The Pandoras

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 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.

Formation

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. met singer/guitarist/bass player Deborah Mendoza (aka Menday), at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga in 1982. 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, unhappy with Pierce, quit the Pandoras; followed by Pierce firing keyboardist/guitarist Kahn. Shortly thereafter, drummer Gomez split from Pierce. These members later reformed as the “Original Pandoras” in 2025. 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.

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. Many of the demo recordings the Pandoras made during the Elektra-era eventually surfaced on the Psychedelic Sluts bootleg CD.

Restless era

The band continued to play live while looking for a new record deal. Rita D'Albert joined as a guitarist in 1988. 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 it for Restless.

Disbandment and Pierce's death

In July 1990, keyboardist Vammen was removed from the Pandoras by Pierce, over Shattuck's and Kaplan's objections. Though Pierce toiled over removing Vammen, she felt keyboards weren't right for band's newest direction.

Both an Australian tour and a European tour in 1990 were cancelled; prompting Shattuck to leave the band two months later. enjoying great success in the alternative music scene.

In 1991, Pierce slowly worked on new material with guitarist Beltri. A new drummer joined Pierce and Beltri, as they began auditioning bass players. On August 9, a bass player auditioned who both Pierce and Beltri liked. She was to be brought back in for a rehearsal on August 11. However, on August 10, after dinner and an exercise session, Pierce suffered a fatal aneurysm in the shower of her Hollywood Hills apartment at the age of 31. She had been complaining of painful headaches for two weeks before her death, but did not seek medical help.

On October 2, 2019, bassist/vocalist/guitarist Kim Shattuck died at the age of 56 due to complications from ALS. The surviving members of Pierce's Pandoras — Vammen, Basset, Burton, and Kaplan — planned to perform at a tribute concert for Shattuck at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles in 2020. However, the show was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In June 2022, Vammen (guitar, keyboard and vocals), Blankfeld-Basset (bass and vocals), Kaplan-Weinstein (drums), and Burton (vocals and guitar) played as the "Tigerellas" at the Redwood in Downtown Los Angeles.

In 2025, members who recorded the album "It’s About Time" with Paula Pierce, including Gwynne Kahn (keyboard), Bambi Conway (bass), and Casey Gomez (drums)—reunited separately from the long-running Pandora-members Vammen, Blankfeld, Kaplan. Kahn, Conway and Gomez who appear on the Pandoras' first album and album cover, but never toured with the record as they were replaced or quit, call themselves “The Original Pandoras” since they were the band members on the Pandoras’ most famous album, "It’s About Time," while the other long-running Pandoras featuring Melanie Vammen, Karen Blankfeld, Sheri Kaplan Weinstein use the name “The Pandoras,” as they are the bandmates Paula chose to tour with "It's About Time." The "Original Pandoras" who never toured with the record they recorded, joined by Lisa Black (guitar), Liza Dean (lead vocals), and Anna Vinton (harmonica and backup vocals), performed songs from the first album, new music written by Bambi and Gwynne, and unreleased material from the Pandoras’ early days. Bambi, Gwynne, and Lisa also provide backup vocals in "The Original Pandoras."

Members

Paula Pierce – lead vocals and guitar (1982–1991, her death)
Deborah Mendoza – bass and backing vocals (1982–1983)
Gwynne Kahn – keyboards and guitar (1982–1984)
Casey Gomez – drums (1982–1984)
Bambi Conway – bass (1983–1984)
Melanie Vammen - keyboards (1984–1990, and reunions), also rhythm guitar on present Pandoras
Julie Patchouli – bass (1984–1985)
Karen Blankfeld-Basset – drums (1984–1987, and reunions), vocals and lead guitar on present Pandoras, bass on past reunions
Gayle Morency – bass (1985)
Kim Shattuck – bass and backing vocals (1985–1990, and reunions, died 2019), lead vocals and guitar on reunions
Kelly Dillard – drums (1987)
Sheri Kaplan-Weinstein – drums (1987–1990, and reunions)
Rita D'Albert – guitar (1987–1988)
Billy Jo Hash – guitar (1989)
Lissa Beltri – guitar (1989–1991)

Timeline

Discography

Albums and mini-albums

It's About Time (1984 – Voxx Records)
Stop Pretending (1986 – Rhino Records)
Rock Hard (1988 – mini-album – Restless Records)
Live Nymphomania (1989 – Restless Records)
Hey It's The Pandoras (2018 – Burger Records)

Singles and EPs

I'm Here I'm Gone (1983 – EP – Moxie Records)
"Hot Generation"/"You Don't Satisfy" (1984 – single – Voxx Records)
"In And Out of My Life (In a Day)"/"The Hump" (1985 – single – Rhino Records)
"I Didn't Cry"/"Thunder Alley" (1999 – Dionysus)

Compilation appearances

Enigma Variations (1985 – Enigma)
What Surf II (1985 – what records)
Battle of the Garages, Vol. 2 (1993 – Voxx Records)
Tales From The Rhino (1994 – Rhino Records)
Destination Bomp (1994 – Voxx Records)
The Roots of Power Pop (1996 – Voxx Records)
Be A Caveman: The Best Of The Voxx Garage Revival (2000 – Voxx Records)

Reissues

Rock Hard/Live Nymphomania (2005 – reissue – Restless)
Stop Pretending (2003 – Rhino Handmade – remastered re-release with additional tracks)

Videos/DVD

Slipping Through the Cracks (An Uprising of Young Pacifics) (video); IceWorld Video