The Rondelles

Half attributable to relentless drive and half to fortunate timing, the Rondelles launched their career while still enrolled in high school. Self-arranging performances at small venues and entering battle-of-the-bands contests led the group to secure multiple recording contracts along with support slots alongside established indie acts such as Sleater-Kinney and Sonic Youth. Those road experiences allowed bassist-vocalist Yukiko Moynihan, guitarist-vocalist Juliet Swango, and drummer-keyboardist-vocalist Oakley Munsen to refine a style that blended jangly punk-pop with surf-music touches, remaining simultaneously sharp and endearing. Their debut full-length, Fiction Romance Fast Machines, appeared in 1998 on Smells Like Records, the imprint run by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley; that same year K Records issued the 7-inch Revenge, and the band contributed to the Rhino anthology '90s Teen Bands Vs. '80s Teen Movies, all of which broadened awareness of the youthful trio.