Cherry Pop – “Sue Me”
On a small message board I go on, someone recently started a thread that asked, “How old were you when your cherry was popped?”
I, of course, replied truthfully-
“I’m still waiting for the right time with the right person.”
Well, as Iggy Pop once sang in his song “Lust For Life”- “Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before.”
Which I can only take to mean that he had aural orgasms in his ears, that could only have been possible by experiencing such overwhelmingly, excitable music in his ear canals that his ears actually exploded- producing ample amounts of earwax.
(I don’t want to even fathom what some humans are assaulting their ears with, nowadays. So, please don’t ask me to go there).
But this band is Cherry Pop who play “dirty rock’n’roll punk from Long Island, New York.” And though they’re not the first band to make my ears receive aural pleasure, their music is the most current one that I have a cherry pop crush on.
They’re a band that I discovered on the No One Gets Left Behind, a benefit for Lucky 13, a club in Brooklyn, New York.
And though their song was more than worthy of review, there were so many great bands on it- I figured I could devote a full item to their music instead.
It’s always great to discover a new band that I really like and is new to me- and that is Cherry Pop.
Let’s give a listen and see if you agree:
“Fool” begins like a car being started or an airplane ready to take off with a bunch of aggressive guitars revving until a steady, fast beat sweeps in like a chopping tomahawk. “People come and go, always fucking leaving.”
Everything is pretty good, up until the chorus when the levels are then amped up to greatness, with the catchy, repeated phrase of “I’m not a fucking fool” repeated several times ending with a few descending notes until we’re swept back once again into the maelstrom.
In a better world this would be a hit song. And come to think of it, I may, in fact, be a fucking fool but even at that, I’m not foolish enough to not know how terrific a song like this is. (Nice guitar solo, also).
“Past Your Prime” starts out at a more moderate pace with a four chord vamp that’s almost bluesy. But once we approach the chorus, the energy kicks up with a one hit to the beat by the drums and the accusatory lyrics of “You’re way past your prime.” We’re then treated with an exciting, musical hardcore interlude before we return to the original groove. This song is a wonderful mix of garage, punk and hardcore with an ending that rocks the fuck out.
“Play” is a modern love song with a new wave-ish bass and drums intro that would’ve fit nicely in with some British band from the eighties. “Don’t you know I love you, baby? I never want to see you cry. And every time you touch me, baby. Why, I want to feel you inside.” This song is melodic and catchy but still has a bite and sting to it.
Plus, there’s a great, adeptly played guitar solo that leads to lyrics like, “Rip my heart out of my chest… All I wanna do is play.” All I wanna do is listen to songs as great as “Play.”
After a wonderfully charging, barbed wire bass lead-in- “Whore” blasts out all “balls to the walls” with energy exuding and vocals blaring like a three alarm fire. The chorus pulls up on the speed while the intensity of the music just builds and the venom of the vocals only increases.
“Just send me up and break me up and be your fucking whore,” might be the repeated chorus. But I’m quite sure what I’m hearing is the anger and passion that is being powerfully expressed in this song.
“Tell me that you like it, don’t try to hide it.”
I won’t, in fact, this is my favorite tune on this extremely excellent EP.
Cherry Pop has a singer and musicians that are more skilled than many of the bands I write about.
But please don’t hold that against them!
Because the potency and guts and realness of feeling is in their music just as much as any “flying by the seat of their pants” punk/harcore band might be.
And as a “flying by the seat of my pants” writer- it doesn’t matter to me if musicians are skilled or not. It’s that I truly feel the joy, the anger, the fun, the frustrations of life that they’re expressing, that I feel it strongly in my ears and in my heart.
That finally makes me want to call this EP, that dirty word- art. Or that even dirtier four letter word- punk.
(I hear this band plays dirty punk rock’n’roll. And from what I’ve heard this is definitely true).
I love this band, I love their EP. And if you disagree?
Well, sue me.
(Slimedog)
