1. Let’s start the usual way… the story of NO THANKS, please.
In Spring of 1982, I had been answering ads for punk singers and the guys I spoke to wanted nothing to do with me since I was a “chick”. I was told I could never front a hardcore band. Then I answered an ad in the Village Voice, a band called NO ThANKS was looking for a singer.
Rob of NO THANKS gave me a chance to try out. I nailed the audition. Rob, Jimi and Seth asked me that night to be their singer. NO Thanks had a gig at A7 in 2 weeks, and a recording session was ready to go a month later. All the material and lyrics were written by Rob . I worked my ass off and was ready to perform. We played A7 every weekend and recorded DEMO 1982 in July @ Noise New York studio. By September, Rob left the band and Jimi took over as guitarist. Jaime became the bassist and that’s when NO THANKS started writing songs as a band. In January 1983, we recorded “ Are you ready to die?” funded by A7 collaborators Tony and Cleo 7. Still playing A7 or 2+2(A7 annex) every weekend, NO THANKS were starting to get gigs. We played CBGB matinees, Guildersleeves, Tompkins Square Arts Festival, Live on WFMU, Beacon Theatre opening for Dead Kennedys, The Dive, Charas, parties and anywhere we could play. Since no one in the band owned a car we never played outside of Manhattan. WE used to move our equipment around the Lower East Side in stolen shopping carts. If we were rich that day we would hire one of those big old 1950’s model taxis that were still operating in the 80’s . When we were not rehearsing or gigging we hung out in Tompkins Square Park across from A7 with our friends drinking beer, smoking pot or checking out bands at A7 from out of town. One of the most memorable nights is when CODE OF HONOR graced the A7 stage and we opened for them. We were on the same page. They were awesome! NO THANKS gigged out a lot with fellow East Village bands like the False Prophets, XKI, Savage Circle, Fathead Suburbia, Rapid Deployment Force, MDC, and Bad Posture. We kind of had our own niche and could not relate to the skinhead faction developing at the same time bringing violence to a peaceful little scene. The last thing I did for NO THANKS winter 1985 was a interview live on Maximum Rock ‘n Roll’ with Tim Yohannon.
2. What made you get into and be involved hardcore/punk back in the day? Did it come natural to you to take the stage as a singer?
When I was a teenager my Idol was Grace Slick. I used to sing along every day to Jefferson Airplane albums. I wanted to be a singer for as long as I could remember. The first time I heard punk rock in 77, I knew I wanted to front a band. I loved the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Stranglers and The Damned. I was a totally rebellious tomboy. I built my own skateboard and would shred the boardwalk in Seaside Heights NJ with my best friend Dee Finley who later appeared in the film “ Venus Boyz.”
I was totally pissed off at the system and somewhat of a loudmouth, perfect for NO ThANKs! I wanted to be in a band that was rooted in anarchist theory. I felt my generation could change the world, shake up the system! I was totally into Crass. I started hanging out in the East Village of Manhattan checking out bands like Even Worse, Bad Brains, and the Undead. I wanted to be a part of the scene that was so fun and radical, so I moved from the Jersey Shore to E 11st bet b&c in the East Village. The day I moved in someone shot some dude in the head. He was crawling up the sidewalk towards my sister and a trail of blood flowing from his head wound collapsing a few feet in front of us.
3. In your band’s biography you consider yourself to be a feminist artist.
Is this already a label you chose to take when you were involved in the
hardcore/punk of the 80s or did that come later?
I was raised by my father Dominick(who passed away last month) to be a strong woman. He encouraged my sister and I to be independent, not to get married young and have babies. To find ourselves, go out and kick ass in this world. He was an anarchist. He brought me to the woods when I was 5 and told me if I ever was looking for God to start looking here. He was always open to my ideas. I hung a poster of Sid Vicious behind his easy chair in our living room and he was cool with it. He’d smoke pot with me and we would talk for hours. So yes, I had feminist values since I could remember and I brought those values into NO THANKS . Isn’t that funny a man gifted me those values. I never took on any labels.
4. Looking back on a scene that is largely influential on hardcore/punk as
it is today, there’s a disturbingly small number of female voices we
generally know about. Looking at very early hardcore and slightly more arty
punk genres (eg. ’77, post punk), there was a visible participation of
females, in fact non-straight white males in bands (however, nowhere equal in
numbers!). Was hardcore in the 80s just too fast, noisy and aggressive in
its speed and volume for women to be playing in bands?
