Donna MatthewsFrom Newport. Expelled from school at 14 (supposedly for cutting her hair into a Mohican and dying it orange!), Donna moved to London when the band she was in split up and joined Elastica after answering a Musicians Wanted advert in the Melody Maker. Before joining the band Donna had also played guitar for a while with The Darling Buds who also come from Wales. These two previous bands may in fact be one and the same although Donna was sacked from The Darling Buds which doesn't sound much like splitting up...
Donna's previous boyfriends have included Chris Gentry, Ric Witter and Justin. Donna's romance with Justin came to a particularily stormy end in the now infamous "Scottish Hotel Bust-Up", which was so bad the police ended up being called!
| "Me and Justin had been trying so hard to be nice to each other over the split, that with all that brandy we just went mad and had this massive, massive row in my room, we were just punching the shit out of each other. The room got so trashed the police had to move me to another room, they nearly arrested Justin... a mad outburst! But we needed it" |
It's a bit difficult to put a picture here and say "This is Donna" as she is forever changing the length and colour of her hair. During the past year it has been any combination of short/long red/blonde. Its real colour is brown (I think). Hopefully all the abuse it takes won't make it fall out!
Donna has written all Elastica's songs that Justine hasn't. She says that she would like to write more but finds lyrics much more difficult to write than the music itself...
| "Justine's taught me a lot on how to put my songs together. I feel grateful for having been able to work with her. When I met Justine, I was quite underdeveloped in a way. I wrote songs and she gave me the freedom to put songs on the album. In regards to the lyrics I wrote compared to the music, the lyrics are just sidelines. The lyrics aren't the main thing for me. I feel more proud of the music." |
| "I don't think I'll ever be a great lyricist. I've written lots of okay songs. I prefer putting songs together musically than sitting and thinking of a theme." |