Lawndale is an all-instrumental band hailing from the beach communities of Los Angeles, California.
Named for a quintessentially suburban town that lies just inland enough to be unfashionable, Lawndale reached a high level of critical acclaim in the mid 1980s with its unorthodox and compelling sound, and it attracted a broad range of audiences that dug it.
Lawndale’s musical palette is drenched with the surfy sounds of the West Coast instrumental groups that preceded it in the 60s, but transcends those sounds with subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) stains of county, psychedelic, jazz, metal, TV and movie soundtracks and the unmistakable influence of the early punk rock bands that cropped up in those same beach towns.
Founded in 1984 and consisting of Dave Childs (drums), Steve Housden, Jack Skelley, and Rick Waddell, a.k.a. Rick Lawndale (all on guitars), the band played a wide cross section of bills around the L.A. punk and art-rock scenes. After six years which included a U.S. tour and two albums on the SST Records label, the group disbanded.
In 2009, Lawndale (minus Waddell, replaced by Mark Hoeschler of The Bomboras) reformed and are playing shows around Southern California.
