The Pandoras at The Hope & Anchor Islington, Wednesday 6th May 2026

I was thrilled to witness The Pandoras make a rare U.K. appearance at the legendary Hope & Anchor in Islington, a place that has over the years hosted acts such as The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Specials, The Saints and The Clash. It’s hard to believe now, but Joy Division and U2 made their London debuts here and The Damned filmed the seminal promo video for “New Rose” in the tiny basement venue. In the mid to late Seventies, it was a vital outlet for Pub Rock and early Punk Rock acts and was the birthplace of Stiff Records, even The Stranglers recorded a live album here in 1977. It’s also one of the very few legendary London venues to have survived gentrification and redevelopment and it’s great that it is still thriving and going strong to this day. It’s probably hard to believe for first timers to grasp that this tiny, cramped basement has hosted so many well-known names over the years and now it’s The Pandoras turn. 

 

The Pandoras were one of the early front-runners of the Californian Sixties revival of the early to mid-80’s and they straddled the sounds of the Paisley Underground, Power Pop and Nuggets style Garage Rock perfectly. Most acts go through various trials and tribulations over the years, such as changes to their line-up and/or musical differences and The Pandoras certainly had their share of these, but they were also hit by two unforeseeable tragedies. First of all, let’s look at some of the key line-up changes – just after the release of their debut album “It’s About Time” in 1984, there was a falling out and lead vocalist and guitarist Paula Pierce decided to recruit new members including Melanie Vammen on keyboards and Karen Blankfeld (now Basset) on drums and they managed to keep hold of the Pandoras name. Then in 1985 they got in a new bassist, Kim Shattuck and this classic line-up of the band would go on to release their second album, the superb “Stop Pretending”. Then we come to a change of direction which would ultimately lead to another shift in the band’s line-up. This was Paula’s decision to move the band into Heavy Rock territory with the quite literally titled “Rock Hard” mini album. Prior to recording the album, Karen had left the band and Sheri Kaplan (Weinstein) took over on the drums. Paula wanted to push on with this heavier direction and decided that she no longer wanted keyboards so Melanie was ousted, Kim left in support of her bandmate, and both would go on to form The Muffs.

Then the first serious tragedy in The Pandoras history hit with the sudden death of Paula due to an aneurysm in 1991. This was to mark the end of the band from the public eye until 2015 when Melanie, Kim, Sheri and Karen got back for a live reunion show. Kim had moved from bass to lead vocals and guitar; Karen took on bass duties so that Sheri could join on drums and Melanie was in her familiar role on the keyboards. Then, the second tragedy occurred with Kim Shattuck’s sad and untimely passing in 2019 of ALS, a form of motor neuron disease. Kim had a popular stint playing bass with Pixies (although probably too popular for some of her bandmates) and shortly before her death had recorded a fantastic album with The Muffs. She was also part of a great side-project called The Coolies along with Melanie and Palmyra Delran, so Kim’s passing was made even sadder as she was in such fine creative form. Anyway, I digress, let’s get back to tonight’s gig…the crowd is full of familiar faces, many of whom are in bands themselves as I see members of The Parkinsons, King Salami & The Cumberland 3, The Phobics, Baby Seals, The Tuppenny Bunters and The Cannibals/Raw Fun. There’s a charged, expectant atmosphere buzzing round the packed out steaming hot venue as The Pandoras take the stage and hit us with their cinematic Garage Surf instrumental “Haunted Beach Party”. 

 

The current line-up features Melanie on keyboards and guitar, Sheri on drums, the most recent recruit Natalie Grace Sweet on bass and Karen is now up front on lead vocals and guitar. As Sheri mentions during the band introductions, “Karen has played every role in The Pandoras except keyboards!” and she does a fantastic job, you’d never think she had started on drums and moved to bass before finally fronting the band, she’s a natural. Most of the set understandably features tracks taken from their 1986 album “Stop Pretending” but they also throw in some singles such as the brilliant “Hot Generation”, deep cuts like “You Lie” and a cover of We The People’s “You Burn Me Up and Down”. However, debut album “It’s About Time” is also represented as is the band’s foray into Heavy Rock with “Craving” taken from the “Rock Hard” mini-album and as previously mentioned, the first to feature Sheri on the drums. There’s a great cheerful chemistry across the band that seeps into the crowd, and I reflect that after Love with Johnny Echols stunning show at the Shepherds Bush Empire last Saturday (review here), it’s the second time in less than a week that a California based band has made my spirit soar. 

