“cheerbleederz with a z and without a capital letter…”
It was September 2019 and I had just seen an indie band called Doe play their final gig together. The event was a sold out affair at The Lexington with support from Dogeyed and Finish Flag. Emotional? For sure. I definitely saw some tears in the house. However, where there are endings, there are always beginnings. At least for me. As I filed out with the multitudes of Doe fans in woe, I was handed a leaflet by one Phoebe Cross. It immediately grabbed my attention, not least because of the wonderfully detailed illustration that served as the backdrop. Cornfields at night, a starry sky and what I assumed was a blazing moon containing the names cheerbleederz and Me Rex. I'd never heard of those bands before but I was drawn into a dream and I had to find out more.
In an age of artists this size almost exclusively releasing singles, I was in luck. cheerbleederz had released their first EP, Faceplant, in September 2018. It boasted four tracks - Staying Up Late, Don't Hesitate, Thinking of You and Cabin Fever. Clocking in at around 11 minutes, it's possible the EP feels even less than that.
You can imagine the lyrics of Staying Up Late being written very much in that moment, even if they weren't. 'Staying up late, I'm so tired I can't even sleep,' is a state of mind we can all relate to. Is that what being overtired is? 'Overtired' would be a far less cool title for this track. Written and performed entirely by this self-contained band, Kathryn Woods is on guitar, Phoebe Cross on drums and Sophie Mackenzie on bass. All three sing, a constant blend of vocals are a part of this band's sound. Is 'take another breath, stage dive to your death,' the anthemic gospel for indie fans everywhere? Similarly with Don't Hesitate, the line 'don't feel ashamed of the art you make' should be printed on t-shirts. Whilst Don't Hesitate is about drawing someone in, Thinking of You is about pushing someone away, or at least out of their mind. The title of track three may lure you into believing it could be a sweet daydream, but the daydream is long gone, even if the music is still sweet. 'I wanna hide in my room, instead of talking to you, I'll forever seclude, I won't be thinking of you,' pretty much sums it up. I presume it wasn't always bad. You'd be wrong if you thought this was a four track EP called Faceplant that wasn't full of faceplanting scenarios. Cabin Fever is a more obvious allusion to the content within. Nobody ever wrote a happy song with this title. 'I think that we're all doomed' is the kind of team spirit we all need in these trying days, even if it's about an unwanted crush. But also that's a hard relate from me.
So now we have Faceplanted, it's time to plant some faces. cheerbleederz are made up of the sole female members of other bands. Kathryn fronts Fresh, a band also containing Myles McCabe who is responsible for Me Rex! Phoebe is drummer and vocalist for Happy Accidents, frontman Rich Mandell was a special guest at the Doe concert and also recorded the Faceplant EP. Finally, Sophie plays guitar both in Finish Flag and also with Painter, a band even younger than cheerbleederz. As well as this, Sophie designs the artwork for the band, and even designed Doe's Farewell Gig poster.
As it happened, I actually had tickets to see Tessa Violet on the 11th of October. I passed up seeing Tessa Violet to go to this gig instead. I'd seen Tessa before, but that's another story for another time. Paper Dress Vintage was cosy. A vintage clothes store by day, and a venue by night, all the clothes were pushed to one side of the space and covered up. On stage, support band Adults were setting up, and began to play as I arrived. They covered a Happy Accidents song, which was a real surprise to the members of that band. The main vocalist of Adults handed the microphone to Phoebe Cross, who sang parts of it with other people in the audience. They looked so shocked and honoured by it. I hadn't heard the song before, but what a cool way to kick off the evening. I liked Adults. Some songs would be shouty, others had more melody. Most of the songs were upbeat. I think the only song that had keyboard in (a lovely Microkorg, nice), was the Happy Accidents cover. When they were packing up, I saw someone packing the Microkorg into a tote bag. The ultimate protection for a £300 instrument.
In between was a DJ playing some absolute bangers including Shura, that's the main one I remember but every song was a hit. I think the DJ was the QUEER Clubnight guy, who would be carrying on after cheerbleederz played. The band cleared their stuff away and Me Rex set their gear up. Helpfully, the tallest man in Hackney decided to stand in front of me with his girlfriend. She wanted to dance, but he was having absolutely none of it. Dance with your girlfriend fool.
