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Warning: “The whole friggin’ country club is under attack,” and the demigoddess grungers L7 are back for the first time in 18 years, setting fire to the internet and the “Winter White House” in their new song “Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago,” released on Don Giovanni Records. For frontwoman Donita Sparks and lead guitarist Suzi Gardner, who reunited to write the lyrics, tongue-in-cheek hellfire is common format. In fact, there’s a video of the band from Lollapalooza back in 1994 where they’re interviewing Nick Cave about his song “Let Love In.” Sparks asks Cave, “Let love in where?” and dangles a sunflower in his face.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, L7 rose out of the punk-rock, metal-rock, hair-rock collision with a voice of blunt reason, whether it was speaking out against the utterly bullshit Balkan war or pairing with The Feminist Majority Foundation for a series of pro-choice benefit concerts called Rock for Choice. It makes sense, then, that we’re receiving “Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago” in the wake of political/environmental/social collapse—the band told Pitchfork, “Fuck it. We don’t care if this is topical and, quite frankly, we’re one of the only bands that could actually fucking do it. Because we’ve got that humor and that furiousness, and we take on politics and society.”
“We knew we wanted to make some new L7 music, but also didn’t want the pressure or expectation of that First Track weightiness so we went for pure fun and absurdity,” Sparks added in a statement. “The lyrical musicality of the word Mar-a-Lago just lent itself to an inspired song of these crazy assed times.”
On Oct. 13, the L7: Pretend We’re Dead documentary will hit screens. You can watch a preview here, which highlights the highs of a ripping band in grunge-era America. But, as the voice of Sparks says, “People assume that you’re raking in the cash if you’re on the cover of SPIN magazine, but unless you sell an insane amount of records, you’re really just a working stiff at best.” That’s part of the reason L7 broke up in the first place. “There comes a time when you’re approaching [a certain] age and it’s like, “Oh, fuck. Well, shit. I don’t have much to show for it financially,” L7 told Pitchfork.
If you’re in Los Angeles tomorrow for L7’s show at the Greek Theatre, you’re in an enviable position. If you’re not, you can check out the dates for film screenings and preorder the doc here. Listen to “Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago” below.