The Pandoras: It's About Time 1984 + Stop Pretending 1986

 

The Pandoras is an all-female garage punk band from Los Angeles, California with a run from 1982 to

1991. The band is among the first handful of all-female rock bands to ever be signed. From the beginning, the band found a strong following in the Hollywood garage rock and Paisley Underground scene, making the gossip pages almost weekly. The Pandoras enjoyed strong radio support from DJ Rodney Bingenheimer. The band graduated from the garage rock sound to a more contemporary, hard rock style in later years, spawning the off-shoot band The Muffs.
                       

The Pandoras were formed in 1982 by Paula Pierce, a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who led the mod-revival band the Direct Hits (later Action Now) but was interested in exploring raw '60s-

influenced sounds. Pierce posted flyers looking for other women into garage punk, and Deborah Mendoza, who played guitar and bass, answered the ad. Mendoza persuaded her friend Casey Gomez to play drums in the new group, while Pierce recruited keyboard player Gwynne Kelly, and the first lineup of the Pandoras was complete. In 1983, the band issued their debut EP, I'm Here I'm Gone, on local label Moxie Records, but by the time it was released, Mendoza was out of the group, with Bambi Conway taking over on bass.
                       

The Pandoras struck a deal with Bomp Records' garage-centric side label Voxx and cut an album, It's About Time, with Bomp founder Greg Shaw as producer. Just as the album was ready for release in

1984, the band exploded, with Conway quitting the group, followed by the acrimonious departures of Kelly and Gomez. As Pierce was assembling a new Pandoras, Conway and Kelly began playing out with a group they called the Pandoras, and even struck a deal with Enigma Records; they cut a tune, "Worm Boy," that appeared on the compilation The Enigma Variations. In time, Enigma insisted that Conway and Kelly rename their group, which soon fizzled out.
                   

Meanwhile, Pierce had rounded up a new band of Pandoras, with keyboardist Melanie Vammen, bassist Julie Patchouli, and drummer Karen Blankfeld. This edition of the group released a single for Bomp, "Hot Generation" b/w "You Don't Satisfy," and hit the road for a tour that included a handful of dates

with the Fuzztones. In the spring of 1985, Julie Patchouli dropped out, and after playing a pair of shows with Gayle Morency filling in, Kim Shattuck took over on bass. In 1986, Rhino Records issued the second Pandoras album, Stop Pretending, which displayed a harder edge than their first long-player. The band continued to play live and record new songs for their major label debut and were a top live club draw outside of Los Angeles, touring with Nina Hagen, and performing on bills with such acts as Iggy Pop, The Fuzztones, The Beat Farmers, Johnny Thunders, The Alarm, Madness, The Blasters, and The Cramps.
                        

Elektra A&R man Steve Pross signed the band to Elektra Records. The band made numerous attempts to record the album, to be titled Come Inside. During this period, Blankfeld was forced from the band

due to disagreements about band management, and was replaced with Kelly Dillard on drums. Blankfeld went on to play bass with former Enigma recording artists Wednesday Week, before forming the Billboard-charting all-female band The Rebel Pebbles.
Dillard was in The Pandoras for only two months; during that time she appeared in photoshoots intended for the Elektra cover of Come Inside and recorded "Run Down Love Battery" for the album as well. She was replaced on drums in November 1987 by Sheri Kaplan.
                    

Before the release of the LP, which had reached the test-pressing stage, Pross was let go by Elektra

Records. As a result, the label dropped both bands he had signed — Jetboy and The Pandoras — with their respective records being withdrawn from release. Many of the demo recordings The Pandoras made during the Elektra-era eventually surfaced on the Psychedelic Sluts bootleg CD. Restless Records release the Z-Rock concert as a live mini-album. Live Nymphomania. Pierce and bandmates were not happy with the release, though the band went out on tour promoting it for Restless.
                      

The Pandoras founder/singer/songwriter, Paula Pierce, died on August 10, 1991, of a brain aneurysm at

the age of 31. The Muffs front-woman/founder Kim Shattuck who played bass in the Pandoras from 1985 to 1990 passed in October 2, 2019 from ALS. Shattuck had appeared as lead singer/lead guitarist of the reunited Pandoras in recent years, until her passing.
                          

THE PANDORAS - IT'S ABOUT TIME 1984

                           

It's About Time is the debut studio album by American garage punk band the Pandoras and was released in 1984 by the Voxx record label. In a retrospective review for the AllMusic website, critic

Dean Carlson described the album as one that "shines in its muddily produced, tonally confident swagger" and "avoids the sputter of careerist garage rock for a spectacularly bleary haunted house feel." Carlson summed up by calling the album, "one of 1984's best garage-punk releases." Scott Schinder and Ira Robbins, writing for Trouser Press, called it, "as good a '60s punk record as any contemporary combo is likely to make".
                   

