Docs Are Heavy: Alt-Rock Trailblazers L7 Reunite for ‘Pretend We’re Dead’

They made history as trailblazing women of the ‘90s alt-rock revolution, but L7 were and are so much more than that. They weren’t riot grrrls, or metal chicks, or even grunge gals (despite their tight friendships with Nirvana and Hole), even if their thrashy style and free-spirited, fun yet fierce music won them fans and media attention in all of those scenes.

A new documentary about the iconic band, Pretend We’re Dead, which chronicles L7’s dramatic rise from art punks in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles to MTV stars, is garnering accolades, and even more significantly, it has even gotten the band back together. After 18 years apart, the excitement the film generated online encouraged its members — Donita Sparks, Jennifer Finch, Suzi Gardner, and Dee Plakas — to reunite, leading to sold-out shows and even the possibility of new music.

The documentary has screened in New York, in L7’s hometown of Los Angeles, and most recently in San Francisco at the annual Noise Pop Festival, and now the filmmakers are in talks with distributors for a release this year. Yahoo Music caught up with L7 singer/guitarist Donita Sparks talk about the reunion, the movie, and the impact her band had on women who rock, pop culture, politics, and the music industry.

YAHOO MUSIC: Tell us about the reaction the film has been getting.

DONITA SPARKS: Our first screening was in New York and it was three days after the election, so we had a lot of friends and artists show up. Everybody was very numb. It was like somebody passed away that night, and the laughter that came out of the film was really needed by everyone there. Then we played a secret show and people just got really uplifted from that. It was the same thing in L.A.

The documentary is really honest and raw in a lot of ways about what you each went through.

We bared ourselves more than we thought we would in the film. I think Suzi showed her emotions a lot, then I kind of followed her lead on that. We each did two or three interviews. When I saw an early rough cut, I saw Suzi really went there and showed emotions about the midlife crisis of being in a band. I thought, “Well, if she’s going there, I should probably share my feelings when the band broke up,” and that got kind of emotional. It really touches on what it it’s like to be artist and the kind of sacrifices that are made, also the kind of fear that comes into play when you get to a certain age. It’s like, “Whoa, my friends have houses, and I don’t even have health insurance.”

Was it scary to do that?

When you’re in a band, some fans view you as these superheroes. You kind of have to front a lot to portray that, especially in a band like L7 who are strong women. To show that vulnerability is… we’d never done that before, and we’d always been kind of smartassy, jokey, and tough. We all went there. Jen discuses her dad passing away. Dee talked about how it all affected her. Long interviews will wear you down. The questions keep coming, and you start to open up more. That’s why journalists like spend a lot of time with subjects and go on their busses and stuff.

And then you decided to reunite…

Everything came together at the same time — the interviews for the doc and the interest on Facebook. We started talking about doing some shows. We asked fans if they would not just “like” us, but come out to the shows. And they were into it. That was picked up by the press worldwide. It was everywhere. It helped bring us together.

So how has the reunion been going?

I kind of wished we had gotten on a few more festivals, because they pay well and they make the tour more profitable. Rock festivals aren’t doing as well these days — maybe due to the popularity of EDM? I don’t know. That was a bit disappointing. We didn’t get an offer from Coachella, and as L.A. band that would have been great. Other than that, it’s been going well. We personally are getting along better than we ever have. We don’t hang out that much. We’re all really different people, but now we all respect our differences. Before it was frustrating, but now it’s not a big deal. We’re older. We’re wiser. We don’t have a lot of time for drama. We know how much joy we’ve brought to people, and we’ve also brought joy to ourselves. That’s been really cool. People really like us. And we kind of didn’t know that until the Facebook page. We thought they all kind of forgot about us but it was like, “Oh, no, they didn’t.”

What has it been like being onstage together again?

The live shows have been great because we’re going out there without an agenda. We’re not pushing a new record. We’re not pushing anything. We’re just playing our old songs: the meat-and-potatoes L7 set. The most popular stuff. We may make new music, but that first phase was, “Let’s just play the oldies but goodies without having the pressure of wondering if they will like the new record.” That’s a drag. Now we’re probably a little more confident, but we had to ease into it. Suzi hadn’t played her guitar since the band broke up, so she was probably the most nervous at first. She played at a very low volume for the first few rehearsals. Dee was sounding amazing; she was just, bam, right away. That was important, because if your drummer sucks, you suck. It came together really quickly. Everybody did their homework and came in prepared. We’re all on time now. We’re all a lot more professional.

What about the problems that led to the breakup? Did you address those?

We didn’t hash anything out. We didn’t even talk about anything. There were maybe a couple very brief apologies. We’re just kind of very non-specific. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to do an autopsy. What does it serve? We’re all going to have a different opinion, so I didn’t even want to go there. It was like, “We don’t have to be best friends, but let’s just do this for the fans. Make people happy.” Then we ended up being closer than ever.

As seen in the movie, L7 created one of the biggest politically driven non-profits in the history of music, with stellar benefits and big headliners. Tell us about that and how it came about.

