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pictured l-r: Miranda Miller, Julia Pierce, Nia Lovelis and Rena Lovelis
There's not much that surprises us when it comes to the topic of modern music - but were it physically possible, we'd have been reduced to picking our jaws up off the floor after seeing Cherri Bomb perform for the first time. What's surprising about Cherri Bomb is not the age of the band members (they range from ages eleven to fourteen), but rather their overwhelming talent. Make no mistake about it, Cherri Bomb is not your garden-variety tween pop group - instead, these girls are undeniably capable and believable rockers.
"There's a lot of work that goes into this," says Ana Lovelis from the Cherri Bomb production team, "They are extremely proud to be an all girl rock band. They like to say that they want to show the boys who can really rock out! It's a hard balance with school, and practice and rehearsals . . . but they pull it off. They pretty much want to take over the world."
The band's name is as unique as their sound. When Cherri Bomb first caught our attention, we immediately began drawing parallels between the band and the first all-girl rock band The Runaways. When asked about the name, Ana Lovelis revealed that we were not far off the mark. "While the girls were searching for a band name that would encompass the spirit of their music and attitudes toward life, they talked about The Runaways and how inspirational and world-changing that band meant to music. The girls, obviously, have a fondness for women in rock; and The Runaways completely broke the mold in that area. At the same time, one of the girls was reading a book called Cherry Bomb about the free-spirited but rebellious attitude of women who love and play rock and roll. So, they all agreed that the name fit them to a T. they changed the y to an i to put their own little spin and slight twist on it. And so, Cherri Bomb began!"
Of course, arguably the most famous song by The Runaways was their rock anthem Cherry Bomb.
"They love the song," Lovelis says. "Actually, last summer we took the girls to see (founding member of The Runaways) Joan Jett play in Orange County, and you can hardly believe how they sang along when Joan sang, 'I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch cherry BOMB!' They loved it! For their next show, they are going to be playing this anthem of rock! They hadn't played it before, but with the movie coming out, they are pretty excited and wanted to show their appreciation of the band who made a big statement for girls who rock!"
The Band
At fourteen years of age, versaitile Miranda Miller (guitars/keyboards/vocals) is the oldest member of Cherri Bomb.
"My grandpa started teaching me piano when I was 4 and I stuck with it," Miranda says. "He taught me guitar a few years later, but I wasn't into that as much. I didn't start loving guitar until I was in the band. Julia has helped me grow so much as a guitarist, and now I love playing both. I like keyboards because that's what I'm comfortable with and it comes natural. I like guitar because it's more of a challenge and I can have more fun with it on stage."
Handling the bulk of the lead vocals is twelve year old Julia Pierce (guitars/vocals). One of the things we noticed in the Spin video (compared to earlier performance videos of the band) was that Julia has switched from a standard microphone stand to a headset microphone. "Well, the production (team) wanted what was best for our look on stage," Julia explains. "We all thought that getting a headset was easier to move around on stage better. Instead of being trapped behind the mic while I sing, having a headset mic was the solution to being more free on stage. It made the band's performances more energetic and interesting. It made me feel more confident on stage. So, I think having a headset was a great solution."
Thirteen year old Nia Lovelis (drums/vocals) tell us she is heavily influenced by a famous American session drummer, "Josh Freese is my hugest inspiration. He makes drumming look easy and that motivates me. I love the way he plays. His dynamics are awesome and his timing is impeccable. He breathes life into drumming and I truly respect him for that."
The youngest member of Cherri Bomb is eleven year old Rena Lovelis (bass/vocals), who tells us of her interesting pre-perfomance preparations, "I love to dance. I love dancing around to music before a gig and it gets me energized and pumped up to go up on stage and have a great time!" When asked about the band's hair, makeup and clothes, Rena says, " Sometimes we come up with ideas and talk about them, and sometimes we just come in with new hair and clothes to surprise everyone!"
"I have always wanted my hair this color and was going to get it dyed this reddish color anyway," Nia adds. "As for our different styles, we like to pick out clothes we like and think would look good and then we all help each other so we all don't look too different or too uniform."
Julia states, "We want to be unique individuals that make up the band as a whole. Each of us has a certain image. We love styling our hair, makeup, and clothes too."
If you want to help Cherri Bomb out, vote for them in Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands 14. Vote daily - and while you're voting, you can listen to the studio version of Spin!
The Music
"When the girls began playing together, everyone would throw out ideas of songs that they wanted to play, all of their favorites, just to cut their teeth and to play a variety of different covers to see what styles would stick and begin to define their own style of music when they began working on originals." says Ana Lovelis. "The girls love classic rock, but with a modern edge. They adore everyone from the Beatles , Blue Oyster Cult, Debbie Harry, Oingo Boingo, Led Zeppelin, Green Day, The Muse, Incubus, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, The Runaways, the Eagles, Annie Lennox, Alanis Morrisette, and so many more. So the covers they have posted on YouTube were just a bit of here and there until they started to find their voices in what they wanted to express with their own unique style. As I said before, they are now working on Cherry Bomb for their next show, as well as Megalomaniac from Incubus. just for the fun of it! But their sets now are mainly comprised of the originals they have been recording."
"At the time, our musical directors are doing a lot of the writing," Miranda says. "and we pitch in when we can. We do write our own songs, but we haven't come up with one completely on our own that we are proud of enough to perform. The process of writing lyrics and music is tough, and we're always changing things around that we don't agree on. Sometimes we'll just play around with a chord progression or a riff and get an idea for a song, or we might have an idea for a song and sit down with a guitar and think it through. Writing lyrics is one of my favorite parts of writing songs because I have always liked writing poems. It just makes it harder when the words have to fit in the song."
Nia adds, "We love to come up with the song's themes and we usually like to make some kind of jam out of a forming song. That helps everyone in the project contribute to the songs somehow."
Check out some of Cherri Bomb's Videos at 24-HR Entertainmant, and be sure to check out Cherri Bomb's YouTube channel!
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