The great songs keep coming, "That’s The Way It’s Going To Be” with its stabbing keyboard riff and the catchy backing vocal harmonies on “I’m Your Girl” are just two of my personal highlights. Melanie abandons her keyboards halfway through the show to strap on a guitar, and at one point she leaps down among the crowd during a brilliant blast through “It Felt Alright”. They dedicate the gig to the memory of both Paula and Kim, which is a nice touch, before finishing with “Melvin”, their take on the Van Morrison and Them/Patti Smith classic “Gloria” and it’s a perfectly chaotic singalong to end what was a thoroughly entertaining set. I was so pleased to finally get to see The Pandoras, a great band and great people and I sincerely hope it’s not too long until their return to our shores. Oh yes, there was also the added bonus of Melanie having been in one of my (many…) favourite bands The Muffs, and she gladly signed copies of my Muffs 7” singles that I’d taken along, so I made my way home with a big and very contented smile on my face.

 

 

You can check out more videos from the gig at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here, it's free to subscribe. In Retrosonic Podcast Episode 49 we played a great track from The Coolies, the band originally formed by Melanie Vammen, Kim Shattuck and Palmyra Delran. We picked the fantastic single "King of Confusion" a Go-Go's cover which featured special guests Clem Burke and Kathy Valentine, you can check that out here.

 

Love with Johnny Echols at Shepherd's Bush Empire, Saturday 2nd May 2026

Love with Johnny Echols are back at the Shepherds Bush Empire again, the scene of 2024’s triumphant “Forever Changes” show where they played 1967’s classic album in its entirety, backed by brass, keyboards and the excellent Parallax string quartet. This time round they are touring to promote their excellent new Record Store Day release “Love And Let Live” a white vinyl live album recorded at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland last year, the first recording featuring the current line-up. A line-up which apparently is now the longest lasting in the band’s history and one that has been taken to the hearts of Love fans of all generations. As the band’s original guitarist Johnny Echols recently wrote on one of my Facebook posts, “the group is called LOVE, they are revisiting the music of Arthur Lee, and a group of individuals collectively known as Love!” Johnny is now 79 years old and apart from him occasionally having a sit down on a stool while playing, you wouldn’t believe it, especially not from his quite stunning, virtuoso guitar playing. I would say he has been somewhat underrated as a guitarist in the music media over the years, he certainly deserves to be mentioned more frequently alongside his 1960’s peers such as Robbie Krieger of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, who were after all, both influenced by Love in some way back in their early days. I’m not sure why this would be but he certainly brought those idiosyncratic and often complicated songs of Love’s charismatic frontman Arthur Lee to life. Of course, he was ably assisted by guitar partner-in-arms Bryan MacLean and his bandmates, but the sheer scope of Love’s sound meant that they had to cover a huge palette of musical sounds and colours. From Psychedelia, Folk-Rock and all out Garage Punk attack to intricate orchestral arrangements, beautiful acoustic numbers and even Jazz. These songs were also often tinged with Flamenco, Mariachi and Baroque overtones. 

 

