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 bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

in the rock band L7.

Early life

Plakas was born November 9, 1960 in

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, 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 A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

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 Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

player

Algis Kizys Algis Kizys (born September 8, 1960 in Chicago) is a New York City bass guitarist most well 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 Gre ...

's house. In the thriving

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

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

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including " Manic Monday" (1986), " Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shad ...

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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

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. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose pare ...

'' informed Plakas that the punk rock group L7 was looking for a drummer. Two months later, after Donita Sparks 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 "Pretend We're Dead" is a 1992 song by American all-female rock band L7, from the album '' Bricks Are Heavy''. It was written by Donita Sparks. It was the first single from ''Bricks Are Heavy'' and achieved moderate international success. It spe ...

'' 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, ''B ...

.'' The band appeared on the main stage of

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Mus ...

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 Japanese musician

Hide __NOTOC__ 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 stru ...

, 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, unable to be certain of any of them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertaint ...

".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, writer, actor, 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 may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media The presentation of works in sequential segments * Serial (literature), serialised literature in print * Serial (publishing), periodical publications and newspapers * Serial (radio and televis ...

'' 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 and activist. He was the bassist and co-founder of the rock band Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the band Nirvana in 1987 along with drummer Aaron Burckhard, ...

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 Donita Sparks. In 2007-2008, Plakas toured with

Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments was L7 co-founder Donita Sparks' solo project. The band also featured Alan Santalesa on guitar, Dat Ngo on bass, and former L7 drummer Demetra Plakas on drums. Their album '' Transmiticate'' was released o ...

in support of the release of ''

Transmiticate ''Transmiticate'' is the first album by the Los Angeles rock musician Donita Sparks' solo project Donita Sparks and The Stellar Moments, also featuring the former guitarist, singer and songwriter of punk rock band L7. Track listing All songs ...

''.

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer. 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 digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...

'', stated that Dee Plakas "continues to drum with a fluid power" and "propells 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, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

's Blackheart Records. 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 an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is ...

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 had previously played cello on Nirvana's ''

Nevermind ''Nevermind'' is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991, by DGC Records. It was Nirvana's first release on a major label and the first to feature drummer Dave Grohl. Produced by Butch Vig, ' ...

''. 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 Musicians from Chicago 20th-century American drummers Epitaph Records artists Sub Pop artists Slash Records artists 20th-century American women musicians Feminist musicians Women in punk