L7 receive a noisy rapturous reception, like veteran Punk’n’roll combatants returning for their victory parade in Auckland.
They came together as a force in 1985 in Los Angeles. Donita Sparks lead vocals and guitar, met Suzi Gardner lead guitar. Crucial connections were made.
The engine room comprises Jennifer Finch bass and Demetra Plakas drums.
They formed in the wake of the initial explosion of LA Punk and were associated with the loosely connected Art Punk movement. Gardner had made contributions to Black Flag.
They hit top form with their Bricks Are Heavy third album in 1992, and this is what we will experience in its entirety, as they celebrate the 30th anniversary.
Their debut self-titled album and Hungry for Stink were pretty good too. Bringing them to the attention of Punk obsessives like me.
They were at the pinnacle throughout the Nineties. I thought they had finished up at the turn of the millennium. I was pleasantly surprised to discover they resurrected in 2014.
A studio album Scatter the Rats was released in 2019, on Joan Jett’s Blackheart label.
Since I had never seen them live, the anticipation was high.
Of course, they begin with underground classic Wargasm. We experience their trademark barrage attack.
Chugging rhythm riffs, honed from the droning low-register fuzztone guitar of Jimmy Page of the first four Led Zeppelin albums.
A little different to the Ramones who they are often compared to. Joey Ramone explained that the guitar power came from the down-pick. Johnny’s right hand always seemed a blur to me when experienced live.
Pretend We’re Dead may have been or should have been a hit. The drums detonate with brutality. Worth the admission price just to hear this all through the concert. Guitar squall does sound like the Ramones.
Diet Pill is just as good. Described as a song about domestic abuse revenge. Guitars rise and fall like waves. There is some connection to Husker Du. Spark is a witchy blond and she snarls like a wildcat.
Listen to Rufus Thomas and his Tiger Man (King of the Jungle) to get the wildfire spirit. Elvis also covered this on his legendary ’68 Comeback show.
Gardner shares some lead vocals with Spark. Both sound honed, malevolent and dangerous.
Out of that locked-in band attack, many elements can bubble up and break the surface.
Monster throws up a little Bowie and Stooges echoes.
Shitlist has a Sixties Garage Band sound. The Shadows of Knight set alight with oestrogen fire.
Testosterone energy is present in the audience in spades too. At one point Spark must tell some guys to settle down. As if anyone has the balls to mess with her.
After they have slammed through Bricks, their riff machine is running hot and spraying steam. This is how an album sounds, kids!
They do another album’s worth of material.
Andres and they scream aggressively like Nirvana. Fuel My Fire is a monolithic attack.
Both are from second album Hungry for Stink.
Completely different beast is Non-Existent Patricia. The guitars twang out Country Rock and it’s the closest to a ballad tonight.
Mar-a-Lago is a dispatch towards Donald Trump. They sound like young Punks again, singing in a higher register.
Of course, they dislike this orange guy. The band has had a strong activist past, especially with Rock for Choice, where they organised big music festival fund-raising to assist women facing anti-abortion backlash.
Spark told me in a recent interview that they do not push political agendas, as it becomes the focus too often.
Dylan received hate when he withdrew from the Folk activists. Springsteen is finding the same burn as he gets his butt kicked for aligning too closely with current US President Biden.
They have been warriors for Women in Rock. Jann Wenner’s recent come-uppance was fully deserved, says Spark.
But the group does not feel they are caught in the mainstream of corporate music. They are independent and manage themselves.
They are also passionate and angry about the USA and recent times.
American Society is a classic song, close to the end of the concert.
I don’t wanna drown in American Society. It’s a T-Rex chant, full of defiance. A slow bridge from which they come back with the Punk Power Pop sound of Stepping Stone. The Monkees and the Sex Pistols.
The bass player goes one better, and earlier says Spark is playing a Flying Vagina Guitar.
L7 stands for Square. The double thumb and fore-finger sign. This band is anything but, and close to forty years on their power is undiminished.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
L7
The Dawns
