Demetra Plakas (born November 9, 1960) is an American musician, best known for being the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

in the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band L7.

Early life

Plakas was born November 9, 1960, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois. Her parents immigrated independently from Greece and later met in Chicago. Plakas has a younger sister. She learned to play the drums while in high school.

Career

Early bands

In the late 1970s, Plakas joined a punk band called Problem Dogs. Although she had never played

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

before, she purchased a set and learned to play as the band practiced in the basement of

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

player

Algis Kizys Algis Antanas Kizys (born September 8, 1960 in Chicago) is a New York City bass guitarist best known for his long-time membership in New York City band Swans. First joining Swans on 1986's '' Greed'' LP, he stayed with the group through ''The ...

's house. In the thriving

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

scene, the band played sporadic gigs at places like Space Place and O'Banion's, opening for

The Bangles The Bangles are an American all-female band, all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 1981. They are known for hit singles during the 1980s that made them one of the most successful pop rock groups of the decade. The band’s biggest ...

at The Metro. They also released a single, "City Hall/ You Are The Knife", following the departure of Kizys in 1982. Plakas moved to the greater Los Angeles metro area in 1985. The band went through several personnel changes, with original bandmates Plakas, Rick Radtke and John Connors reforming as Pirate Radio after arriving in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

L7

After witnessing her playing drums with Pirate Radio in 1987, a contact from ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' informed Plakas that the punk rock group L7 was looking for a drummer. Two months later, after

Donita Sparks Donita Sparks (born April 8, 1963) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter most notable for being the co-founder of the band L7. Sparks also initiated, performed, and released original material with her solo project, the band Donita S ...

contacted her, Plakas agreed to join L7. Once Plakas joined the band, L7 gelled and gained in momentum. Sparks stated “we found that sweet spot with Dee. That was a huge break for us. Because she was what we had been missing. She had the same sensibility as us: we’re punks but we’re doing hard rock.” She was given the name "The Goddess of Thunder" by her band mates. Plakas played drums on six of the seven L7 studio albums, including on the band's hit single '' Pretend We're Dead'' from 1992's ''

Bricks Are Heavy ''Bricks Are Heavy'' is the third studio album by American rock band L7, released on April 14, 1992, by Slash Records. The album peaked at number 160 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart. As of June 2000, ...

.'' The band appeared on the main stage of

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

in 1994. In 1994, Plakas and her L7 bandmate

Jennifer Finch Jennifer Finch (born August 5, 1966) is an American musician, designer, and photographer most notable for being the primary bass player of the punk rock band L7. Active in L7 from 1986 to 1996, Finch also wrote music and performed with her ban ...

performed with the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese musician

Hide Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a structure to hi ...

, also appearing on the original video for his song "

Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, and is certainty, uncertain about them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may i ...

".As seen on

's home video release, ''A Souvenir''. Plakas appeared in the

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

film ''

Serial Mom ''Serial Mom'' is a 1994 American satirical black comedy crime film directed and written by John Waters and starring Kathleen Turner as the title character along with Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, and Suzanne Somers. It tells the story of a housew ...

'' as a musician and performer in the fictitious band "Camel Lips" in 1994. Plakas and L7 were the subject of a 1998 pseudo-documentary film by

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician, politician and activist. Novoselic co-founded and played bass on every album for the rock music, rock band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the ban ...

entitled ''L7: The Beauty Process''. L7 disbanded in 2001 but was reunited again in 2014.

Other projects

During the hiatus when L7 was dormant, Plakas went on to play drums in solo projects by both herself and former L7 member

. In 2007-2008, Plakas toured with Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments in support of the release of '' Transmiticate''.

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and nonfiction book author. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

, then editor at large for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', stated that Dee Plakas "continues to drum with a fluid power" and "propels much of the music" on the album. L7 in Vancouver 2019

L7 reunion

Original footage and interviews with Plakas can be viewed in the documentary film ''L7: Pretend We're Dead'' directed by Sarah Price, released November 2016. The film was nominated for a VO5 NME Award for Best Music Film. L7 released their latest full-length album '' Scatter the Rats'' on May 3, 2019, through

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin; September 22, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music#J, Godmother of Punk", she is regarded as a Pop icon, rock icon and ...

Blackheart Records Blackheart Records is an American record label founded by rock musicians Joan Jett and Kenny Laguna. Artists include The Eyeliners, Girl in a Coma, the Cute Lepers, the Dollyrots, The Vacancies, Fea (band), Fea, Jackknife Stiletto, L7 (band), L7 ...

. The album received generally favorable reviews. Plakas and L7 announced a six-week nationwide tour with a start date of May 10, 2019. In April 2019, Plakas reported that she was endorsed by

Drum Workshop Drum Workshop, Inc. (also known as DW Drums or DW) is a drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Current products by DW include drum sets, snare drums, and hardware. History Drum Workshop was founded in 1972 ...

and had been using their Black Velvet kit on tour.

Notable stage moments

Plakas is perhaps most infamous for a contest held during a live show in London in 2000 in which L7 raffled off a one-night stand with her. The winner got to spend the night on the tour bus.

Personal life

In 1989, Plakas married musician and creative director Kirk Canning, who later played cello on Nirvana's song "

Something in the Way "Something in the Way" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the 12th song on their second album, ''Nevermind'', released in September 1991. It is the final listed song on the album, althou ...

" She resides in Santa Monica, California.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plakas, Demetra 1960 births Living people People from Lansing, Illinois American people of Greek descent American punk rock drummers L7 (band) members American rock drummers American women drummers Drummers from Chicago 20th-century American drummers Epitaph Records artists Sub Pop artists Slash Records artists 20th-century American women musicians American feminist musicians Women in punk