I was a tomboy and always did things most girls would not but honestly
there were plenty of women in the nyhc scene and a lot of really cool open minded men. People just stopped participating in the “nyhc” scene when it became violent and no fun anymore. It was very easy to just slip between genres.
Unfortunately a lot of bands have been forgotten and the only voice heard is one that is male. There are some exceptions. My band is only really remembered because we left a killer 7” behind. I worked really hard the last year getting the archives out so people would remember us. Live @ A7 recently available on my label is a really raw recording of a gig No Thanks did with XKI and Savage Circle. In these 3 bands are 5 women players: Carolyn, Kitty Hawke and Meryl (XKI); Biss (Savage Circle). I showed up at A7 that night ready to shred. The next thing I know several skinhead bands from Long Island show up and try to run us off the stage. Dave who owned A7 let us fight our own battles. Anarchy begins at home! We stood our ground. You can hear the brawl in the background.
5. I understand that you’re really unhappy with the fact how is written
about the history of hardcore…
Happy or Unhappy is not the issue. I am a Buddhist and feeling one way or another is an illusion . My issue is the book “American Hardcore” written by Steven Blush.
The nyhc chapter is far from accurate. I only know because I was there.
There is no mention of any band with women members. NO THANKS is not mentioned except in the record glossary, and the band members names are not correct. RB Korbet of Even Worse is not mentioned even though that Even Worse is. Savage Circle's Biss, Killer Instinct's Carolyn, Kitty Hawke and Meryl are not mentioned. However, there is a comment from an interview by a woman saying there were no women in the scene. Funny!!! I did not know her. Lots of bands from nyhc are left out here. Missing from the story are all the bands from BIG CITY comps, and the anarchist punk movement in the East Village. There are also derogatory comments about some bands who were my close friends.
Steven Blush is rewriting history. Glorifying the skinhead scene that ruined the diversity of a thriving punk culture. I remember many great shows without bloodshed. The truth is a lot of cool and creative people left the scene because of the stupid violence that came from the skinhead infiltration. In my opinion, “American Hardcore” contributes to the fascist spin and lies that took decades for the right wing male dominate paradigm to set into place. I have fought against this paradigm my whole life. The truth must be revealed. I have been involved throughout my music career in male dominated scenes ie. hardcore in the 80's, thrash metal in the 90’s. I worked harder than my male contemporaries, and had to put up with all sorts of sexist crap. NO THANKS to the likes of this bullshit so typified in this book of mishistory.
6. If you’d like tell us a bit what you have been doing since the split of NO THANKS in 1985.
I went off to play drums in a punk band called Bad Tuna Experience in the summer of 1985. Jimi went on to play guitar for Virus. Jaime joined Missing Foundation. Seth hooked back up with Rob and formed The Money Dogs. At the point I didn’t want to be a front person anymore, and I did not want to participate in NYHC. I wanted to be in the background. It was time for a break. Carolyn of XKI sang, Adam of Sacrilige played bass and Carol Kenderski played guitar. The name Bad Tuna Experience came from a tuna blimpee Carolyn had for lunch that day. The sandwich had big crunchy strange objects in it(roaches??). I had a similar experience at Leshco’s an all night Polish American restaurant on the corner of A and 7th Street. Hence, the name was born! Carolyn and I wrote some great songs. GG Allin stole 2 of them. He recorded He’s a Slut and Beer Picnic without our permission. No one took him seriously back then. In fact, most people would leave if he showed up. I am amazed that he is some sort of icon now. I left B.T.E, late Fall 1985 to travel. It was years before I would want to be a singer again. In 1989, R.B. Korbet( Even Worse, King Missile, Hellvis) recruited me to sing for her project Bubba Zannetti. She played guitar. Jaime came on board as bassist and Andy(Reverb Motherfuckers) played drums. This was a fun band that only played one show at the Tompkins Square Arts Festival in 1989. Andy stopped coming to rehearsals so we ran an ad in the Village Voice and found Keifer. We changed our name to Navigator and played shows all over Manhattan. Once again never playing outside of NYC. R.B. came in and out of the band for the next 3 years and we had revolving bass players. Jaime played guitar. Combining our 3 demos, my label Mr Modoreefer Records has just recently released the Navigator” Zargon” a few months ago. In 1993 I left Navigator and moved to San Francisco to focus on painting (impressionism). I hung out at warehouse parties and participated in the rave scene. In 2001 I moved off the grid and lived in a autonomous community in the mountains on the central coast of California. I studied Zen Buddhism and organic gardening. I came off the ridge and back to civilization(electricity) in 2004. My paintings, Chemtrails 1 & 2 were shown at my long-time friend Peter Missing of Missing Foundation’s “Recycling the Future” gallery in Wisconsin. On a turntable was the 7” “Are you ready to die?”, ready to play as you entered the installation. The music perfectly in sync with the art.
