall Off, and they did.

♪ Watch you fall, suck it in

- [Dee] Being in a band,
it's like your family.

- [Donita] With the
loss of the friendship,

and the loss of my
creative partner,

just the shitty way that
it ended, I was devastated.

[Jennifer] I think that we
were all hoping to be able

to avoid each other because
it was still so raw.

And I think we all got
depressed when that happened.

- [Donita] It's
hard to quit a band

and it's hard to be
left holding the bag,

just Dee and I and it was brutal

and a very humbling experience.

There's nothin' that'll
break your heart

like seein' your road cases
loaded onto a pickup truck,

being sold to some guy
for pennies on the dollar.

Slap-happy was made out
of sheer determination.

We made that record for nothing,

and the distributor
went belly-up.

They came to us and they said,

"Hey, do you wanna
buy your CDs back?"

We couldn't even
afford to ship them

back to L.A. from New York,

so Slap-happy went
into a landfill

and I was feeling
like our whole career

went into that landfill with it.

When the band broke up and
during the year's following,

the digital footprint
of L7 was very minute.

It was almost like
we didn't exist.

Then, with social media
popping up and these pages,

fans started to gather,
people keeping us alive,

archiving us for the future.

[pulsing and grating
guitar tones]

- [Dee] When I walk
onstage, I start to own it,

like a dog pissing on something
or a cat doin' its thing.

I mean, I walk on that stage
and the nervousness becomes,

"All right, I'm here to
rock you, are you ready?

"It's gonna get scary."

- [Donita] I always felt like
we crossed a lotta barriers,

we broke through
a lot of barriers.

Everybody's got a shit list,
or should have a shit list.

- [Suzi] Did we have a huge
hit, chart-topper, you know,

break the bank
kind of thing, no,

but as a body of work,
I'm super proud of us.

- [Jennifer] We were
just a rock band

that had a lot of
firsts, you know,

and sometimes, when
you're ahead of your time,

you're just behind on your rent.

[audience applauding]

- [Suzi] At the end of the day,

we were rich on the
things that count.

[crowd cheering]

- [Donita] The
fans kept us alive.

We kinda owed it to 'em
not to pretend we're dead.

["Fuel My Fire" by L7]

♪ I've got a word of thanks

♪ Thanks that I'd like to say

♪ For the rage that I feel

♪ The rage that I feel today

♪ Gotta stack, gotta stack

♪ Stack of chips on my shoulder

♪ In everything I do

♪ 'Cause I made, I
made, I made the mistake

♪ The mistake of trusting you

♪ People like you
just fuel my fire

♪ People like you just fuel

♪ Yeah, my layers are thick

♪ And I got a bad attitude

♪ Yeah, that knife in my back

♪ Has fingerprints
that belong to you

♪ Gotta grudge, gotta grudge

♪ Gotta grudge that I'm holding

♪ As long as I live

♪ 'Cause you lie, you
lie, you lie to my face

♪ And that's something
that I can't forgive

♪ People like you
just fuel my fire

♪ People like you
just fuel my fire

♪ Oh, people like
you just fuel my fire

♪ People like you just fuel

♪ You liar

♪ Liar liar liar liar

♪ You liar

♪ Liar liar liar liar

♪ You liar, ah-ah

♪ Liar liar liar liar

♪ You liar ah-ah

♪ People like you
just fuel my fire

♪ People like you
just fuel my fire

♪ Oh, people like
you just fuel my fire

♪ People like you just fuel

[crowd cheering over
rhythmic hard rock music]

["Freeway" by L7]

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Push it

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Fuck it, man

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ He's our man,
yeah, he's our man

♪ Peace

♪ Yeah, he's our man

♪ Yeah, he's our man

♪ Peace

♪ Yeah, he's our man

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Fuck it, man

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ He's our man

♪ Don't burn the dog

♪ Don't burn the dog

♪ Don't burn the dog

♪ Don't burn the dog

♪ Check it out

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ He's our man

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Do it

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Do it, do it

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Peace

[skittering voices over
rhythmic electro rock music]

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Fuck it, man

♪ Go get the gun

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Sippin' from a can

♪ Check, check, check it out

♪ Parked on the freeway

♪ Fuck it, man

♪ Yeah, fuck it, man

[snarling guitar chords]