For a long time, The Donnas was a rock band that was all dealt in youth. It was the “American Teenage Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine” at the time of their second album. The band’s fourth album, “The Donnas Turn 21,” featured cover art of the girls sitting in a nightclub booth, pretending this was their first time drink. They’ve all been friends since eighth grade, and now (gasp!) The Donnas turn 30. As it passes through Santa Barbara this week for one of three warm-up shows on the West Coast, the band is about to start a new phase, mature but just as rockin’.
Injury has already claimed one of the original group members. In an on-again, off-again physical ailment that was made official this month, drummer Torry Castellano retired due to tendonitis of the shoulder. That leaves The Donnas with a new drummer (an old school friend Amy Cesari, of The Demonics) and a new phase to a career.