Interview with Cherry2000

 CHERRY 2000

Interviewed by: Fonda




Hellish greetings to Cherry2000! It’s great to hear bandz from your country and also the friendliness of the people there! Please introduce the band to our readers by telling us the kind of music you guys play and just a brief detail on how the band started.

Rachael: OK. We are, as we know, Cherry2000. Founded on a madcap performance art collaboration. 'Twas then that we came across our unique... conceptual... understanding... Punk rock with a perverse avant-garde twist is where it all began. And now it's just... punk rock. Is it?

Andy: Hellish greetings, Fonda. Our music is true to the idea of do-it-yourself: it's all done on the cheap, for no real cost at all except maintenance of my electronic gear. I missed punk, the 70's kind, but got into that magic period around 79-84 where punk became a bit more metal, and metal became a bit more punk. Then there's a grey industrial sound to it, and sometimes it's a bit headfucky too - increasingly more psychedelic as we go on.

I know you have been ask a couple of times with this question, but I will ask anyways: What’s behind the band name? Who came up with idea of the band name?

Rachael: Me. I saw this movie a long time ago and always held it dear to my heart. On one of the performances we collaborated on I was a wind-up toy called Cherry 2000, and that's where it came from.

Andy: It's an electroclash name. Somehow it suits Rachael - people who've never met her usually think she's called Cherry. People shout at her in the street - 'Hey, Cherry!'. We initially saw ourselves as a house band for Sydney clubs, as a short, sharp live act between the electro and house DJs. We'd go on and perform four of our songs and then it'd be back to the DJs. After a while, we just sort of drifted away from electroclash into this thing we do now. Now it continues to evolve, we're slowing down and bringing up the sound effects. It's dance music to us too, we want to hear it in the clubs. It's been a very strange journey and we've met many, many interesting people along the way. Freaks like you, for example! We're not black metal, but we have an affinity for that music, especially old school black metal like Venom and Bathory.

Cherry2000 have released a couple of demos already. In every demo, do you guys try to maintain the same kind of music style from your past release or do you come up with a new concept or variation of sound?

Rachael: We find ourselves evolving, getting our fuckin jollies on whatever comes next. Evolution is the revolution, man.

Andy: We have two albums out, 'Criminal Damage' (Electricult) and, before that one, 'Kidnapped in L.A.' (Ear Pimp). The sound has definitely evolved from one thing into another. It hasn't been intentional, it's been more due to our really zeroing in on what we can do, what we want to do, and how we can do it. It's come with experience. Our sound has a few scars in it now, it's definitely been around the block. It sounds rusty, warm and heavy. The sense of humour is still in there.

Rachael, you are the lyricist of the band. I like the song “taste the night” by the way! When you write a song, do you usually think of a topic first before you will write it down or you will scribble a few words on the paper on what you feel that very moment and then it will end up as a song?

Rachael: I do a bit of both. Mainly I write songs and Andy'll go get rifftastic, but mainly I come up with little stories or journeys that then become songs. Some of the songs the I come up with are actual things that've happened.

Andy: To me, 'Taste the Night' is all about welcoming creative chaos into your life.

Base from your music influences like Butthole Surfers, Halford, Suzi Quatro, Bad Art & Gary Numan, have you tried covering those bands songs before?

Rachael: Naaah. They just help us get into the groove.

Andy: We've covered Joan Jett and Sydney punk band The Thought Criminals, but as Rachael says, we don't cover our heroes any more. They are there when we need them to give us some electrical volts when we feel low or dull. They give us the strength to continue. They are our champions!

What kind of music you find dreadful? Any specific band that C2K wants to kill?

Rachael: Look, there's a fuckload of bands that we'd love to put a nailgun to their heads, but that's just not good manners now is it?

Andy: We don't have a lot of time to waste. Even spending time thinking about how much crap there is out there right now is a waste of time. We're not alone, we personally know many talented bands and other artists who are struggling, while other less inspiring people seem to be all over the place. Everyone knows how the music industry works. However, we seek out, and find, artists who show some kind of independence and courage.

During gigs, any unforgettable experience? Like a big supporter of your band that goes naked and say “ I love your damn music mate!” hhmm?