7. Do you have any idea on how much your band’s 7” goes in on the collectors’ market these days?
A friend emailed me in 2005 and told me to check out an auction on eBay. A red vinyl “Are you ready to die?“ sold for $300. That is the highest price I know of. I had 17 black vinyl “Are you ready to die?” 7”s. I sold them for about $100 each reinvesting the $$ in my label. I gifted one to the drummer of Mind Eraser in memory of Seth. Seth was known for his generosity. A little known fact is that the records with the black label and large spindle holes are from the original pressing. Deadspace Records fled immediately after the records were released. They disappeared and kept pressing records in Europe. These have red labels and small spindle holes. We got totally ripped off!
8. You’re in the process of reforming NO THANKS for a tour in 2007. What’s Your motivation behind the reunion of band that was gone for 20 years?
My very good friend Seth the drummer of No Thanks died abruptly of cancer in 2004. Through conversations with his widow Ericka I realized the importance that No Thanks played in his life. I meditated a lot in the weeks after he passed, and felt his presence around me. I was searching for a way to honor him. The answer came to me that he would love to hear his old set of songs resonating the heavens. Some friends of mine got together at a studio in Oakland to play the No Thanks set, which was a rush for me. The words were ingrained in my brain. I didn’t have to even review the lyrics, I just belted out the tunes. My closest friend since 1989, Keifer, drummed for these few sessions and actually felt Seth in the room. I could feel his presence as well. Keifer felt like Seth merged with him at times and I could actually hear his style breaking through Keifers more double bass late 80’s thrash mode. Keifer felt Seths approval and we knew we had to tour and archive NO THANKS in memory of Seth. Ideas developed quickly and we decided to put up a website and archive photos, recordings and memories of the band. Since I did not have any of the reel to reels or master tapes. Keifer digitally remastered most of the recordings I could find from 20 year old cassettes. The first release on our new diy label Mr Modoreefer Records, was Live @ CBGBs which included songs we never recorded in a studio due to lack of funding. We were lucky to have a friend in soundman Jerry Williams on the deck @ CBGBs to provide us with a good live recording. I have a tons of live shows in my archive but this recording was the best. Many indie punk labels have offered to reissue the vinyl, but I’d prefer to release the vinyl on Mr Modoreefer Records. We have basically just kept on putting out the releases one by one on the diy. Back in the day I would be dubbing cassettes and rendering the art on each piece. By the way Mr Modoreefer is my 30 pound coon cat.
x) ---> added question: What exactly it was that made the scene “violent and no fun any more”?
---PEOPLE GETTING HURT AT SHOWS. I saw a guy get his brains stomped out by a group of skinheads outside of A7 one night. I did not sign up for that. The nyhc scene went from hanging out listening to reggae and smoking pot, to people being run down and stomped.
x) ---> Added question: If you don’t mind me asking… do you see/ is there a connection between punk and spirituality?
Music is spiritual. I am a spiritual person and have been ever since I can remember. Music is the voice of the God/dess.
10) Anything you would like to add?
Punk (to me) means self-expression without fear. To step outside of the box we are programmed to fit in. The times we live in demand that we live each day to the fullest without fear.
We are born here with everything we need to know locked in our souls. Seek the truth. Stand for justice. Still the mind and hear the message. We can destroy the Earth or evolve with her. Everyone gets to make that choice. Go out there and make a difference. Dance like noone's watching!
11) Donna, thanks much for taking time to do this interview!
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