"I mean, somebody's gotta start making some music again eventually, right?" That's a question our man in Detroit, Bobby Harlow, posed recently. The context? We were talking about At the Drive In, the "Rage" five piece from El Paso who've managed to slip their big, sweaty, "raw" video right up against Britney on MTV. Bobby saw them play once. He said they put on an amazing stage show (lots of screaming and jumping and pounding of chests), but the music was just?humph.
We were reminded of this conversation the other day, while bombarded with the Strokes, that Lower East Side via boarding school via Switzerland "rock" band featured in Gear, Rolling Stone and almost any conversation between music industry types across the country lately. The parallel? The Strokes look very "70s." Very Kief before the South of France. But the music? Everyone seems to agree it's just?humph.
Esthetically, we're living in an age of smoke and mirrors. The memoir is king. Hey, who's gonna take the time to crank out Anna Karenina, because hey, even if you did, who would publish it? We're too busy filming Survivor XXVII in Sierra Leone, thank you. The monster needs feeding. And so Christina Aguilera reigns. At least all those ivy league grads, the style whores, have someone to relate to. La, la, la, la la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaaaah. La, la, la, la, la, la, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Britney's tits might look good packed into that pink halter, but it's just a beautiful, empty room. Lots of doilies and perfume and Tiffany knickknacks, but no people. No conversation. No life. No gut.
So for all you four-time-a-day-masturbaters out there, put down that gun. Pick up a guitar. Or a pen. Or a spongy paint thingy. The trenchcoat mafia may get one hell of a hardcore band named after them, but those tykes won't see any of the royalties?they're dead. And when you do plug in, don't become the imitation of the imitation of the imitation. Have you seen the new Coke commercial with Jakob Dylan? No wonder Bob looks so rough. It's a heavy burden to know you spawned the 21st century boy. Kiddos, spend your money on picks and sticks instead of leather and fringe.
That's what Cherry Valence, or simply the Cherry, as we like to call them, do. They don't need to dress up like clowns or hide behind black contact lenses. The Cherry just take the stage, ready to hit 'em in the gut. So Fight Evil With Evil (coincidentally a new rock band from Williamsburg). Yep, they're coming out of the woodwork these days. So watch your back Jakob, you sad, soulless fucker. 'Cause as the Cherry would say, "You're Gonna Lose That Smile."
Last week we spoke to Paul?bass player for the Cherry, lover of Slade and the only person we know who finds Nebula "too intellectual"?from his home in the Southland.
LL: So tell us what the Cherry is about.
Ah?jeez. We're just?ya know, a rock band. We don't feel too comfortable with most of the bands out there right now. We like old stuff. Little Richard and James Brown. MC5 and the Stooges. Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding. Cheap Trick and AC/DC.
TR: Most of the bands we interview list the same people. Aren't you aware there's a rock 'n' roll underground going on? You're part of it.
Wow. Well that's good.
LL: We love those bands too, but what about the heavier ones playing today, like High on Fire or Enemymine?
We don't feel so linked to High on Fire, Nebula?that big Sabbath stoner rock thing. We don't spend a whole lotta time listening to that stuff. Enemymine, you can just tell they're from the Northwest. They seem real earnest. Whereas we're real concerned with having fun, but we're real serious about it.
TR: Okay?
We don't care about coming across as, like?intellectual.
LL: Aren't you guys touring with Nebula soon?
[laughs] If they ask me if I listen to their records, I'll say no.
TR: Not after you meet their roadie.
Oh yeah?
LL: I think he threatened Tanya's life once.
TR: No. Actually that's not fair. He just threatened civilization, or mankind as a whole. But why don't you tell us about where you're from, in Chapel Hill.
We live in Raleigh. Chapel Hill is just a college, whereas Raleigh is more blue collar.
TR: Oh, so you're more blue collar.
Raleigh is more of a rock town. Chapel Hill obviously has Archers of Loaf and Superchunk and all that stuff. More pop.
LL: But wasn't that like five years ago?
TR: I think we need to debrief you.
What does Chapel Hill have going on right now? It seems like people there are still into that Superchunk stuff. Pop.
LL: How did Cherry get on this "Undisputed Masters Tour 2001?"
What?
LL: That's what the Fucking Champs are calling it.
Ah. I had no idea. We've played with the Champs a lot over the years. Two of us used to be in a band called Trucker when we went out to the West coast and met the Champs. They liked what we were doing. One of the guys from Trucker died a few years ago, which was a drag around here, and then we started Cherry Valence. We toured around the country four times, and never really put anything out. We just wanted to play live.
