The Pandoras-Dark November (Kim Shattuck Memorial Tribute)

Bio By She Rox All Female Bands: The Pandoras, began in 1983, in Hollywood, California as a 1960’s influenced garage rock band, and gained a solid fan base with their edgy primitive garage rock sound, that found the band at the forefront of what would become hoards of 1960’s inspired bands in L.A’s rock scene. Within a year the band release their debut It’s About Time, and also saw Pierce the only member left, new members were brought in and by this time the band was comprised of Paula Pierce on vocals and guitar, Karen Blankfeld on drums, Melanie Vammen on Keyboards and Julie Patchouli on bass guitar, who would later be replaced by Kim Shattuck, this line up would release the band’s second full length album Stop Pretending in 1986. This era of the band has been hailed as the height of their career along with the release of Stop Pretending as the best release from the band. The album itself was a slicked and catchy garage rock with a more commercial friendly vibe thanks to the pop overtones. Long gone was the more raw almost DIY sound of the band, and the album proved the Pandoras were evolving as players and Pierce evolving in her song writing. As good as Stop Pretending was it failed to break through to mainstream radio but the band toured constantly in support of it however the band was quick to start recording new material. By 1987 the band was set to release their third full length album Come Inside, a shift musically towards a more rock sound, this album however remained unrelease and the band was dropped from the label. During this time drummer Karen Blankfeld was replaced and eventually saw drummer Sheri Kaplan in the line-up, Blankfeld would go on to form the all female pop rock band The Rebel Pebbels. By 1988 the band would release the ep Rock Hard with two songs off the Come Inside album. Now the band along with new drummer Sheri Kaplan also saw the band switch to a five piece with rhythm guitarist Rita D’Albert. The ep itself was a strong effort by hard rock standards, hair metal ruled the world and Pierce was set to join in, this decision was met by criticism by fans who felt the band was selling out or Pierce being easily persuadable by outside influences, regardless the more hard rock bordering on hair metal sound did in fact open the band up to a new crop of fans, but only divided their fan base and band members as well. By 1989 the band was again a four piece with all guitars by Pierce, a live cd was set to be released and “Live Nymphomania“ was the result, recorded at a show from Dallas, Texas the live album was raw and true to form but unfortunately did not add much to the band’s current discography, with Pierce herself saying to many she was unhappy with the live recording. By 1990 tensions in the band were growing more increased as many felt Pierce was wanting to go into an even heavier metal sound and this came to head when keyboardist Melanie Vammen, the second longest running band member next to Pierce, who was told keyboards were no long needed for the band’s current sound, bassist Kim Shattuck would depart next with Vammen and Shattuck forming the co-ed band the Muffs. Drummer Sheri Kaplan left shortly after leaving Paula Pierce once again the only member left in the band. by 1991, founder, vocalist and guitarist Paula Pierce was set on reforming the band with new members when she unexpectedly died from a brain aneurysm at 31, leaving fans and former band mates devastated as Pierce was known for being a “health nut“ and drug free. Die hard fans have kept the band’s legacy alive for over 30 years since the passing of it’s founder Paula Pierce and even with fans still divided by favorite era’s of the band, all agree the passing of Pierce was way too young and firmly believe there was more music left to have been made. Former members have gone on to reform the band in several versions, most noticeably in 2015 the only version to actually use The Pandoras name, had the line up of former bassist Kim Shattuck taking over lead vocals and guitar, Melanie Vammen on keyboards, former drummer Karen Blankfeld, on bass, and Sheri Kaplan on drums. This reformed Pandoras generated new life into the band’s career and even saw an ep released in 2018 called Hey! It’s the Pandoras, a seven track ep paying homage to the band’s original garage rock sound. A new song along with Paula Pierce written classics like Stop Pretending and It Felt Alright gave fans new and old a glimpse of the band during their hey day. The ep ends with the last ever written song from Pierce before her death, the song Dark November eluded fans to assume she would have gone back to her garage rock roots had she not passed away so suddenly but the newly recorded version and Shattuck’s haunting vocals on Dark November, was perhaps the best way to allow the band’s legacy to come full circle, especially with the passing of Kim Shattuck in 2019 only one year after the Pandoras final release as a band.