Cindy's Bio
She's an American singer/songwriter both charming and profane.
Cindy Lawson began her rock and roll career in Minneapolis in 1985 with the all-female rock band, The Clams. Over the years, she played in several bands in Minneapolis and New York City, but then took a break starting in the late '90s. Cindy returned in full force in 2021, and in 2022 released “New Tricks,” her first full-length record in 25 years on Boston’s Rum Bar Records.
New Tricks got airplay both nationally (on Little Steven’s Underground Garage and on Little Steven’s Coolest Songs in the World) and internationally, garnering rave reviews and airplay across the globe. In quick succession, she released a new single and video called “Don’t Come Crying To Me” in 2023 that was immediately picked for Little Steven’s Coolest Songs in the World Channel on Sirius XM. The eponymous EP was released later that year, and landed in the top ten of 2023 local releases on RacketMN, and listed on KFAI's list of "Best Local Releases of 2023." Two songs from the EP, "I Don't Want You Anymore" and "Screamin' White Jezus," were in daily rotation on Stevie's Coolest Songs station in winter of 2023-2024.
She released the single “The Reckoning” in September of 2025 on Hygh Tension/Virgin records, then recorded three more songs inspired by the strength and resilience of the good people of Minnesota, and will be releasing the EP, ¡LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! on October 3, 2026 with assistance from Boston’s own Rum Bar Records. Since her return to performing in 2021, she's played hundreds of shows throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Boston. During that time she's opened for Everclear, The Dollyrots, The Dogmatics, The Suburbs, Tina and the B Sides, The Melismatics, Mark Mallman, The Von Tramps, Run Westy Run, Colin Bracewell, Venus DeMars and All the Pretty Horses, Flipp, and many more.
¡LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE! Press Quotes
“The four rockers are ball-busters in a Stooges-esque sort of way.”
Peter Jesperson, Music Producer (The Replacements), Writer, DJ
“If ‘punch the fuck back’ is on your to-do list, then this is your soundtrack. It’s a slamming new EP from the awesome Cindy Lawson and her band, four tracks that never let up. Turn it all the way up, and may the lord have mercy on everyone in your way!”
Jacob Slichter, Professor, Musician (Semisonic)
“The best and most important album about the ICE occupation of Minneapolis!”
Taylor Carik, Artist, Writer, Musician
THE RECKONING PRESS QUOTES, 2025
“How can you not love a song whose opening riff echoes with the roar of The MC5 and whose vocal snarl evokes Joan Jett at her most attitude-fuelled? It’s rock and roll doing everything that rock and roll needs to do, and nothing more. When you get a song like this up on the blocks and start taking it apart, everything looks familiar – guitars grind and groove, basslines add the Nitrous to the engine, drums pound out relentless beats, and the vocals bark and snarl and threaten vengeance – which raises the question of why can’t more people put it all together as brilliantly as Cindy Lawson and her sonic acolytes do here? But that’s it, these things look simple, but are more than the sum of their parts…much more.
Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover
“On ‘The Reckoning,’ she purrs, bellows, snarls, and squeals with not just power but command, an amalgam of Ronnie Spector, Joan Jett, the Runaways, and Tina Turner, while her band roars like the Stooges meets Motorhead. The lyrics tell the tale of a cad who gets his due.”
Jim Testa, Constant Listener:Jim Testa
“Back with her first new release since 2023's 'Don't Come Crying To Me' EP, the Twin Cities rock legend Cindy Lawson is in full punk rock mode on this blistering number about an evil individual who finally gets taken down. 'Karma's a bitch, but so am I,' sings Lawson, and you can't help feeling gleeful about her triumph. In Lawson's words, this song is 'for anyone who's been burned, betrayed, and silenced.”
Lord Rutledge, Faster and Louder
“I’m saying it again. The Reckoning is a masterpiece and will be in my forever rotation. Music that deserves to be heard and it shall be.”
Boris Boden, Woody Radio ‘The Secret Weapon’
“The indefatigable rocker is back with garage-punk fury, rhyming ‘avoid’ with ‘schadenfreude’ and declaring ‘Karma’s a bitch and so am I’ en route to the the chilling coda: ‘If you could get away with it would you do it again?’”
Keith Harris, Racket MN
BURN PRESS QUOTES, 2026
“A punk-rock rager befitting the times, this fire feminist blast of a benefit single for Dia Hablos Hoy and Monarca gives us all the shoutalong chorus of ‘Don’t believe the lies!’ and confronts the likes of Trump, Bovino, Homan et al with roaring guitars, drums and vocals:
You kill what you don’t understand
Does it make you feel like more of a man
We’re the daughters of the witches you couldn’t burn
You stupid git you’ll never learn
Jim Walsh, MINNPOST
