Dave Cherrykick (The Cherrykicks)

For those who don't know, the CherryKicks are a rather amazing Punk/Rock N' Roll band, from Glasgow. This interview was conducted after the Cherrykicks blistering set when they supported the B-Movie Heroes in the 13th Note Club, on 23rd Of February 2002, by me and my friend Craig (click here to go to his site). We hadnt prepared the interview at all, so that's why the questions are in a fucked up order. Enjoy.

Q. How did the band start out?

Dave: It started off me and Andy (bassist) playing basically just rock and roll cover songs, and we went through a few drummers and guitarists. Andy mentioned his long time friend Craig, who he's known since he was a kid and who's really good at drums. We got him in and started writing our own songs. Next thing my brother Alan said he had this mate Mikey, who plays guitar and really wants to come along for a jam, so he came along, jammed a couiple of times, then just stuck with us and that's how it worked. We started playing a lot of gigs around Glasgow, got quite lucky, some of our first gigs were at the Cathouse and places like that. We met the right kind of people, like Brian from TSB (Scottish record label) who manages Nerve, Nerve have helped us out a lot. We were lined up for supports with Electric Frankenstein, we're playing with Nerve in the Garage at the end of May. There's a London based company called Five Miles High, who heard the stuff through the website and really liked it, and that's where all these tours are coming from. They have a lot of bands coming through Glasgow, and basically just give us the support slots, and that's how we get the gigs.

Q. What's it been like touring with the B-Movie Heroes?

Dave: Yeah, it's been really good, they're a really good bunch of guys. They're totally down to earth, I know it might sound cheesy, I know they're not massive, but they're big enough. Ther'es no attitudes at all, they're all really down to earth, it's really good.

Q. How are you doing in the drinking contest with the B-Movie Heroes?

Dave: (Laughs) I'm not really sure actually, we all kinda get really drunk and can't remember who's done what, so we lose track of who's winning and who's losing, and I'm not just saying that because we're losing! It's all been fun, and tonight might be the night we see what happens.

Q. Are you signed to any label at all?

Dave: No we're not. We're putting out a track on a compilation CD through Five Miles High. We're going into the studio next weekend to record "Buckfast", which is the song for the compilation. That's gonna be released nationwide, so hopefully we'll get reviews in some national magazines. Again we've got Five Miles High to thank for that, they've been so supportive, agin I know it sounds cheesy but they're really doing it for the music, it's not about profit, because they're not really making a lot of money.

Q. How did you come up with the name, The Cherrykicks?

Dave: It's not a really interesting story actually. Our drummer Craig used to play in a band called The Blue River, and we were a bit pissed one night nad he was talking about the Blue River gigs, and I thought he said the blue river kicks. And I always wanted to be called "The" somethings, becaiuse all my favourite bands were like The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Backyard Babies, The Wildhearts, and I thought The something-kicks would be cool. And I'd just bought the guitar which I used tonight, and it was cherry red, so that's where it came from. as I said it's a really shit story. Our bassist's mum thinks it's something to do with deflowering virgins, that's a better story, so I think we'll go with that one!

Q. What are your plans for the future in the band?

Dave: To get a bit more exposure, to try and get a bit of funding for it all, it's expensive, just to play as many places as we can, anywhere,everywhere, ask us and we'll turn up and play. It's great to get the oppurtunity to play, it's all about trying to go somewhere. So basically just to play every palce we can, that sounds good to me.

Q. How would a band go about supporting you?

Dave: Well we do a lot of local nights at Nice and Sleazy's and places like that, where we just hire out the club and put on three or four bands, usually mate's bands, stuff like that. The best way to do it is just to get in touch. Send us an email, we'll maybe ask for a demo. We're not really fussy about what kind of music it is, just really as long as it's loud and not too angst ridden.

Q. What would you say is the best gig you've played?

Dave: The one we played in London on Thursday (21st Feb) that was good. There always seems to be one person comes off stage saying oh we fucked up here, missed a bit there, but that didn't happen, it was just really good. And the crowd was really good, that makes a big difference. You can play your heart out and you finish the song and the crowd are like (claps hands twice) it really disheartens you. Yeah I'd say that was probably our best gig so far.

Q. What well known bands have you played with?

Dave: well we've played with Nerve, Danny Frye and the Devildolls, we've played with 4ft Fingers. We we were sheduled to play with Electric Frankenstein, but that got cancelled because of the terrorist attacks, we're lined up to play with the Chasers, The B-Movie Heroes. We've played with quite a few Five Miles High bands, we've played with Plan A, The Wildhearts, we've played with Johnny Zhivago, who supported Backyard Babies on their tour. V8 Pack, Five iles High have got a really good roster of bands, and they're making rock and roll gigs quite popular again.We're just hoping we can get a bit more exposure.

Q. What's your take on so called "sell-out" bands like Blink 182 etc?

Dave: Well I think if I was faced with that amount of money I'd find it hard not to sell out. If you keep playing what you've been playing, there's no shame, it's if you change to become trendy then that's shit. Bands like Green Day, they've been playing the same type of stuff for what, fifteen years, and just because they got poular, people started slagging them off, but they just keep doing what they've always been doing which is great. As a struggling band it's hard to sit and slag them off because if someone came up to me with a multi-million doillar deal and a tour of America, I'm not gonna say no.

Q. What venues have you played in Glasgow?

Dave: Well we've played in Nice and Sleazy's, we play in there quite a lot, Mikey works there in the kitchens so don't eat anything from there! We've played in the Cathouse a couple of times, the 13th Note Club, the 13th Note Cafe, that's about it.

Q. How long have you all been playing your instruments?

Dave: Craig's been playing drums for.. a long time, since he was a kid, he couldn't afford a drumkit, so he tought himself in his bedroom with an AC/DC record and couple of pencils. Andy only started playing the bass when we formed the band, before that he played guitar, but we nedded a bassist so he picked one up. So he's only been playing bass for two, maybe two and a half years. I've been playing guitar for about seven years or something like that. I don't know how long Mikey's been playing guitar, probably quite a long time.

Q. Did you volunteer to sing when the band first formed?

Dave: Yeah, I just kinda got thrown into it, we had plans to get a singer, but it just never happened. It was hard enough to get the four of us to a practice without having to worry about a singer. And because we're such good friends, it would have been wierd getting someone we didn't know in. i'm still up for getting a singer, kind of, it would let me jump around a bit more, but it seems to work out alrite just now.

Q. Have you always played this sort of music?

Dave: Yeah, pretty much, you see I was kind of a latecomer to punk, I was into metal stuff like Metallica, Sepultura when I was a kid, Craig's a big old skool fan, AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, Guns N Roses, that sort of stuff, Andy's kinda grown up on that type of stuff too. Mikey's a big So-Cal punk fan, he's into Mad Caddies, I don't wanna drop him into shit by naming a band he doesn't like, kinda the American punk scene, a lot of ska stuff. We started to find a lot of similarities in bands we liked, there was bits in the songs that we all loved. Then we realised that all our favourite music was actually the stuff we grew up with, it was all guitar music and stuff, so we were writing songs and they just kinda got faster and faster and came out sounding a bit punk. It's just fast rock and roll. What we played tonight are pretty mush our first songs, we've maybe got two or three more, so that's what we've sounded like from the beginning.

Big Thanks to Dave For taking time out from his drinking contest for the interview! Interview by Richy Parker, and Craig Thomson.

Photo - Dave Cherrykick: the man, the myth, the legend...In action at London Borderline. 'Borrowed' from Five Miles High.

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