For this show it was touted as a 'full band' gig for Me Rex. Miles McCabe sang lead with fast lyrics reminiscent of Ed Sheeran's early stuff, played electric guitar and keyboard too. In addition to Kathryn Woods on guitar, Rich Mandell played keyboard and bass, with Phoebe Cross on drums. All the supporting cast sang backing vocals. It was very clever in a way. The backing vocals alternated between all three of the backing band. Sometimes all three sang, sometimes just two, sometimes just one, in all different sorts of combinations. It was really cool to watch. When they all sang together it was absolute harmony to my ears. A very lovely sound.
The Me Rex set started with Phoebe Cross making a load of noise on the cymbals, and the cheerbleederz set started the same way. A click of the sticks and the band went straight into Staying Up Late. Most of this song centres on Kathryn and Phoebe singing in unison. Sophie sang the least overall in this set, but she did contribute more than your average backing vocalist. What she didn't contribute in lead vocals, she more than made up for in puns.
'There's still a bit of room if you want to come forward, it's quite squashy at the back. This is a new one!' It was Disco. At this point no one knew when the next release was coming, so to get to hear new material was a great bonus. Audience reaction was solid. The women would sing the line 'I was never picked at the-' and then point at one of the performers to do a lick on their instrument. It was cool.
Sophie's first pun of the evening followed a brief summary of the tour. 'I'd have to say it has been tourific.' The crowd met the one-liner with equal pleasure and disdain. 'The half and half reaction is exactly what happens in my brain. Everytime,' replied Kathryn. 'It's kind of like exactly what happens in the band everytime,' responded Sophie. 'It's different jokes, I don't just say that joke over and over again. Please there's time, everyone laugh!' Phoebe takes a turn in the banter. 'You can tell we've lost our patience with Sophie. It was her first ever tour!' And Kathryn deals the final blow. 'And her last.' K.O. Phoebe does follow it up by saying she's killed it though. Kathryn rallies the crowd. 'Yeah shout out for Sophie, it's her first ever tour! ...Everyone gets ill.' I'm not surprised. Illness spreads in the workplace like wildfire. 'I'm so weak. We went for about two days, and I was like "guys, I'm ill".'
Kathryn announced the band had just recorded a new EP. They were going to play all those songs in addition to the ones they'd already released. 'Yeah if you wanna clap everytime I hit this fake clapping sound- oh. This is a good chance for it to- oh it's working. Everytime I hit this why don't you clap because it's Friday and it's a little bit of fun. You'll know when.' After a drum pad mishap for Sophie, the band played what would become their next single, Say To U. The audience clapped along from the start. Kathryn's voice is perfect for this track. Her guitar feedback leading into the heavier part of the song was so loud and I loved it.
Phoebe thanked the audience for coming out on a Friday. On the lead up to Halloween, Sophie had something to say about the decor. 'It's really weird but it's like the third Twin Peaks themed room. Like, I know it says Happy Halloween, but it really should say "Twin Peaks". Pretend it does.'
'This is an older one that we've actually had out.' It was Thinking Of You. The more I was watching their set, the more I got to like them. The songwriting is fantastic, the passion they put into their playing is awesome, and they can have a laugh on stage too. What more could you want? Phoebe thanked Adults for opening up, and for covering Happy Accidents. 'We're also gonna do a cover now. That was a great segway! We're the professionals. This is a cover by a band called Now, Now.' This one was called Dead Oaks. I don't recognise this song or the band, but it was cool to hear a cover of a song I'd never heard before. Sometimes artists do really obvious covers and it doesn't always go off well. This one seemed suited to them and could've easily been one of their songs, especially if it was situated on the Lobotany EP.
The band gave a shout out to Julian on sound and also to Roly Poly Promotions. Small promoters are so key in getting these bands heard. Sophie thought out loud for a second. 'Also this is a bit risky because I haven't spoken to him yet but I'm thinking about asking Rich, who played bass in Me Rex to give me some, like, bass dancing lessons. He's got that like- I gotta learn that man.' Kathryn was having none of it. 'I don't think it's something you can learn.' An audience member shouted out something about English people. Phoebe abruptly corrected the man. 'Sophie's Scottish actually.' Sophie ripped into her. 'Yeah. Actually.'
'This song is about crying at work! Crying on the clock.' - Phoebe. The cheer was almost too loud for that. 'Getting paid to cry - we've all done it,' Sophie confirmed. I think Sophie sings lead in the verses, while Kathryn and Phoebe sing the choruses. I immediately fell for this song. A part of me thinks Phoebe made a mistake in this one, like she was going to carry on playing during a quiet part. At least that's how it sounded to my drummer brain. She also counted the band back in with the cutest '1, 2, 1, 2, 3..' ever.
