Interviewed by Jimmy Steinfeldt September 21, 2025
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 9/29/25 –
Jimmy Steinfeldt (JS): Your new single is The Reckoning. In the video, I love how the music begins when you set down your guitar case.
Cindy Lawson (CL): That was an idea from the director Chelsea Oxborough, the owner of Hotdish Creative. Chelsea’s a brilliant musician and visual artist who has filmed videos for artists around the world. She also happens to play rhythm guitar in my band (when she’s available!).
JS: Do you like my vintage photos of your band the Clams?
CL: Yes, I am amazed that you still have them. When I looked at the photos, I thought at first it was the 7th Street Entry, but then I realized it was actually at the rehearsal/studio space for the band Funhouse.
JS: Yes, that’s right.
CL: They had such a cool space. I also remember going to your apartment in Loring Park and you had all your photography on display.
JS: I’m going to look and see if I can find those photos from back then. How did the launch party at Grumpy’s Bar go for your new single The Reckoning?
CL: We had four female fronted rock bands and a token male rock band who played in the middle. It was so much fun thanks to Grumpy’s Northeast and our friends at Palmer’s. The show was originally supposed to be a Palmer’s patio show, but as you know, Palmer’s sadly had closed the week before, so the show moved over to Grumpy’s.
JS: The last time I was at Grumpy’s I was having a beer with
Dan Murphy.
CL: Last night we went to Rochester, Minnesota and were part of the two-day annual Punktoberfest put on by Nate and Maggie of Treedome Records and Thesis Beer Project. We love playing Rochester because they strongly support original music. Green Bay has a great music scene, too, thanks to Timebob Tom, and Barb and Dave from House of Large Sizes run the Octopus in Cedar Falls, IA, which is a great venue for live music. We love our hometown fans, but we are always pleasantly surprised at the love we get on the road.
JS: I see you are playing soon in Winona, Minnesota and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Are you in touch with Lori Barbero?
CL: Absolutely – I love that she’s been so happy living in Lanesboro. Lori’s always been an adventurer, so I’m curious to see what she does next.
JS: I’ve been writing and recording songs for the last twenty years. Tell me about your songwriting process.
CL: I start with melodies and an overarching idea. Fitting a phrase with music. The hardest part is pushing past hesitation. When I begin there is a tendency to say “this is not good enough” or “I’ll never finish it.” Having the inspiration come is wonderful but then you have to do the hard work of moving on and turning it into something. Then I’ll bring that structure to the band and we’ll work out the arrangement and issues like how are we going to work things around the bridge.
Then when it comes to recording, depending on who I’m working with, sometimes things get blown apart and the pieces have to be put back together. After living with these songs, I show them to the producer and sometimes I get a different take or approach. I’m open to listening to suggestions especially if they are objective. But it has to feel right. I don’t want it to feel forced and I don’t want to end up with a song that is just OK. It’s a constant process of making it better.
JS: You just released The Reckoning. What’s the next step?
CL: We already have a few songs recorded and we’re going to record a couple more in November. Then I’d like to release all of them. I love creating music and having something tangible out there. Back in the day when I had my band the Clams we played live so much that we didn’t record as much as I think we should have. When a band plays live, there’s instant gratification but it’s so ephemeral. Looking back, I believe we should have documented a lot more of our music and our shows. We had a handful of songs that were never recorded because we just couldn’t keep it together.
Now the world is different. Everyone has a phone in their pocket that records everything and so virtually every performance by a band is documented. Every once in a while, someone will send me a VHS tape or pictures or articles from the ‘Clams’ era and it’s like coming across buried treasure.
JS: How did you come to the Rum Bar record label?
CL: In 2021 I began writing some songs. We were still in the pandemic and the future seemed so uncertain. I needed to do something that would be meaningful to me. So I started to write songs and got in touch with my musician friends I’d played with before. I recorded them with Steve Price at Dream Hog Studio and put them up on Bandcamp. Then Georgia Conley Ramin, a very talented musician here in Minneapolis, reached out to me and said she thought the songs were fantastic. Coming from her-a singer songwriter who has written everything from pop to metal to country to rock-was such an honor. She introduced me to her friend Lou Mansdorf in Boston who has the Rum Bar label.
I sent them to him and he loved them and wanted to put them out on CD. By that time, I had recorded more songs so we put all these news songs out on his label. Meanwhile he wanted to put out the Clams songs. I sent him those songs and he put out basically a re-issue. All that came out in 2022. Then in 2023 I released an EP. Lou (nicknamed “Malibu Lou”) of Rum Bar is fantastic. He’s had a long career in music working for record labels. Lou is the best and most genuine supporter and cheerleader for the bands he loves. I love working with him.
