The Donnas [ tickets ] are sprinting from town to town, supporting their latest album with TV appearances and East Coast dates with Jet as they warm up the masses for their impending headlining tour with The Von Bondies and Starlight Desperation.

"Gold Medal," their second record for Atlantic, was recorded at Conway Studios in Los Angeles, and was produced by Butch Walker (Marvelous 3). It follows 2002's "Spend The Night," which featured the MTV and Modern Rock hit "Take It Off" and peaked at No. 62 on The Billboard 200 album chart.

The female quartet met at a Palo Alto, CA, junior high school in 1993, and played local "Battle of the Bands" competitions as Ragady Anne, landing a deal with Lookout Records (Green Day's original label) right out of high school, and releasing "American Teenage Rock ‘n' Roll Machine" in 1998.

Bassist Maya Ford spoke with liveDaily about "Gold Medal," dealing with drummer injuries and being a role model for female rockers.

liveDaily: How do "Gold Medal"'s songs differ from "Spend the Night"?

Maya Ford: I don't think "Spend the Night" has as many dynamics. I think it's cool that, on the new album, you'll have one song that's really rocking, and then a song that really chills out. There are other things a person can do to be a good musician than playing really fast all the time. My bass lines are more melodic, I'm playing higher on the frets--it's a lot more fun.

Lyrically, you're also talking about more adult things, like keeping relationships together on the road. What changed?

We threw away our old rules. We were like, "We should start from scratch, brainstorm, and see what we can come up with." "Revolver" and "Don't Bring Me Down" are different from anything we've written before. They're very powerful.

How did producer Butch Walker help you guys evolve the process?

We really liked Butch because he was into doing one song at a time, which was good because it gave Torry a chance to rest. And it also allowed us to focus on each song and make it as good as it could be. Butch was really easy to talk to, he got all our references, and he liked to work fast and get things done--the way we like to work. A lot of producers want to be visionaries, like they're the star of the band. No, you're here to help us do our album, and these are our songs, not yours.

Do you think about being a role model to girls and young women who want to get into music?

I feel kind of weird being a role model, because I've done some things in life that aren't that great. But at the same time, when I was growing up and we were starting our band, a big reason why we kept going was because we saw so many other girls doing it. We liked Shonen Knife, Bikini Kill and L7. Everyone at our school was telling us we couldn't do it, that we couldn't play, and that girls weren't allowed to play. But then we were like, "F--- you. These girls are doing it." So I think it's good that our band is out there, and that kids in school can see that we've worked really hard and gotten where we are today.

Also I think it's good that our band isn't all super-skinny and perfect, with beautiful skin and perfect hair. We're kind of messy, and I think that's good. It used to be like, "Oh, I'll never be like Britney Spears. She has a perfect body and is so beautiful." It's good for people to have something else to look at.

Drummer Torry Castellano had to have surgery for deQuervain's Tendonitis in her wrist. How did that affect your "Spend the Night" tour?

I just remember, we were in Europe and she couldn't play. Our shows were getting really horrible and she was hurting really bad. We had to cut one show short because she couldn't play anymore. It was like, "Torry, we should go home." "No! I can do it! I can stick it out! I'll just get a cortisone shot." I don't know how bad it could have gotten, but I think if she kept playing, maybe she could never play again. It's been a year since she's gotten her surgery, and she's still not fully recovered. We can play a show, but we can't play for two hours.