'We've got two left for ya.' Announced Phoebe. I love what Kathryn had to say next. 'It's the downfall of being a new band - we don't have any songs. However, can I just say that the fact that we're a band of three women and everyone's here, it's really, really fucking cool. Like I do feel like a lot of people implied that wasn't possible for me and for us, and we said fuck that! Thank you so much, thank you.' Well said.
Kathryn then proceeded to introduce the next song. 'Phoebe is gonna do some singing now.' With some help from Sophie. 'Next time I'm gonna bring a torch and actually manually put a spotlight on you.' Phoebe was shy, but she needn't be! 'No spotlight, no spotlight! I'm gonna run away.' Kathryn started playing a chord progression. Phoebe began to sing solo without playing the drums. This one is a new one called Gaze Of Others. It might've started off quiet, but it certainly picked up once the drums kicked in. The drums were so loud actually that the vocals were drowned out, which was a shame.
'Thank you so much. We're gonna play one more song. If you walk down the stairs there's a merch table. It's hidden a bit but you should come and look at it and buy some things if you want to.' Phoebe was really forcing this down our throats. Wow. Someone in the audience shouted 'Hard sell, hard sell, hard sell!' Sophie was like a door-to-door sales lady. 'We even added sleeves because it's cold.' Kathryn completed the superhero team of salespeople. 'Yeah these two still dress like it's summer. I've got sleeves.' It was pretty hot in there. 'Yeah we're doing poor marketing with our sleeveless tops.'
Cabin Fever was the last song, and it's my favourite of the four Faceplant songs. It was even more ferocious than the studio version. The singing was harder, the drums were louder, and the harmonies sweeter. 'Thank you, we've been cheerbleederz! That's it!' All three of them hugged on the stage and almost fell into the drum kit.
The rest of 2019 was a relatively quiet year for cheerbleederz, unless you count the band announcing their new EP, Lobotany, and new merchandising to go with it. Along with this, the first single was released, Say To U. Dealing with the age old problem of how to start a conversation with someone you like. I might be wrong, in which case that says more about me than it does this track. 'Smiling over your shoulder, you're like a supernova,' is the kind of poetry I'm here for.
Disco received a music video, another animated wonder by Jono Ganz depicting the residents of a greenhouse in an afterhours rave. It's great to hear Sophie's voice bringing a different flavour to this one. 'My mind is racing but my heart, it beats so slow,' tells a tale of someone who has all their ducks in a row, but is missing one vital component. They were never picked at the disco.
The full EP was released on February 7th, 2020. Sometimes I Cry At Work is track three and it's great to finally hear those lyrics properly. The relatable lyrics continue with 'this is the oldest I've ever been, and what have I achieved.' Are we more judgemental or self-judgemental than the generation before us? Gaze Of Others finishes the second instalment in the cheerbleederz story with strong words. Fighting back and being one's own force to be reckoned with is something we could all believe in.
And last but certainly not least, I've had the pleasure of being able to send a few questions to cheerbleederz to get more insight. Please enjoy.
1. I love your band name. Was this a group effort? Were there other potential band names before this one?
Thanks! Phoebe had it in mind for a while along with a few others like Catnip. We searched Cheerbleeders and that was already taken so went with cheerbleederz with a z and without a capital letter to be quirky.
2. The music videos Jono Ganz has animated for Cheerbleederz are superb! How did that collaboration begin?
Jono lived with Phoebe for a few years and did all the artwork and photos for her other band Happy Accidents, so it just went from there! We asked him to do an animated video for 'staying up late' and it came out amazing - he'd never done a project of that length before but nailed it! 'disco' was a step up again and we're so pleased with it - the style, colours, plot and characters are such a vibe. More and more bands in our circles have been collaborating with him which is great to see. <3
3. Is Disco inspired by real events?
Sophie - I guess the answer is...sort of? I suppose it's partly looking back and wondering if that thing that happened when you were a kid is defining how you act now... really it's about feeling lonely and the things we do to cope with that! As I get older I am trying to tell myself to do things because I want to rather than to impress others or 'fit in' whatever that means.
4. For Sophie: You've done multitudes of artwork for various bands, but what's your favourite you've done for cheerbleederz?
I'm not sure if this counts but early on when I was learning to use acorn software I made a little image out of a photo of the three of us from our first ep release show surrounded by a rainbow and stars... it's my favourite because of what it represents and also because I really want it on a mug!
