THE PANDORAS
The Pandoras were an all-female rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California from 1983 to 1990. The band initially found a following in the nostalgia-fueled Hollywood Garage rock scene, and later adopted a contemporary look and hard rock sound. Leader Paula Pierce’s career ended when, on August 10, 1991, she suffered an aneurysm and died at the age of 31. (More from Wikipedia)
For people who, unlike me, don’t like really these particular styles of music, every punk-psychedelic band like the Invisible Eyes, every primitive proto-punk band like the Stooges, and every snotty all-girl rock band like Les Hell on Heels is going to sound pretty much the same I suppose. But it wasn’t like that for me at all for these three albums. The Invisible Eyes became an instant favorite; the Stooges album, Open Up and Bleed! is the first one in The Iguana Chronicles that really tore my head off; and, for my money, Les Hell on Heels beats the Donnas and the Pandoras at their own game – and I love both of those bands.
(December 2012)
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The Voxx Records retrospective CD, Be a Caveman: The Best of the Voxx Garage Revival (2000) presents one incredible song after another that has led me to buy several full albums by the bands on the CD; besides the Crawdaddys, the CD includes songs by the Vertebrats, DMZ, the Chesterfield Kings, the Pandoras, Gravedigger V, the Miracle Workers, the Fuzztones, Hypstrz, the Surf Trio, the Steppes, Dwarves, and many more.
(January 2015/2)
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When playing L.A. clubs, the bands there often looked down on San Diego bands like the Tell-Tale Hearts; the album name High Tide (Big Noses & Pizza Faces) comes from a dismissive comment in 1984 by Gwynne Kahn of the Pandoras: “The Tell-Tale Hearts? Oh, they’re just a bunch of ugly boys with big noses and pizza faces!”
(September 2017)
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And then there are the numerous albums of new music that have been released by Bomp! Records and their affiliated labels over the years; besides the bands that have already been mentioned, early examples by comparatively well known bands include those by the Pandoras, Nikki and the Corvettes, the Modern Lovers, Gravedigger V, the Last, the Barracudas, and many more. The music of many of the past UARB’s can be found on these Bomp! records.
(December 2017)