This is where Johnny’s current bandmates excel, in vividly bringing all of the many and varied aspects of Arthur Lee and Love’s musical palette to life. I think similarly to when The Wondermints backed Brian Wilson on his solo tours, taking their remarkable recreation of the Beach Boys intricate melodies to a new generation, then so did Baby Lemonade when Arthur Lee asked them to be his backing band back in 1993. This line-up, prior to Johnny re-joining, was brilliantly captured on “The Forever Changes Concert” live album and DVD recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 2003. Johnny was invited back into the fold and did briefly join the line-up but unfortunately, this intriguing incarnation of the band did not last long as Arthur sadly passed away in 2006. However, it was decided to continue and the Baby Lemonade trio of David "Rusty Squeezebox" Ramsey on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Randle on guitar and drummer David "Daddy-O" Green were joined by the youthful James Nolte, son of David Nolte from the excellent L.A. Garage Power Pop Surf band The Last, on bass. Tonight, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, this now familiar line-up is once again augmented by Nick Frater on keyboards. However, this time Nick is on his own, yet he somehow magically covers all the intricate brass, strings, harpsichord, flute and organ sounds all by himself, it’s a mightily impressive display. By the way, for fans of Baby Lemonade, classic melodic song-writing and Power Pop, I can thoroughly recommend Nick's latest album "Oh Contraire!", it’s a belter! 

Opening with the snappily titled "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale" from "Forever Changes", the band continue to run through a perfectly paced and plotted one hour and thirty minute setlist. Rusty mentions that it was 60 years ago since Love released both their debut self-titled album and it's follow up "Da Capo". It's difficult to fathom that two records of such quality could be released within the same calendar year of 1966, and even harder to believe that the classic, ground-breaking and hugely influential "Forever Changes" was to be released just one year later. Of course, tonight they concentrate on the Johnny Echols era of those wonderful first three albums and I guess, once that line-up had disbanded and Arthur gathered new recruits for the next album "Four Sail", Love never quite recaptured those glories of 1966-67. Only the beautiful "Always See Your Face" from the post-Echols era makes it into the set and admittedly it is a wonderful song that sounds superb. It’s almost impossible to pick out highlights as I could just say “the whole bloody set was a highlight” but that wouldn’t be very insightful, so I’ll mention the tambourine and bass intro to Bacharach & David's "My Little Red Book" which always sends a shiver down my spine. The triple hit of “Alone Again Or”, “And More” and then “Andmoreagain” is astonishing, you’re going to find it hard to find a better trio of songs in any band’s back catalogue. 

 

Then there’s “The Red Telephone” with its unsettling coda “they're locking them up today and throwing away the key, I wonder who it will be tomorrow, you or me?” which could well soundtrack any news bulletin today. It’s not just the band’s music that is timeless, but I think their political outlook still hits home, for example, “ask your leaders why?” Rusty sings plaintively in the stunning “Live and Let Live” and that one simple question should reverberate across the world. Also, the current line-up is racially diverse, as was Love when they first formed and that is another positive message that highlights music really does transcend all cultures, regardless. I’m sure Love must have broken down some cultural barriers in their day just as multi-racial 2-Tone bands like The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat did in my youth. Along with acts like The Clash and The Ruts turning us kids onto Reggae, it can only be a positive force for good, especially when I think of all the many and varied people I’ve met, friends that I have made and places that I have visited all thanks to music. I’ve written before on the influence that Love had on some of my other favourite bands, particularly those from Liverpool such as the Head brother’s Pale Fountains and Shack (who also backed Arthur Lee for a few shows) and later Mick Head’s Red Elastic Band. Swedish Psych Rockers The Soundtrack of Our Lives were also big fans as you can hear in tracks such as “Where’s The Rock?” and “Lone Summer Dream” and of course, bands such as Ramones and The Damned who actually released Love cover versions. Love seemed to be a band that were and still are, just as revered by other musicians as much as the fans. 

