L7's DONITA SPARKS: 'We've Always Been An Outlier, Oddball Kind Of Band'

In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, Donita Sparks of L7, who often got lumped in with their '90s grunge contemporaries, but whose music bore more similarities to the unhinged punk-metal of MOTÖRHEAD, was asked how she would categorize the band's sound. She responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think we've always been an island. I think we've been grouped in those different things. And I think it's really cool that we're invited to participate in all of those tribes [like punk and metal and alternative], but we've always been kind of an outlier, oddball kind of band. I mean, some people said we were Riot grrrls; we weren't. We never called ourselves grunge, but now I don't care if they call us either a metal band or punk or anything. Whatever — just hashtag us, for crying out loud. Please."

Sparks went on to say that L7 has "always been embraced" by fans of alternative, punk and metal music. "We're an anomaly," she said. "For a chick band, it's rare. To be our age… And back then we were embraced by that crowd. Now we're embraced… Who else is…? I mean, I guess Joan Jett maybe. So, I don't know. It's cool. And metal bands and hard rock bands have always been pretty much kind to us and supportive of us."

In November, L7 staged the inaugural "Fast And Frightening Takeover" of the Belasco theater, a dynamic night of music and entertainment in Downtown Los Angeles.

Last year, L7 completed the "In Your Space" U.S. tour, which included stops at Louder Than Life and Aftershock festivals.

Formed in 1985, L7 went on indefinite hiatus in 2001. A 2015 reunion tour was followed by the documentary "L7: Pretend We're Dead" in 2016.

L7's first album in 20 years, "Scatter The Rats", was released in May 2019 via Joan Jett's Blackheart Records. At the time, Sparks told the Asbury Park Press that new music was never part of the reunion strategy. "New music was not in the plan at all," she said. "We just got together to do reunion shows, and that just really kind of took off and we wanted to keep playing shows, we really enjoyed connecting with our fans again.

"Playing rock is fun and we hadn't done it in a long time and we realized, 'Wow, this is really fun again,' so we thought, 'If we want to keep doing this, we should put out new music.' And we felt we still had stuff to say and still wanted to express ourselves with new stuff."