The Pandoras (all‐female garage rock band from Los Angeles, California)

The Pandoras were an American all-female garage punk band from Los Angeles, California, active from 1982 to 1991. The band is among the first handful of all-female rock bands to ever be signed to a major label. 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 founder/singer/guitarist/songwriter, Paula Pierce, died of a brain aneurysm on August 10, 1991, at the age of 31. The Muffs frontwoman and founder Kim Shattuck, who played bass in the Pandoras from 1985 to 1990, appeared as lead singer and guitarist of the reunited Pandoras with bandmate Melanie Vammen, (longtime Pandora and co-founder of The Muffs) until Shattuck died of complications from ALS on October 2, 2019, aged 56. In 2025, other members who recorded It’s About Time with Paula Pierce, Gwynne Kahn, Bambi Conway, and Casey Gomez—reunited as “The Original Pandoras” and all three are pictured on the album cover but quit or were replaced before Pierce toured with the album "Its About Time" with Melanie Vammen, Karen Blankfeld, and Julie Patchouli who replaced the original members. The Pandoras began in late 1982 as part of the 1960s garage rock revival. They were associated with the Paisley Underground era in Hollywood's underground rock scene that shared an aesthetic heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and psychedelia. Pierce, a resident of Chino, California, until 1984, had been a member of the Hollywood music scene; playing in bands since 1976. The Pandoras were formed when singer/guitarist Pierce, a member of the mod/garage/pop Action Now, met singer/guitarist/bass player Deborah Mendoza (a.k.a. Menday), at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga in 1982. Mendoza, an art major, answered an ad that Pierce, a graphic arts major, had posted on the bulletin board in the cafeteria. The ad read, "Wanted, another female musician to jam with! Influenced by sixties garage punk." They began bringing their guitars to school and jamming between classes. Pierce, lead singer/songwriter/lead guitarist, brought in Gwynne Kahn (also known as Gwynne Kelly) on keyboards/rhythm guitar. Mendoza on bass/backing vocals, brought in drummer Casey Gomez. After a band meeting in December 1982, the Pandoras were born, though names such as the Keyholes, Hole, the wHolesome, and the Goodwylls were considered first. After recording their first EP in 1983, I'm Here I'm Gone on Moxie Records, Mendoza left the group. She was replaced on bass by Bambi Conway, a childhood friend of Kahn, who recalled that the pair "used to go to the Whiskey together and we were like ... in grade school." In 1984 Conway, Kahn, Gomez, and Pierce appeared on the Pandoras' debut album, It's About Time, on Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records. In 1984, the Pandoras split into two factions just as the It's About Time LP was being released. Founder/singer/songwriter Paula Pierce had focus on the direction she wanted to go with her band. Bassist Conway quit the Pandoras; followed by Pierce firing keyboardist/guitarist Kahn. Shortly thereafter, drummer Gomez split from Pierce. Pierce decided to continue as The Pandoras, immediately recruiting three new members who embarked on tour for the It's About Time LP release. Former members Gomez and Conway joined Kahn in the short-lived Gwynne's Pandoras. The brief dispute over the Pandoras name was discussed on a KROQ-FM radio show hosted by Rodney Bingenheimer and in the local music zines such as BAM, Music Connection, and the LA Weekly (and its "L.A. Dee Da" gossip column). Pierce's fresh, new line-up of the Pandoras included Melanie Vammen on keyboards, Julie Patchouli on bass, and Karen Blankfeld on drums. Momentum began picking up with the release of the "Hot Generation" single on Bomp! Records in late 1984. The Pierce-led band toured the east coast with the Fuzztones to promote the single. Gwynne's Pandoras released "Worm Boy" on an Enigma Records compilation, Enigma Variations, in 1985. When readying for an EP on Enigma Records, the label insisted that Gwynne's Pandoras change their name. This ended the gossip-column controversies, and the Pierce-led Pandoras prevailed. Gwynne's EP, to be titled Psycho Circus, was never released, and a new band name never settled upon. Bassist Julie Patchouli departed the Pandoras in the spring of 1985. A fill-in bassist, Gayle Morency, joined the Pandoras for two shows. Morency was replaced in July 1985 by bassist/backing vocalist Kim Shattuck, future founder of the Muffs. The Pandoras were signed to Rhino Records and began recording the basic tracks for the Stop Pretending album during the winter of 1985 with producer Bill Inglot, who had produced earlier Pandoras and Action Now releases. In 1986, Stop Pretending was released. The Pandoras was labeled "one of the bands that matter" by the LA Weekly. 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. The music video for "Stop Pretending" appeared on air, in the United States, Canada and Europe. The Pandoras played the inaugural LA Weekly Music Awards and showcased a slightly harder sound and were interviewed on the roof of the Variety Arts Center for French TV by Laurent Basset who would in later years go on to marry drummer Karen Blankfeld and direct the hit series Below Deck on Bravo. Elektra A&R man Steve Pross signed the band to Elektra Records. The band made numerous attempts to record an 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. The band continued to play live while looking for a new record deal. Rita D'Albert joined as a guitarist in 1988. The Pandoras recorded new songs and released the Rock Hard mini-LP on Restless Records. A video for "Run Down Love Battery" received airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball, expanding their audience to include metal fans. D'Albert left the Pandoras in February 1989, just before a tour in support of Rock Hard, to join Human Drama, which had signed to RCA Records. She would go on to found Lucha VaVoom in subsequent years. The Pandoras concert at Z Rock in Dallas, Texas, was recorded for a "Coast to Coast Concert Series" broadcast. They also made an appearance on the first episode of The Arsenio Hall Show where they performed "Run Down Love Battery." Billie Jo Hash joined the band on guitar for the second leg of the Rock Hard tour. She lasted through the summer of 1989. Lissa Beltri joined the Pandoras in late 1989. Restless Records released the Z-Rock concert as a live album, Live Nymphomania (1989). Pierce and bandmates were not happy with the release, though the band went out on tour promoting