As for the current line-up, I think it’s the evident joy that emanates from the band being able to play these remarkable songs that really endears them to the crowd, they seem to be having as much fun as we are, there are smiles everywhere. Rusty is a wonderful singer with a sublime voice but it must have been daunting to take on the mantle of frontman, following in the musical and vocal footsteps of the iconic Arthur Lee. But, as anyone who has seen the band play live will know, he does a fantastic job. Mike's guitarwork is something else too and it's a thrill to watch him play as he's obviously so engrossed in the music. James effortlessly spins out those inventive basslines and I love the pulsing riff to an excellent version of "You Set The Scene". Johnny takes on lead vocals for the highly emotional “Signed D.C.” although he ends with the line “Signed J.E.” which is a nice touch. They close the night with a raucous charge through the Garage Rock classic “Seven And Seven Is”, which I first heard on the reissue of Lenny Kaye’s “Nuggets” compilation back in the 80’s and it still sounds as vicious and charged as any Punk Rock band that I’ve enjoyed over the years. David Green's tremendous drumming really propels the song along at breakneck speed. The love and affection pouring from the crowd as the guys take a bow at the end of the show is tangible, there’s just something very special about this band that grabs your heartstrings. Bear with me here, but in the (highly unlikely) event that I had to pick just one band to see play live, my ‘desert island’ gig so to speak, I'd have to choose Love with Johnny Echols every time. They just encapsulate everything that is good about music to me, life-affirming, emotional and timeless songs that sound as fresh and vital now as they must have done back in the day. And I can vouch for that, as I was chatting to my friend David Arnoff (the legendary Rock photographer) afterwards and the gig got his seal of approval. After all he saw Love back in 1966 at the Hollywood Bowl, and if it’s good enough for him…! 

You can see another video from the show at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here, where you can also find more videos from previous Love gigs at The Garage and Shepherds Bush Empire in London and The Stables in Milton Keynes. It's free to subscribe. There is also a feature on the 2024 "Forever Changes" gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire in the Retro Man Blog archive here.

Stupidity with Chris Spedding at Dalton's Brighton, Sunday April 26th supporting The Cynz

It was great to see my Swedish pal Tommy with his Stockholm based Garage R'n'B band Stupidity back on U.K. soil again after a long absence, in fact it was the first time I'd had chance to see the 'new' line-up as original members Tommy on drums and vocalist Erniz have now been joined by guitarist Janne and bassist Ulrika. This line-up was responsible for last year's excellent album "AI (Alternative Intelligence)" where they were joined by Keith Streng from The Fleshtones, who records and plays live with the band when his busy schedule allows. Kicking off with the double hit of "King Midas" and the brilliant "A Monkey In A Suit (Is Still A Monkey)", the band didn't take their feet off the gas for a minute. Their tight and catchy Garage R'n'B, driven by Tommy's insistent drumming was out of this world with the superb "Cheap Thrills" being a perfect example. They play their latest single, a cracking version of Jesse Hector & The Gatecrashers "Carolina" which also features on their forthcoming album "Beyond Stupidity" out soon on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records. It really highlighted Erniz's raw vocals, he's a great frontman flanked by the impressive riffing of Janne and the ice-cool Ulrika on the bass.

 

For tonight's gig they called upon the services of another legendary guitarist and friend Chris Spedding, who they backed during his recent Swedish tour. They played Spedding's "Get Outa My Pagoda" and the classic "Motorbikin'" and he stayed on stage to finish the main set which included one of my favourites, the soulful blast of "Save Me". They encored with a spirited version of "BBC", the raucous Psych Punk song from Mike Myers spoof band Ming Tea that featured in the first "Austin Powers" movie. This was an apt and amusing choice considering we are in this English seaside town famed for it's saucy seaside postcards and kiss me quick hats, and it rounded off a thoroughly entertaining show perfectly. I can't wait for the new album!

 

I really enjoyed the headline act The Cynz, who have also played with Stupidity in New York and Sweden and they extended the invitation for the Swedes to join them for their gigs in London on the Saturday and in Brighton which was a nice touch. The Cynz are fronted by the charismatic vocalist Cyndi Dawson, and although they're actually from New Jersey, they have the raw and dirty sound of a classic downtown NYC/CBGB's Punk Rock 'n' Roll band. Songwriting partner and guitarist Henry Seiz not only adds some mean riffs but his backing vocals lift the songs to another level. My personal highlights were "Weight Of The World" from their "Five Mortal Cynz" E.P. and a trio of tracks from their latest LP "Confess" which is out now on JEM Records, the blistering "My Father's Gun" and "Woman Child" and the melodic almost Go-Go's sounding "Love's So Lovely". They also threw in a great cover of 13th Floor Elevators '60's Nuggets classic "You're Gonna Miss Me" for good measure. I'm enjoying checking out The Cynz new album and discovering their back catalogue and hope to see them play live again one day. 

  

For more videos from the gig please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here.