The Pandoras
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The Pandoras were an all-female rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California in the 1980s, who began in the garage rock style and later adapted a hard rock style bordering on hair metal. They were associated with the Paisley Underground era in Hollywood's alternative rock scene, along with bands such as Redd Kross, The Three O' Clock, The Dream Syndicate and The Rain Parade. These bands shared an aesthetic heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and psychedelia, and most (but not all) of the members tended to come from the west side and beach cities areas of Los Angeles County. Pierce, a resident of Chino, California, was a notable exception.
The Pandoras were formed when singer-guitarist Paula Pierce, met singer-guitarist/bass player Deborah Mendoza aka. Mende/ Menday, in college, around 1982-83. Mendoza, an art major, answered an ad that Pierce-a graphic art 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 got together and clicked, and started bringing their guitars to school jamming between classes. Pierce and Mendoza threw band names around...The Keyholes, and ironically, Hole being one of the names. Finally, Pierce thought of the Pandoras, named after Pandoras Box, a Hollywood nightclub from the sixties. Pierce brought in musician Gwynne Kahn on keyboards (the granddaughter of 1920s/1930s Tin Pan Alley songwriter Gus Kahn), and Mendoza brought in drummer Casey Gomez; thus, the original Pandoras. After recording the It's About Time EP, Mendoza left the group, and was replaced by Bambi Conway, who then appeared on the It's About Time album. After that, The Pandoras went through many personnel changes, beginning with the bitter departure of Gwynne Kahn in 1984. Kahn formed a rival Pandoras that included Lisa Rae Black and Jennifer Finch. The band did have a song released on an Enigma compilation, however "The Gwynndoras" were short-lived.
Pierce's Pandoras, "The Pauladoras", included Julie Patchouli on bass guitar, Melanie Vammen on keyboards and Karen Blankfeld on drums, they went to enjoy modest success with the release of Hot Generation on Voxx Records. They toured the east coast to promote the single. In 1986, The Mr. T Experience recorded a song, "I'm In Love With Paula Pierce", for their album, Everybody's Entitled to Their Own Opinion.
In 1986, the Bill Inglot-produced Stop Pretending was released on Rhino Records. The song was originally recorded by Pierce with her pre-Pandora's band, Action Now [1]. Kim Shattuck joined the band in July 1985 after Julie Patchouli was fired. Briefly, after Patchouli left the band, Gayle (last name unknown) played two shows with the band. Once Shattuck was settled in and they learned all of the new songs, The Pandoras recorded the basic tracks for Stop Pretending during the winter of 1985.
After being signed by Elektra Records, the Pandoras changed to a much more hard rock type sound with the 1960s influences de-emphasized, targeting the Sunset Strip hair metal crowd. They were dropped almost immediately afterwards, and would continue to play for the rest of the decade. Remarkably, they never managed to alienate their original audience, and continued to be a top live draw outside of Los Angeles. The Pandoras put out an EP on Restless Records which expanded their audience to include "hair metal" fans. During this time the band toured as a five-piece that at times included Rita D'Albert, Susan Hyatt, and Lissa Belltri, all performing on the second guitar. Restless Records released Live Nymphomania, a sound board recording from a 1989 Dallas, TX tour stop. This helped decelerate interest in the band among critics and fans alike, and Pierce couldn't reverse the losing interest in her band. She had fired Melanie Vammen earlier, who joined up with Kim Shattuck to form The Muffs, Shattuck having quit in September 1990. When Drummer Sheri Kaplan quit, the Pandoras stopped for about nine months while Pierce regrouped. Pierce had recorded a number of new songs and recruited new members when she died of a brain aneurysm after exercising in her apartment at age 31 in 1991.