LL: So Estrus is releasing the first Cherry Valence album?
Yeah, May 22.
LL: I like the cover. One of the guys looks like he's shirtless?very Led Zeppelin.
He's not shirtless, although it looks that way [laughs]. That's me actually. Maybe it would be better if we were all shirtless.
LL: Have you ever been told the singer sounds like Rob Halford?
Yeah. We've even heard Bret Michaels of Poison. I don't know if you noticed, but three of the tracks are sung by the burly-gritty-voice guy, not the high-pitched-voice-guy. We sorta have a Lemmy and a Rob Halford.
TR: Is Lemmy the one [pictured in the sleeve] who's sitting on a porch wearing mirrored shades?
That's Jamie. He plays guitar.
TR: Oh. I was hoping that was Lemmy.
We've got two guitar players, two drummers and two singers.
LL: When did you decide to have people on percussion?
We used to have this guy play organ on a couple of songs, and the rest of the time he would just go crazy, play maracas and...go crazy. He ended up quitting. Then this other guy started playing organ, who also happened to be a good drummer. So he started playing his kit on the side.
TR: Did you let him up on stage, or did you make him play in the audience?
[laughs] We let him get on stage. And then Nick, the drummer who sounds like Rob Halford, said he would be into jumping up and singing, so he did that one night...
LL: [sings] Ahhhhh!
Yeah! And it was obvious that, wow, man, he could really do it. Sometimes he sings while he's playing drums, sometimes he just jumps up and sings without playing drums, but of course the other guy is playing drums when that happens.
TR: Right...
We just figured that as long as three people were holding instruments at all times, there wouldn't be a lag in the set. Because we hate that, man.
LL: Do people latch onto a stereotype about two drummers, since the Dead and the Allman Brothers did it?
People always assume while we're setting up that we're going to be a hippie band, but when we start playing, people definitely figure out quick that we're not a hippie band. I don't think anybody is going to give us shit once they hear us.
LL: Live, you guys create this wall of sound, this bowel-shaking rhythm section.
That's what it's all about. You don't want to get up there unless you can hit people in the gut.
TR: What do you guys do when you're not playing music? Someone told me recently that you gotta have something besides rock 'n' roll.
Gee whiz. I work at the university as a temp, which is terrible. That's what three of us do, actually. And one guy paints houses, and the other guy cooks in a restaurant. Everybody was prepared for the fact that this band was going to be on the road a bunch, so there's no point in sending out resumes.
TR: I meant hobbies. I didn't think you were also a neurosurgeon at Raleigh General.
I watch movies?
TR: What are your great passions? Besides beauty and truth?
Faith and hope. I also used to be really into bird-watching. When we're on the road, we like to find a state park, and Cheetie cooks.
TR: So you make the girl cook, huh?
We don't make her! She's just a kickass cook.
TR: Do you ever get depressed working the temp job, or worry about the future?
The most depressing thing is when we don't practice, for whatever reason, like if we just got home from tour and we don't play for a week or two, or if it's around Christmas. But as soon as we get back into the space and start playing, it's like, oh man! I can't believe I was worried about what was going to happen with the band. Because I am doing this, I am paying bills. We might have an earthquake tomorrow, and it won't matter anyway. Then I'll be glad I was playing music last night, instead of going to bed at 11 to get up and be some place I have to be for 48 weeks out of the year. You gotta do what you wanna do, that's for sure. We used to play that James Brown song that says "you got to live for yourself." I don't know, I'm just glad indie rock is dead. It wasn't as stimulating. You weren't moved.
TR: Doesn't hit you in the gut.
LL: Come on, I've seen a guy cry at an Elliot Smith show.
TR: Sounds like he was hit in he gut.
LL: Hey, one last question. Did you guys get your name from The Outsiders?
Yeah. And I think there was also like a ranch hand in another film named Cherry Valence.
TR: At a drag bar maybe. I have a picture of Jett Rink hanging over my bed, right next to Danzig.
Who?
TR: James Dean. Giant.
Oh shit, I blew that!
TR: Aren't movies your great passion, besides bird-watching?
[laughs] Now do you guys know about the Brownies show?
TR: Oh, yeah. We're gonna bring a drum kit and set it up outside.
Cherry Valence plays with the Drunk Horse and the Fucking Champs Mon.-Tues., May 7-8, at Brownies, 169 Ave. A. (betw. 10th & 11th Sts.), 212-420-8392.