Born and raised in NYC's East Village, Laura Cromwell started playing drums in 1991, inspired by her encounters with Riot Grrls and west coast post-punks in the fertile San Francisco music scene.
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 God Is My Co-Pilot, Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter, Takako Minnekawa, Enya, The Shaggs, and many others.
Recent projects include The Dot Wiggin Band, featuring Dot Wiggin of legendary primitivist sister act The Shaggs. DWB's CD "Ready! Get! Go!" (2013, Alternative Tentacles) is available in stores and on bandcamp. They rocked the east coast with a sold-out tour in April 2015 opening for Neutral Milk Hotel. In 2017, Laura was delighted to perform ( IN THE HELEN WIGGIN DRUM CHAIR!!) with her heros Dot and Betty Wiggin for a history-making Shaggs reunion concert at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival.
Most recently, Laura has returned to her riot-grrl roots with Brittany Anjou's BiTyrant. Their premiere recording was released in fall of 2016, and includes the timely classic "Fuck Donald Trump."
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 brings Laura to Boston for a new project called Julee Cruise Director, which performs the soundtrack to the David Lynch cult television series Twin Peaks.
She is currently at work recording with Sifter, a new psychedelic rock band with her husband John Mettam and singer/songwriter Monica Crigler (Goats In Trees).
Laura is also an accomplished ceramics artist whose work focuses on porcelain sculptures of the natural world.