The Coolies

The Coolies

The Coolies

What's the first step in becoming a supergroup greater than the sum of your already awesome parts? Not taking yourselves too seriously. Uh Oh! It's The Coolies sets an irreverent tone from its title on down to the six raucously melodic tracks on this debut benefit EP from Wicked Cool Records by a
trio of ladies renowned in the worlds of indie, punk and garage rock.

The Coolies combined Kim Shattuck (frontwoman of The Muffs and bassist of The Pandoras) with Melanie Vammen (also of The Pandoras and The Muffs) and Palmyra Deran (solo artist with her band The Doppel Gang, and The Friggs). Performed with alter egos - Kim is Kimba Coolie, Melanie
becomes Melimba Coolie and Palmyra is, you guessed it, Palimba Coolie.

Kim and Melanie played together in Hollywood garage rock staples The Pandoras from the mid-80s to 1990. Soon after, they formed another L.A. band, The Muffs, releasing their classic self-titled debut LP on Warner Brothers in 1993. Kim and Melanie reformed The Pandoras with former bandmates Karen Basset and Sheri Weinstein in 2013, with Kim taking over lead vocals for Paula Pierce, who
passed away in 1991. In 2018, they released an EP Hey! It's The Pandoras.

It was on a Pandoras tour in 1986 that Kim and Melanie first met New Jersey native Palmyra Deiran. Palmyra went on to play guitar in girl punk band The Friggs for the duration of the 1990s, staying in touch for all that time. "The three of us are best friends," says Melanie. "We were chatting and Kim said, 'I wish we could all have a band together.' Palmyra said, 'Well... And that was it. We were a
band!"

Kim and Melanie assembled their tracks in West Coast studios and shared their work with Palmvra on the East Coast, who recorded her parts at Stevie Van Zandt's Renegade Studios, NYC with engineer Geoff Sanoff, who also mixed the EP. The six new original songs zip by in a dizzying 15 minutes of sheer sonic bliss.

The band and Wicked Cool Records donated 100% of proceeds, totaling over $15,000 from sales to the ALS Association. Tragically, Kim passed away in Oct of 2019 after a two year battle with the
disease.
Carrying through with their promise to Kim to keep doing music together, Melanie and Palmyra recorded a Go-Go's song, and were joined on the record by Go-Go - Kathy Valentine (who co-wrote the song) on bass, and Clem Burke from Blondie on drums. The single, "King Of Confusion" was
released on Wicked Cool Records in June of 2022. The Coolies will soon be releasing a new single.


THE COOLIES: KIM SHATTUCK aka KIMBA COOLIE - vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica MELANIE VAMMEN aka MELIMBA COOLIE - bass, organ, guitar, vocals
PALMYRA DELRAN aka PALIMBA COOLIE - vocals, guitar, drums, sitar

Coolies for the cruise! Melanie & Palmyra will be joined by Karen Basset on bass (Pandoras),
and Linda Pitmon on drums (Baseball Project, Filthy Friends).



Schedule