The eighties-inspired, minimalist pop duo are set to mark the release their latest EP with a headline show at Rough Trade. We put some questions to Maddy Chamberlain and Alex Blake to find out more
Where are you both originally from and how did you end up in Nottingham?
Maddy: I’m originally from the good old Black Country but fortunate enough not to be blessed with the accent. I moved up to Nottingham in 2014 when I started university at Nottingham Trent.
Alex: My story is much the same except I started not far from here in Melton Mowbray. I knew Nottingham well – loved it so much I came to uni here.
Could you tell me a little bit about how you met and formed the band?
Maddy: We met in our first year of university when we were lucky enough to end up in the same flat in uni halls together. We spoke a lot about music that year and realised we had a lot of similar interests. However, we didn’t actually form a band until second year because we never really thought we could make music with just a glockenspiel and a bass – but people seem to like it.
How would you describe your sound?
Alex: We never really know how to answer this question – which we agree is a positive thing. The words we usually use are “moody, minimalist dream-pop” but we’re open to suggestions.
Did you know much about the Nottingham music scene before moving here?
Maddy: Not massively no – my dad came to uni here a million years ago and he told me the music scene was really great then but I didn’t realise how awesome it really was until I moved here. I think it’s such a good place for upcoming local artists because so many venues in Nottingham genuinely care about getting local acts in all the time.
Alex: I used to travel here a lot for gigs when I lived outside the city, so I knew there were tons of amazing venues and festivals held here, but I had no idea how vibrant the local music scene was until I was part of it – there are so many incredible artists here.
As a new band, you’ve only really started playing shows this year. How have you gone about getting gigs and getting your name out there?
Alex: When we first started making music we didn’t imagine we’d be playing live at all. It was only after my cousin – Jonathan Blake – asked us if we would be the opener at his show at The Cookie in Leicester that we really even considered it. When we began to look for more shows to play, we started by emailing a lot of people – venues and promoters and such. Since then, it’s snowballed as we’ve made friends at gigs and made contacts with people and venues who have been nice enough to put us on again.
What have been your favourite gigs to play so far?
Maddy: We’ve played so many cool shows in the past year but I guess a couple that have stood out are when we were main support for Borns at his sold-out Bodega show. It was insane to play a packed-out venue, and the crowd were just amazing, plus Borns was so lovely – it really makes a difference when the artist you play with is super friendly. Another highlight was opening the Hockley Hustle stage at the Hockley Arts Club at this year’s festival. We were really chuffed to be asked to be part of such a great event.
Do you have any advice for any other new bands starting out in Nottingham?
Alex: I’d say be friendly and be confident – don’t undersell yourself. Make friends with other bands and promoters. A social media presence is also really useful for new bands, so I’d advise investing some time to learn how to manage Facebook pages and all that.
You have your debut EP coming out soon. Why should we listen to it?
Maddy: Yes, our debut EP Tea of Tears is out on Monday 5 December which we’re so excited about. You should go have a listen because it’s different – hopefully it’s not like anything you’ve heard before. It’s essentially weird pop music, but we’re heavily inspired by eighties new wave, dream pop and shoegaze. So if you’re into any of that, you might like this.
How can we hear the EP?
Alex: It will be available on pretty much all platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube etc.). There will be physical copies at our EP launch at Rough Trade, and we’re putting together an online store so more will be available afterwards.
How did songwriting and the recordings come together?
Alex: Our songwriting process is pretty sporadic – we definitely don’t have a cohesive method. It’s very equal though – we both work on every song together from the start. Sometimes a song will develop around a vocal melody and others around chords or a bass riff. Recording is a very DIY process – we record in a bedroom and edit, produce and mix all of our music ourselves on a tight budget because we’re poor students. It’s not ideal, but we’re proud with how far we’ve managed to get with it.
Can you tell us a bit about your EP launch…
Maddy: It’s on Monday 5 December at the wonderful Rough Trade and totally free. We have some amazing support from other local artists Luke Peter Foster – an alternative spoken word artist and electronic singer-songwriter Georgina Wood. We’ll also be selling some Cherry Hex merch for the first time on the night alongside copies of our EP.
If we went through your recent plays on Spotify what can kind of thing would we find?
Maddy: Oh god it’s a right mix on my Spotify. It ranges from my eighties playlist full of Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Cure to some of my favourite bands at the moment such as The Magic Gang, Kagoule, Yassassin and Dream Wife.
Alex: You’d find an embarrassingly high play-count on The 1975’s newest album. Also recently I have been loving the new tracks from The xx and Childish Gambino.
Is there any other music coming out of Nottingham at the moment that you would recommend?
Maddy: Our pals Vega Bay have an EP coming out at the end of December which we’re super excited to hear. Also really loving Taco Hell at the moment – they motivate me to get my ass out of bed almost every morning.
Alex: I’m in love with SJBravo. I hear there’s a new EP on the way…
Any final words for the LeftLion readers?
Maddy: Nottingham’s music scene is crazy good at the moment, honestly just get down to any venue any night of the week and you’re bound to stumble across something awesome.
Cherry Hex launch their new EP Tear of Tears Rough Trade on Monday 5 December 2016. Facebook event.
Cherry Hex and the Dream Church on Bandcamp
Cherry Hex and the Dream Church on Facebook
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