Cheerleader is Making Their Way to Boston
Cheerleader are busy rocking out at CMJ right now, but you can catch them at Brighton Music Hall on Sunday. Before they made it out to the east coast, they were kind enough to talk to Emertainment Monthly about getting rid of their new-band jitters and emerging into their scene.
Emertainment Monthly: Hey there! First thing I have to ask: why “Cheerleader”?
Cheerleader: We wanted to have something that sounds different! It stands out, it makes people notice us. And we see our friends as like, cheerleaders for one another. We compliment each other in the band all the time- we’re all each other’s biggest cheerleader.
EM: Any actual cheerleading experience?
(Laughs) No, no experience.
So you guys just put out an EP. Can you tell me a little bit about it?
Yeah! There are four songs on it, and it’s called On Your Side. We have one single from it, “Perfect Vision.” It’s a pretty buoyant EP, really jubilant and upbeat. Although the theme’s not as chipper.
And you’ve only self-produced before. What was it like stepping into a studio for this?
The recording process is a lot different. There are five of us, we all had to cram into a studio- that was definitely interesting. It was intimidating at first. Being in a studio is obviously a lot more professional and upscale, compared to what we’ve done in the past. But everyone was really nice, and so it became exciting. We’re really grateful for the process.
Between working in a studio and home recordings, which do you prefer?
We prefer the home recordings, I think, actually. It was hard to give up the reins and not be in control. With home recordings, everything sounds exactly how you want it to. It was still a great experience being in a studio, though. We let go of control. We weren’t as prepared to take advice from someone else, but we ended up happy with the recordings. But when you’re doing it all yourself…it’s just nice to sit in like, a dark room with your guitar, and a mic, and just keep going until 6 AM, as long as you want, then sleep, and start the process all over again. There’s a nice feeling in that.
https://soundcloud.com/cheerleadersounds/new-daze-1
Do you plan on releasing anything to accompany the album, music videos or anything?
For sure- we plan on releasing a music video for the title track. Right now of course we’re on tour. We’re in the process of shooting- it’s a new experience for us. We’re pulling influences from things like Tame Impala and Fell In Love With A Girl. It’s exciting.
I look forward to it! Any crazy tour traditions?
Well, we were at South By Southwest earlier this year, and we basically want to try to beat our Chipotle record from then. We eat Chipotle pretty much every night. It’s really easy to overindulge on that. At SXSW, we had it like 5-6 times the whole time we were there.
Wow. That’s a hefty goal to beat! Any pranks?
We haven’t really ever had any pranks, exactly. Oh! But I remember this one time, it was our second night, we were in Minneapolis, staying at this hostel. And we were all trying to sleep, when all of a sudden, Josh starts, like, kicking everywhere. He was fighting ninjas in his sleep. And all of a sudden, he smacks me in the kidney, and threw the blanket off the bed, and was so surprised by the cold he woke up.
Any bands you’ve toured with you’ve taken inspiration from?
We love Diarrhea Planet! They’re really nice, we met them at SXSW. We love their lyrics, and they have fantastic showmanship. It’s silly not to take anything away from a show, so yeah, we’ve been inspired by them and other bands. Playing with other bands, you pick up on the body language, and you model what they’re doing that gets the audience going.
That’s really nice! So what are you looking forward to coming to Boston?
We’re pumped for the show! We’ve never been to Boston before, so it’s exciting. We hope to meet some cool people.
Make your way out to Brighton Music Hall on Sunday for a chance to be one of the cool people Cheerleader meets- and dance to their fast, electro-indie in the meantime.