It was called Rock for Choice. It came about because we had gotten enough clout to do a pro-choice benefit in 1991. The first Bush was President at the time, but Clinton was elected the next year. The clinics were getting hammered. I had previously done some small events called Rock Against Coat Hangers with L.A. bands. We took it to a bigger level, and teamed up with the Feminist Majority Foundation. We got together and we said, “Hey, we know this band Nirvana who want to play for it. “This was right before they got huge. We had a couple [benefits] more in L.A. Then they were all over the country.

Those benefits really helped galvanize women at the time to fight for their rights.

Yeah. Clinton got elected, and I think it inspired some other groups to form political organizations. Like the Beastie Boys’ Free Tibet… Some of that stuff followed. It was inspirational. And a lot of guys in bands were very supportive. It was the benefit and cause of the moment. We did a few at the Hollywood Palladium and bands such as Pearl Jam played. We were very hands-on. I mean, Jennifer would be preparing the vegetable trays for the bands.

With the current administration, do you think that events like that are more vital than ever?

I think that everybody has to step up, but I feel that younger people have to step up and younger pop stars, too. Performing in front of a giant LED sign onstage that says “Feminist” or “Feminism” is very cool, but let’s put our money where our mouth is. Sure, maybe it’s empowering to young women to see a pop star dancing in front of those words, but they should do Rock for Choice shows or do something political beyond that… stick their necks out a little bit. Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus — all these gals. My God, think of what they could do! Madonna is certainly sticking her neck out. She always does. It’d be nice to see more. Yes, their popularity might take a hit a little bit, but they’re so massive it’s not going to matter.

Do you think L7 might get political moving forward?

Rock for Choice still exists, but I think it’s ready for someone else to pick up the torch. I’m probably more about the environment right now. It’s so dire. It’s possible that we would do something political, but I don’t think that it would be candidate-specific. It’s more about issues for me.

L7 always had a subtle political bent, even if the music itself was not subtle.

My strength was always cultural commentary, while Suzi sang more about emotions and heartbreak, in a genius way. We always had that mix. And Jennifer had some songs that were feminist-based. I like to use a little humor, like on the song “Wargasm.” “S***list” came from political frustration. An event inspired it, but I don’t want to say what, because it’s more universal if I don’t get specific about it. “Pretend We’re Dead” is a song about apathy and what happens when you’re apathetic.

The film shows how media tended to focus on your gender a lot and how the band really started to have a problem with that. How do you feel now in terms of being known as a “girl band,” or rather, a “woman band”?

We were so frustrated back then with the constant gender questions, and yet, when you look at the film, we’re exposing ourselves a lot. It’s funny. We were like, “OK, fine. You wanna focus on our gender? We’ll show you our gender.”

And then there was the infamous tampon-throwing incident at the ’92 Reading Festival. That’s part of the band’s legacy at this point, thanks to MTV and VH1.

Suzi and I were from the art-punk scene, doing performance art and poetry. We weren’t about getting on a soapbox, but we did want to infiltrate the masses, get on MTV, and really blow some minds. People saw that concert countdown show, but even more tell us they saw us when they were in 8th grade on 120 Minutes, and they really remember it.

Looking back, did you feel like you had to make compromises either as a female band or rock band in general?

Not really. OK, I wanted to do black-and-white Super 8 video, and the record company said MTV won’t play it. Then Beck comes out with a Super 8 video. That was a bummer. As for being women, an old manager talked to me about prettying up once. We didn’t. I remember when we played David Letterman, I was in the makeup room, and they did my makeup and it looked really nice. I just like got black stuff and smeared it all over my eyes. Told them, “Sorry!”

What about the media then vs. now?

Nowadays journalists aren’t as fixated on gender. The younger journalists are writing about us like we’ve transcended our sex. We’re viewed as a classic American band. Still, it happens. One of the fests we did in France, an older male writer was obviously titillated by us. He was like, “Oh, wow, a girl band”… We were like, “Dude, you’re a dinosaur.”

For female rock musicians, sexuality can be besides the point now, but for pop stars it’s still front and center. What do you think about being sexy as a feminist statement and slut-shaming and/or name-calling?

I’m an old-school feminist. I mean, I see a lot of women in leotards with no pants on these days. That’s cool. It’s more about action than what they wear. Nick Cave [who is in the documentary] once used a word I did not like. It was a joke/story and he was paraphrasing somebody else. I said, “That’s not cool, man.” And he said, “But I’m conveying the story.” He said being overly PC takes the color out of language sometimes. There are certain words that I don’t use… but in conveying a story or character, they are called for. Since he said that to me, I’ve been less uptight about certain words.

Do you think L7 inspired a new generation of female rockers? Or that they still can?

A lot of the punk-rock guys who used to be very boys-clubby back in the day, now want their daughters to see us. It’s kind of ironic. I think we were threatening to a lot of suits in the media and at the record companies. We were unpredictable. But now that whole era of music is highly regarded, especially where women are concerned. Right now I think we must release some new songs soon, if we want to keep doing this. There’s some stuff percolating. But the movie shows the full story. We were filming ourselves during what we knew was a unique experience. We knew it was really cool that we were in this rock band. Then it started to explode, and we got that on film.