Donita Sparks' solo out in February

Donita Sparks (www.donitasparks.com ), front person for the seminal rock band L7 releases her debut solo record Transmiticate on February 19, 2008. Distributed through Redeye (www.redeyeusa.com ), the album from Donita Sparks and The Stellar Moments - filled with dance rock and dark pop gems - sees Donita moving solidly into interesting new territories. Transmiticate tracks include: “Fly Feather Fly”, “Dare Dare”, “Infancy of a Disaster”, “Headcheck”, “My Skin’s Too Thin”, “Curtains for Cathy”, “Creampuff”, “He’s Got the Honey”, “Need to Numb”, “Take a Few Steps” and “Into the Hi Fi”.
2008 will be especially busy for Sparks. In addition to the release of Transmiticate, Donita will launch her own offerings at the previously announced CASH Music (Coalition of Artists and Stake Holders). Formed with venerable singer/songwriter Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses), CASH Music (www.cashmusic.org ) is a platform for artists to create a sustainable livelihood and more interaction/exchange with their fans. While still in it’s earliest form, CASH provides a direct connection between artists and fans who are both essentially stakeholders in the production of music.
“Knowing that I will be releasing my debut release Transmiticate, reaching new audiences online through CASH Music and touring with my band The Stellar Moments is the best way I can think of to kick off 2008,” says Sparks.
In October 2007, Sparks and her band hit the road with The Donnas for her first solo tour. The 30+ date national tour gave fans an opportunity to hear tracks from the unreleased Transmiticate, which was glowingly written about by traditional music press as well as online outlets such as MTV.com and Live Daily. It was also a chance for Sparks to reconnect with her audience as a solo artist and not as a member of L7.
“I was so touched by the enthusiasm of my longtime fans when I was on the road,” said Sparks. “They inspired me every time I walked on stage with their positive energy. They really seem supportive of my new direction.”
Sparks' new direction will again take off in late February, when she heads off to rock Brazil with her own headlining shows. It will be her first time in the country since 1994 when L7 appeared with Nirvana. Speaking of Brazil, Donita created a mash-up of Brazilian rock sensations CSS (vs. L7) in response to the band doing a lively cover of the Sparks penned classic “Pretend We’re Dead.” The mash-up “Pretend We’re Alala” was just named one of the best mash-ups of 2007 as reported on BoingBoing.
Following the Brazilian tour, Sparks and The Stellar Moments are confirmed for more tour dates, including an appearance this March at the music and media conference, South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin. Summer dates in Europe and the U.S. will be announced shortly.
As if all this isn’t enough, Sparks continues to write weekly for the influential political blog Firedoglake in her music/ pop art column “The Spin I’m In”. She also contributed to the score of the 2007 feature film The Life of Reilly (starring the late Charles Nelson Reilly) listed in the Village Voice as one of the best documentaries of 2007.

ABOUT DONITA SPARKS
Donita Sparks co-founded the heavy riff-oriented band L7 in 1985. L7 released six studio albums, one live CD, and one greatest hits record. Their 1992 release Bricks Are Heavy was included in Rolling Stone’s list of “Essential Albums of the 1990s”. With their recording career beginning in 1987 and continuing through the ‘90s, L7 spawned underground and mainstream hits such as: Shove, Pretend We’re Dead, Shitlist, Andres, and Fuel My Fire. Touring the world countless times, L7 also graced the main-stage of Lollapalooza in 1994 and appeared in the John Waters movie Serial Mom as the band Camel Lips. In 1991, Donita and L7 formed Rock For Choice with the Feminist Majority Foundation, which staged numerous concerts benefiting pro-choice organizations.

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