The making of bricks are heavy by l7 - featuring donita sparks

For the 30th anniversary of L7’s breakthrough third album, Bricks Are Heavy, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After L7 had released albums on venerable west coast indie labels, Epitaph and Sub Pop, they decided to go for major label distribution with their third album. Seminal Los Angeles label, Slash Records, allowed them more reach as well as a larger recording budget than ever before. After visiting their friends in Nirvana at Sound City during the recording of Nevermind, they met Butch Vig and decided he would be the right producer for their next album. In late 1991, they headed to Madison, Wisconsin to record at Butch Vig’s Smart Studios, just as Nevermind was blowing up and changing the face of popular music.

In this episode, Donita Sparks describes L7 in this pivitol moment when they were going from the underground to the mainstream. Sparks talks about gaining confidence with her songwriting, getting more specific with her lyrics and embracing her pop side more than ever before. The result was Bricks Are Heavy, an album full of personal songs by Sparks, Suzi Gardner and Jennifer Finch that went on to become generational anthems. From the mind blowing place in the mainstream to major label guilt to using songwriting as revenge to getting the nod from Yoko Ono, we’ll hear the stories around how the album came together.

Notes and transcript

Stream or purchase Bricks Are Heavy - 30th anniversary vinyl edition

2022 tour dates

Episode Credits:

Intro/Outro Music:

“La Sirena” by Skinny Girl Diet from the album, Ideal Woman

Episode produced, edited and mixed by Dan Nordheim

Additional mixing and mastering by Jeremy Whitwam