Rachael: What about the equipment all going crashing? That was a pretty memorable moment.

Andy: Oh, OK. Rachael got her high heels tangled in the leads coming from my electronic gear and pulled the whole lot down on to the stage, SMACK! I picked it up again and hit play and it all worked. That got a huge cheer. She's done that twice so far. The gear still works. Actually it sounds better.

Speaking of that, do you guys smoke, get wasted and stuff like that?

Rachael: Oooh, look out. Been known to! I've been thrown out of metal gigs in a pair of hot pink pumps and suede leather mini-dress in a room full of nothing but six foot tall, three foot wide supposed metal dudes - men. Yet I was the one to be escorted out by six bouncers. What's that about?

Andy: We are strategic with our good times. There's a lot to be said for taking it out on the limb once in a while. It can be inspirational. It's a political act, having a good time. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to work.

Did it ever came to a point that you guys have this really bad feud and decided to call it quits?

Andy: Yeah, it was at Question 4, funnily enough.

Rachael: We've had a few, nothing too detrimental. We haven't bounced off a rollerdoor like a ping pong ball like a friend we know.

Andy: One real corker was right in front of the stage on which we'd just played.

Rachael: Oh, that's right!

Andy: But we never argue very much about music. It may be because we both have a sense of what needs to be done in right now, musically speaking, and we're just getting on with it. Of course we argue and have feuds, all the time. It comes from really caring about stuff.

Do you think that the world would be much better if we all live in one continent?

Rachael: It would sure as fuck make life on this fuckin island easier, rock and roll wise.

Andy: It would be a wake-up call for a lot of Australians. They tend not to realise how life is here, how it's like living in a bubble or on the moon, because of its isolation. Some artists can survive here, the more generic ones, but those artists with a singular vision are not very well understood. However, the flipside is that, because of its isolation, this country can breed some really strange species, uninterru/pted, over time. Some Australian creatures are amazingly venomous and bizarre. It's the same with the music. It can evolve here, unseen, until it eventually becomes something unprecented.

Before this world would end, who are those bands that you guys would want to perform with?

Rachael: I'd have to say, the Butthole Surfers. Or Ministry.

Andy: I have more of a studio fantasy. I'd like to collaborate with Vanda and Young, who produced AC/DC when they were at their very best. I'd like them to produce my metal storm thing, because they really understand electrical energy. I think they would know exactly how to produce Rachael's voice, too. She has a big voice, a rock voice, not a million miles from Bon Scott but deeper.

Define Cherry2000 in one word.

Rachael: Now.
Andy: Saturnine.

If you guys are invited and paid to perform in “Australian Idol” show, will you take the chance?

Rachael: Hell yeah!
Andy: We're being paid, right?

Rachael: And we can do whatever the fuck we want? We'd do the most brutal firethrowing satanistic blood lusting rock and roll show that this sick nation has ever seen.
Andy: How much are we getting paid? I wouldn't do it for less than $5,000. Rachael: Minimum. No, $10,000.

Andy: That wouldn't be enough. It wouldn't even cover the lights and the pyro. Rachael: $50,000.
Andy: Flat fee, plus we'd a stake, percentage points on every copy of that episode shown. Those suckers are going to bleed for us.

What makes Cherry2000 worth remembering for the UG listeners?

Rachael: I really don't know.

Andy: It's memorable, but I don't know exactly what makes it that way. It seems to stand out on its own, unlike anything else. It's really unusual, the cumulative sound of Cherry2000, not something you hear every day. We're very proud of our sound.

Hey, any plans dropping by Philippines?!

Rachael: Any plans to book us?
Andy: Yeah, book us Fonda, we'll drink you and all your mates under the table.

Thank you for time in answering this guys! I wish Cherry2000 all the best! Any last messages you want to say?

Rachael: Thank you so much for being into some filthy rock and roll. Thanik you so much for rocking! The pleasure is all ours.

Andy: Yes, it was great to meet you and answer your questions. We love your band and we hope to meet you some day!


Bandsite: http://www.cherry2000.org
Email: cherry2000 at gee mail dot com