Born and raised in NYC's East Village, Laura Cromwell started playing drums in 1991. Self-taught, she was a core member of feminist pop-punk trio Growing Up Skipper. Laura founded instrumental avant-rock bands Dim Sum Clip Job and The Vivian Sisters (both have releases on Avant), and received a commission from Roulette and the Jerome Foundation for her 1999 work “Burning.”
She has performed and recorded with The Shaggs, John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Enya, Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter, Takako Minnekawa, and many others.
Laura holds the drum chair in The Dot Wiggin Band, featuring Dot Wiggin of legendary primitivist sister act The Shaggs. DWB's debut release "Ready! Get! Go!" (2013, Alternative Tentacles) was met with critical acclaim. They rocked the east coast with a sold-out tour in 2015 b/w Neutral Milk Hotel. In 2017, Laura was honored to perform with her sheros Dot and Betty Wiggin for a history-making Shaggs reunion concert at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival at Mass MOCA.
In 2016 Cromwell revisited her riot-grrl roots with fellow DWB/Shaggs’ alumni Brittany Anjou's gender non-conforming Jazz/Punk band BiTyrant [Bandcamp] They are currently at work on their second record.
In 2018 she recorded on Morgane Lhote’s (Stereolab) Hologram Teen album Between the Funk and The Fear (Polytechnic Youth) which has been called “an edgy piece of modern/vintage electronica…horror-disco…funky, groovy and spooky.”
2019 brought Laura to Boston for a couple of projects - Julee Cruise Director, performing music from the soundtrack to the David Lynch cult tv series Twin Peaks; and “Wouldn’t it be Nice - Pet Sounds Reimagined,” a recomposition of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album performed by an all-female ensemble of 17 musicians drawing from influences such as the Boswell sisters, Meredith Monk, ESG, and the Riot grrrl movement.
In Feb 2021 she wrote, performed and released may the birds inherit the earth — a meditation on art, nature and the music of Brian Eno, available on Bandcamp.
In July 2021, she performed a duet with John Zorn at The Vision Festival Tribute to Milford Graves. In August she angered several jazz critics by performing at the Jazz Middelheim Festival with John Zorn and Laurie Anderson.
Laura is also an accomplished ceramics artist whose work focuses on porcelain sculptures of the natural world.