Paloma McLardy (née Romero, born 26 December 1954), known as Palmolive, is a Spanish drummer and songwriter who was a member of influential early punk bands.
Before long, she returned to London and lived at a hippie squat at 101 Walterton Road where she met Joe Strummer, who had recently changed his name from Woody Mellor.
[6][7][8] Palmolive was determined to start a band composed only of women, because [she] "didn't want to be playing music and writing songs and have that be dependent on whether or not I sleep with a guy.
[12][13] The Slits, now including Tessa, performed their first gig at the Harlesden Coliseum in London on 11 March 1977 along with the Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, and the Clash.
Ari's "unfettered vocal frenzy" coupled with Palmolive's “fierce percussive pounding” and the overall freedom and wildness of the band's musical and physical performance took the audience by surprise.
The group's audacity – on-stage and in the street – was met by violence from men offended by their refusal of traditionally feminine attitudes and attire.
Palmolive wrote the lyrics to several of the Slits’ initial songs, including Number One Enemy, Shoplifting, New Town, FM, and Adventures Close to Home.
In November 1978, Palmolive appeared as drummer with Spizzoil in a gig at the Hammersmith Odeon,[18] then soon joined her friend Gina Birch and Ana DaSilva in the Raincoats.
Palmolive recruited violinist Vicky Aspinall into the group by hanging an ad in Compendium Books, a “centre for alternative thinkers.” Her drumming is characterized by Raincoats biographer Jenn Pelly as "more like painting, abstract-expressionist, not at all like a metronome.
"[20] She drummed for the Raincoats on a UK tour with Rough Trade labelmates Kleenex (later renamed LiliPUT after Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of the tissue paper brand, threatened legal action) in 1979.
She has taught Spanish to children in public and private schools on Cape Cod for over 16 years, having earned a BA in American Studies from Lesley University along with teacher certification.