5. For Kathryn: How do you know when something you write is a Fresh song, or a cheerbleederz song?
They're quite different bands, so it's not hard to decide. I write collaboratively with cheerbleederz so often something that I put forward will be then and there in the room!
6. For Phoebe: Speaking as a drummer, managing drums and vocals is a tough gig. What came first, drumming or singing?
Technically, singing. I was always singing in the car and the bath along to anything that suited my range when I was a kid. Then I've played drums since I was 11, all self taught and it was only in my first band at uni that I started singing in too. I love singing and playing drums but when I'm leading on vocals it definitely feels the most exposing and it can be difficult! I bought this mic (Audix OM5) which picks up my voice better above all the cymbals and noise going on! I probably need to work on breathing and stuff with a professional that would be helpful hah!.
7. For all of you: What song would you recommend as a starting point for each of your other bands?
Phoebe - For my main band Happy Accidents, I like our second album best! For vibey stuff check out the songs Nunhead and Text Me When I'm Home, for higher tempo/punkier vibes, Wait It Out seems to be a favourite. We have new music coming soon which will definitely be a little different to our first two (essentially we've chilled out). Me and Kathryn also play in Me Rex and I’d recommend checking out that project cos it’s sick.
Sophie - For Finish Flag I would say look out because we have new stuff coming out this year (!) which is extremely exciting so keep your eyes peeled. I am also in another band called Painter which released two singles last year- if you're into it check out Standing Still.
Kathryn - If you're into punky stuff, Going to Brighton. If you're more of an indie kid, New Girl.
8. Crying at work can sometimes be a mandatory experience. Have you all cried at work?
Phoebe - Oh yes, from crying in a café when we had the busiest bank holiday Monday ever and ran out of cake, to experiencing lots of office meanies who make you feel worthless and frustrated. But I don't let people put me down anymore, or I 'professionally' call them out on their bullshit. I got a new job now woop!
Sophie - Sometimes! I think I can put a bit too much unnecessary pressure on myself to do things quickly and perfectly and then get upset when I can't live up to those expectations - really the pressure is just in my head.
Kathryn - have cried at work many times. I've worked at a recording studio, as a barista, waitressing, as an english teacher in France, as a library assistant. I probably cried the most as a barista and waitressing because customer service can be a petri dish of despair.
9. The Faceplant EP received a limited release on cassette, what's the reason behind making Lobotany a digital-only release?
No real reason but saving the environment from plastic hah! We’ve also been too busy with all our lives to do them and we’d rather focus on our live sound and writing BUT saying that never say never it does seem to be what people want.
10. 2019 saw the first Cheerbleederz tour, can fans expect another in 2020?
Hopefully, we'd love to do a cool support but if we don't hear about anything soon we'll book our own one! DIY baby. 2020 is the year of all tours! We love touring with another band and making new friends, and we also love going out in our little gang and feeling like it's us against the world. Maybe we’ll do both!
11. For all of you: You mentioned that you would be at School of Frock in Exeter teaching before the show, what was that like?
Phoebe - I love seeing people sit down at a drumkit having never played before and then within hours they're playing along to a song with others on different instruments. For those in London, I'm doing a DIY drum workshop for beginners on 9th March which is a great chance for everyone to have a go! Initiatives like School of Frock and First Timers are incredible and there's now more diverse bands than ever, I'm sure of it. Forming a band is the best thing I ever did and it's amazing that it's becoming more and more accessible.
Kathryn - It was the first time that I'd ever done anything like that and it was so rewarding and fun. I remember the first time I played guitar standing up and being accompanied by drums when i was in school, i felt like I was invincible. It was cool to watch other people experience that.
12. Is there anything you'd do differently on your next tour, or did it all go according to plan?
Tours can be unpredictable and hard at times but we were the most fabulous touring party on this cruel cruel earth and we can conquer anything.
You can only react to the circumstances that present themselves. We’re touring pros and we know better than to think we can anticipate anything.
13. You were recording in the exceptionally long year of January, when can people expect to see the fruits of that?
Hopefully in a few months we'll be able to show you what we did in that session! :D
cheerbleederz play their first show of 2020 as part of the Idaho 4 gig at The Victoria Dalston on Saturday 29th of February featuring Lazy Day, Ex-Vöid, Finish Flag, Icehead, R N Taylor (Los Campesinos!) and Professor Mooncup.