The Pandoras – It's About Time
Label: Voxx Records – VCD 2021
Format: CD, Album, Reissue 1993
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Interview

TRAXS

                       

01. Hot Generation  (Written-By – L. Bjerre)
02. You Don't Satisfy
03. It's About Time
04. I Want Him
05. James
06. He's Not Far
07. Haunted Beach Party  (Backing Vocals – Brian Brunch, Greg Shaw)
08. The Hump  (Backing Vocals – Brian Brunch, Greg Shaw/Written-By – Herb Gross)
09. I Live My Life
10. Want Need Love
11. It Just Ain't True
12. High On A Cloud  (Written-By – Mike Carroll)
13. Cry On My Own
14. Going His Way
15. I'm Here I'm Gone
16. That's Your Way Out
17. Why  (Written-By – Matthews)
18. You Lie
19. You Ain't No Friend Of Mine
20. I Want My Caveman
21. KALX Interview With Barry St. Vitus

LINE - UP

Paula Pierce - Lead Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica
Bambi Conway - Bass Guitar, Background Vocals
Gwynne (Kelly) Kahn - Rhythm Guitar, Organ, Background Vocals
Casey Gomez - Drums

NOTES

Tracks 1 & 2 from Voxx 45-1007 "The Pandoras - Hot Generation / You Don't Satisfy"
Tracks 3 to 14 from Voxx VXS 200.021 "The Pandoras - It's About Time"
Tracks 15 to 17 from Moxie 1044 "The Pandoras - I'm Here I'm Gone"
Track 18 is a previously unreleased outtake
Tracks 19 & 20 are previously unreleased demos

MP3 @ 320 Size: 148 MB
Flac  Size: 393 MB

THE PANDORAS - STOP PRETENDING 1986

                          

Stop Pretending is a studio album by the American garage punk band the Pandoras, released in 1986 by

Rhino Records. Trouser Press wrote: "While maintaining the ’60s fixation and playing up the brash-hussy stance, Stop Pretending features stronger playing and a harder-rocking edge (there’s no reason why 'In and Out of My Life (In a Day)' shouldn’t have been a hit), suggesting that the Pandoras aren’t as hopelessly mired in historical fetishism as one might assume."
           

                            
The Washington Post thought that "it's simply more interesting and even more modern when an all-female band adopts the aggressive punk stance and angry sound that was once the exclusive signature of male frustration and rebellion."

The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Stop Pretending effectively plays tough with stereotypes about '60s bands and girl bands, putting Pierce and her cohorts on top-which seems to be the position they prefer."
The New York Times opined that "the musicianship is rough, and the album production ... suffers from its low budget like many independent label releases."

The Pandoras – Stop Pretending
Label: Rhino Handmade – RHM2 7847
Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Numbered, Reissue, Remastered  2003
Country: US   
Released: 1986
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock

TRAXS

STOP PRETENDING       

                     
                         

 
01. In And Out Of My Life (In A Day)    2:53
02. I Didn't Cry    3:01
03. Anyone But You    3:02
04. You're All Talk    2:53
05. That's Your Way Out    2:49
06. You Don't Satisfy    3:36
07. Let's Do Right    2:11
08. I'm Your Girl    2:14
09. The Way It's Gonna Be    3:17
10. Stop Pretending    2:37
11. Ain't Got No Soul    2:34
12. It Felt Alright    3:46

BONUS TRAXS       

    
13. The Hump ("Stop Pretending" B-Side)    2:37
14. I Want My Caveman (Pre-LP Recording)    3:00
15. You Burn Me Up & Down (Demo)    2:38
16. Bad Seed (Demo)    2:30
17. She's Ugly (Demo)    2:45
18. Love Them Leave Them (Demo)    2:14
19. Something I Can't Have (Demo)    2:49
20. You Don't Know (Demo)    2:42
21. Never Get Enough (Demo)    3:25
22. In And Out Of My Life (In A Day) (Demo)    2:53

NOTES

Ltd. to 2500 numbered copies.
Includes the full original LP + 10 bonus tracks.

LINE - UP

Bass, Vocals – Kim Shattuck
Drums, Vocals – Karen Blankfeld
Guitar, Vocals – Paula Pierce
Keyboards, Vocals – Melanie Vammen

MP3 @ 320 Size: 155 MB
Flac  Size: 456 MB