Laura Sandra MacFarlane is from Glasgow Scotland, her parents are George MacFarlane (1936–2006) and Patricia "Patsy" MacFarlane; she has two older siblings. The MacFarlane family migrated to Perth in October 1978. George was an accomplished musician and had played trombone and percussion instruments both with Scottish and Australian army bands.
Initially MacFarlane performed in the Brautigans, on vocals, guitar and vibraphone, with Augustine Hwee on guitar, Nikki Jones on drums and backing vocals, Bernard Langham on guitar and violin, Sophie Moleta on vocals and drums, and Kevin Stanley-Bodell on bass guitar. From the late 1980s onward, she also joined a variety of local bands including Halcyon Days on drums with Andrew Roberts on guitar and vocals, René on guitar, and Stefan on guitar.
Another Perth group, Louder than God, had an extensive line-up of ten members including MacFarlane, Iain McIntyre and John Young; which Bernard Langham described as "making a deafening racket ... sounds good." While still a member of Brautigans, she had tinnitus and wore earplugs, "I can't figure out what's going on with my hearing, so I'll keep playing music." MacFarlane then joined hardcore punk band, Manic Pizza, on bass guitar and vocals, with Gareth Edwards (ex-Thou Gideon) on guitar and Cameron Potts on drums. As a member of Manic Pizza, MacFarlane relocated to Melbourne in the early 1990s. Edwards later told René Schaefer of Mess+Noise that "Cameron was heavily into the Pixies at the time; I was a Hüsker Dü freak; Laura provided the actual talent."
In 1991 MacFarlane formed Sea Haggs (later renamed, Keckle) on guitar, viola, percussion and vocals with McFarlane and Potts. That group's material was later included on a compilation album, Jelly (1997). She also began publishing Woozy fanzine in 1992 with McIntyre.
MacFarlane began playing drums and vocals, in 1994, with visiting United States rock group, Sleater-Kinney, and in 1995 she went to Olympia and Seattle to tour and record with the band. She is the drummer, co-producer and co-writer on their self-titled debut album, Sleater-Kinney. She is also the lead singer on the track, "Lora's Song". MacFarlane provided drums and backup vocals on a few tracks of their follow up album, Call the Doctor (March 1996).
In 1996 MacFarlane returned to Melbourne and founded an indie rock band, ninetynine, initially as a solo project – she played all the instruments on the debut album, 99 (October 1996). Her project soon became a band, including McIntyre (from 2000) and Potts (from 1997). By 2010 ninetynine had released eight albums and toured the world several times. MacFarlane founded her own record label, Patsy, which issued ninetynine material as well as that by other bands: Sea Scouts, Fiona Beverage, Boo Who, and Vivian Girls. She also co-founded, with Mcintyre, Choozy – an independent distribution company (1996–2002) which distributed music, fanzines and small publications.
MacFarlane has played a variety of instruments on a number of records, including vibraphone, Casiotone keyboards, drums, and guitar. She has worked with other artists including Lee Memorial (alongside Karl Smith of Sodastream), Bombazine Black, Winterborn, Tarantula, Disaster Plan, New Buffalo, Trixies Undersea Adventure, Deer, Boo Who, Popemobile, Bruna (with Edwards and Potts), Dragster, Scared of Horses, and Clag.
In 2015 she produced and recorded the second album by Melbourne singer/songwriter Jules Sheldon entitled 'Football, Trams, Parties, and Other Extended Highlights'. As of July 2015 MacFarlane is based in Melbourne, and still plays as a member of ninetynine, as well as performing solo.
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