JS: Was he the conduit to get to Little Steven’s Underground Garage?
CL: Yes, he had the connections
JS: How about Jonsey’s Jukebox?
CL: I don’t know about that.
JS: It’s a podcast and I’ll try to put Steve Jones in touch with you. I provided him with a photo for his biography, and he wrote a great story about Billy Idol in my book Rock ‘N’ Roll Lens.
Do you know about Paul Metsa’s radio show?
CL: I knew him way back when and that’s cool that he has a show. For sure feel free to put me in touch.
JS: Where did you record The Reckoning?
CL: That and some other songs were recorded at the Terrarium Recording Studios in N.E. Minneapolis owned by Jason Orris and I worked with Jacques Wait on the actual recordings. I wanted to try something a bit different, in a different space. The result has been a more tough, in your face, kind of raggedy sound.
JS: The Stones are raggedy.
CL: Yes. As I said, previously I’d worked with Steve Price at Dream Hog studio. He’s a brilliant musician and has played for several years with The Suburbs. He had the band Rex Daisy. Steve has got the same pop references I do, so it’s shorthand when I work with him. He can take my ideas and make them happen as a final recording.
Both of these producers are so talented. All these recordings were financed out of my own pocket so I had to pick producers who could “bring the goods” to the projects. I’m really thrilled with all the songs I’ve recorded.
JS: You got great reviews on The Reckoning. Including from Andrea Swensson who curated the great Prince exhibit.
CL: Yes, she’s amazing in everything she does. I’m going to see that exhibit including behind the scenes too!
JS: You took a bunch of years off from performing and recording. Tell me about the hiatus.
The Clams unfortunately dissolved. I went right to New York for another project. I had some great experiences there and also some not-so-great experiences. I came back home to Minneapolis and put together a band called Whoops Kitty and released a CD. By that time, it felt like I had given all I could give to my music career, and it wasn’t making me happy anymore.
Then later I thought wow, I can’t believe I used to be on stage, in a band. It seemed so foreign to me. I did keep in touch with all my musician friends and would go see them perform but I never considered doing music again. But later the kids got older and I was doing the 9 to 5 thing and then COVID. We were all scared about this world-wide pandemic and it seemed like a good time to do some soul searching.
I thought what kind of lasting legacy do I have? So, at the suggestion of friends like Keith Patterson, Curtiss A, Brynn Arens, and others I started playing music again. It occurred to me that’s something I can do, return to writing songs. When you come at something after stepping away you come back with a new point of view. You can come at things for the right reason and for the beauty of it. Today this is something I really care about, it’s precious to me. As long as it makes me happy and feeds my soul, I’m gonna do it. If someday it’s not fun anymore I’m not gonna do it.
JS: I’m here on the west coast. Are you still in touch with the legendary DJ Rodney Bingenheimer?
CL: He’s played my songs quite a bit. Sometimes on several consecutive Sundays in a row. I’m really appreciative of this.
JS: Rodney wrote the story about Iggy Pop in my book Rock ‘N’ Roll Lens. Rodney is a great and also elusive guy. Let’s return to the subject of the Twin Cities music scene. I noticed you have a lot of cool vintage instruments and gear in your videos. Did you know Pete of Pete’s Guitars?
CL: I remember Pete’s guitar shop. I had a cherry red Rickenbacker bought from his store that has since disappeared.
JS: You’ve worked and played with a lot of artists I’ve known: The Melismatics, Everclear, The Suburbs, Tina and the B-Sides, Run Westy Run, Trip Shakespeare and so many more. Got some stories?
CL: Pony of the Melismatics is in my band which is delightful, because she’s incredibly talented. I’ve opened a couple of shows for Tina Schlieske within that last year, and she’s an amazing performer. When I was seventeen I snuck into the Longhorn and got to see The Suburbs. It was the first time I was in a room where the people, the room, everything was just vibrating. I’d never seen such energy before. I had seen pictures in magazines about the New York Punk scene but I had never been close to it so that was a revelation.
A couple years ago we got to play with The Suburbs at a beautiful theatre in Uptown Minneapolis. I thought “wow, all these years later I get to open for them!”
Run Westy Run was a band we used to play with back in the 80s at parties and at The Entry. We even opened for them a few years back. There is a pride in the fact that we’ve stuck around this long.
The Melismatics are kids compared to us, but I’ve always loved their music. I met them at Tommy Roberts’ house in the mid 2000’s. A few months ago, Ryan heard Pony practicing one of my songs and asked me if he could put out “The Reckoning” on his label, so things have come full circle with them.
JS: I’m in touch with Jay of Jay’s Longhorn. I even interviewed him for this magazine The Hollywood Times.
CL: Mark Engebretson put out a great documentary with a lot of footage from the Longhorn including interviews with Robert Wilkinson, the Batsons, Curtiss A, Lori Barbero, Jay Berine, Peter Jesperson, Bob Mould, Chris Osgood, Chan Poling and others. I was a few years shy of that whole scene, but the movie was so good it made you feel like you had been there.
JS: I wish I had been in touch with you before this interview. Recently I had my get-together at the CC Club and Robert Wilkinson, Ryan Smith, Pony, Mike Reiter, Scott Seekins and others who joined me for cocktails and pizza. I will invite you to the next one. Also I attended the Flamin’ Oh’s show at the Hook and Ladder.
CL: They put on a great show!
JS: Tell me about our mutual friend Lizz Winstead.
Lizz invited me to sing at the “Do Re #MeToo” event at the Parkway Theater. This is where Minneapolis female singers sing sexist songs. Two years ago, I sang She’s a Lady by Tom Jones (written by Paul Anka.) This year I sang Cuddly Toy by the Monkees (written by Harry Nilsson.) Lizz is a champion for abortion rights as well as being an established performer. It’s tough out there right now but she’s fantastic and strong. I’m inspired by her.
JS: Some of the musical influences I hear in your songs include Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, The Pretenders, Patti Smith, the Ramones even Black Flag. Am I correct in this?
CL: Those bands were a sweet spot for me. Late 70s early 80s. I also love to listen to new local bands. Here in Minneapolis we’ve always been so lucky. There is something happening every single night. You could catch a couple of different bands in different venues on any given evening. In previous times you could get the whole local music scene to be in the same room checking out a night of music at one venue. Now it’s spread out.
As far as influences, I do love punky pop music but I also love songs from the girl groups of the 60s/70s. Ronettes, Motown. Great melodies with sharp edges and a punk feel are things I try to put in my songs.
JS: Minneapolis is 45th in population among US cities. Never the less there were so many venues back in the day. First Avenue, 7th St. Entry, the Uptown, Jay’s Longhorn, Duffys, the Orpheum Theatre, Bunkers, Fine Line, 400 Bar, Cabooze, St. Paul Civic Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Met Center, Parade Stadium, the Guthrie Theatre, Northrup Auditorium. How would you explain to someone why Minneapolis in the 80s became a worldwide musical center of gravity?
CL: It was amazing. For the most part we did get a lot of major acts coming through. But the local bands were both talented and just regular guys and gals. You would see them riding their bikes, or at the bar. Yet at the same time they were on the cover of a magazine in Holland because they were a huge rock star. I remember seeing Zuzu’s Petals on the cover of a British magazine and yet I would see Laurie Lindeen standing next to me in the crowd at First Avenue telling me how early she had to get up in the morning for her waitressing job. Tragically, Laurie passed away recently. Babes in Toyland were enormously famous yet Lori Barbero has always been a lovely person and a great buddy. The music from Minneapolis had such a reach. It was and is unbelievably special. It made you feel anything was possible.
JS: Cindy, pick a couple from this list, first thing that comes to mind when I mention these Minneapolis based aritsts: Beej Chaney, Chan Poling, Robby Vee, Phil Solem, Paul Westerberg, Bob Mould, Dave Pirner, Prince, the Trashmen, Dave Foley.
CL: In the first few years after Husker Du broke up, whenever Bob Mould would come back to Minneapolis to perform, he and his partner would come to our house (my previous husband was Steve McClellan who ran First Avenue for over 20 years) and do their laundry. Dave Pirner is still out there playing and touring and has stayed quite good friends with everyone. I would see Prince walking around First Ave quite a bit. I was really surprised how diminutive he was. I think of these rock stars as being giant humans, but he was very small in stature.
JS: What’s next for Cindy Lawson?
Every day I have coming up is a gift. Every show I get asked to play is a bonus. If you expect things to be given to you or expect success it’s not how it works. You will have to work really hard every day. Do your job, do your craft and the things that come along are gifts. If I have an amazing time working with my band or recording a song that turns out great this is the reward. I get to pretend to be a rock star for a while so it’s all cake.
For more info on Cindy https://cindysongs.com/
