ARTICLES
IN THE BLACK & WHITE: 020 - Cherry Bomb
Posted by: pjsykes – Mar 23, 2010
Cherry Bomb
2010 - Richmond, VA
Cherry Bomb is an all girl DJ collective working out of Richmond, VA. The collective formed about a year ago and have quickly become quite the hot ticket in town. They create and book their own events such as Rock n' Shop and Sadie Hawkins Dances all while holding down their monthly gig at Cous Cous. Live the quintet spins a wide range of vinyl that keeps listeners engaged through out the night. Though there is some overlapping territory, each member's musical preference and knowledge of speciffic genres makes the collective stronger as a whole. The following photos were taken of each member with their personal collection of music.
Vilkas D'Angelo-Horvath - artist / receptionist
Lived in Richmond since 1992
Favorite record store in the world: Missing Records, great western road location, Glasgow , UK
Favorite website to buy records online: Ebay
Least favorite music format: Minidisc -but only because my minidisc player is a jerk.
Best thrift store record find: Probably the entire clash discography on vinyl from the Manassas Salvation Army.
Favorite concert: This is hard to narrow down to one, but the one that still sticks with me is Sigur Ros at Temple Bar Arts Centre in Dublin in 2000. It was fully lit by candlelight with warm incense burning. At that point I hadn't actually heard them, I was just going on the basis of the reviews, which basically said that they were the band for me. They were. I was and continue to be blown away.
Concert that you couldn't wait to see but totally let you down: Cat Power
Guilty pleasure: I don't believe in the idea of guilty pleasure, I think it's all valid...but...I do like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift.
Ideal year to live in based only on the music: 2000 or 1968.
Favorite TV show/series about music: YouTube
Favorite documentary on music: Super Furry Animals: Rings Around The World
Kylie Minogue: Showgirl
Belle & Sebastien: Fans Only
Travis: The Singles
U2: Rattle & Hum
Favorite Richmond band past or present: Mermaid Skeletons and/or Rah Bras
What music magazines do you read? Q, NME, and whichever one is doing stories on artists I like.
What music websites/blogs/online magazines do you read? All of them.
The Delgados are a band who, in my opinion, can do no wrong. I found this on Ebay whilst digging for records. I didn't know it existed. The handpainted brown paper bag sleeve made it that much sweeter. It is actually a false split single - Van Impe is an alter-ego of The Delgados. Their early sound is more punky indie-rock but most of their catalogue does not sound like this. So finding this record was an even bigger discovery when I played it and it was a new song in an old style.
The Delgados - Van Impe split single "Liquidation Girl"
Sara Gossett - Receptionist
Lived in Richmond since the fall of 2006
Favorite record store in the world: The Blue Dog in Fredericksburg, Virginia holds a special place in my experience with collecting music.
Favorite website to buy records online: Ebay! Where international sellers with long lost secret treasures from the '60s and '70s are just a click away...
Least favorite music format: If it plays, it's all good in my book!
Favorite concert: My favorite concert wins its title based on the entire experience of the show, not just the music of the night. Around the time of my birthday last year, I found out that an old group I really love, the Flower Travellin' Band, were coming to play in DC. I couldn't believe it, because this is a Japanese psychedelic rock band that was around in the late '60s & early '70s, and not only had they not been active in decades, but this was one of their first shows in the states EVER - I just couldn't miss it! As it turned out, they played a small amount of their older material (and it sounded Amazing!), but they focused mostly on newer songs they'd recorded for the first album they'd put out together since the '70s, and well - let's just say it wasn't quite on the same level as that far-out heavy psych rock from their old days. But the whole thing was just such a special and unique experience (who would have thought I'd ever get the chance to see these guys live?); not to mention that the band's genuine energy and passion for their music was undeniably contagious. That will always stand out to me as exactly what a perfect show should be like.
Concert that you couldn't wait to see but totally let you down: Cat Power in Charlottesville, VA
Guilty pleasure: Any band responsible for the big hair metal ballads. I know they're so cheesy, but... I love them!
Ideal year to live in based only on the music: 1967, The Summer of Love. I have to say that I'm happy to live in a time when I can soak up an incredible amount of music from all different genres that span decades and parts of the world.
Favorite TV show/series about music: Behind the Music on VH1 - Even bands I didn't like, I'd end up getting sucked in and thinking "Oh my god, YES! This is the greatest band in the history of the world! They've just been through SO MUCH!"
Favorite documentary on music: Can't pick just one, so...
New York Doll (Arthur "Killer" Kane and the New York Dolls), You're Gonna Miss Me (Roky Erickson), Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones), DiG! (Brian Jonestown Massacre & the Dandy Warhols), 30 Century Man about Scott Walker freaked me out more than I ever thought possible, Mayor of the Sunset Strip (about Rodney Bingenheimer and the L.A. music scene), and Anvil: The Story of Anvil (amazing!).
Favorite Richmond band past or present: I love Gull!
What music websites/blogs/online magazines do you read: There are a ton of amazing sites and blogs devoted to music out there - so many that I find it overwhelming to keep up regularly! But here's a list of some I've really liked:
www.garagehangover.com
hippy-djkit.blogspot.com
psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com
smalltownpleasures.blogspot.com
dereksdaily45.blogspot.com
www.scopitones.com
Jean-Claude Vannier, L' Enfant Assasin des Mouches: Roi des Mouches et la Confiture de Roses. Often cited as the "Holy Grail" of French psychedelic pop, it's the dreamy layers of melody and strange sounds & rhythms of this album that really get me; the song I have chosen is one that if I today I was forced to pick a single song and nothing else for a personal anthem, it would be this track. It invokes mystical beauty and magic and propels the listener into a seriously bizarre, wonderful trip.
Jean-Claude Vannier - L' Enfant Assasin des Mouches "Roi des Mouches et la Confiture de Roses"
Sarah Pratt - graphic designer, greeting card maker, barista
Lived in Richmond for 3 years, 6 months
Favorite record store in the world: Amoeba Music - San Francisco
Favorite website to buy records online: insound.com
Least favorite music format: Sony MiniDisc!
Best name for a mixtape about BREAKUPS: "You Are Were the One" - given to me by a friend during some rough dude times
Best thrift store record find: Neil Diamond's Hot August Night double live lp for 25 cents
Favorite concert: Pearl Jam - The Showbox, Seattle, WA - 10/04: favorite band + small room = heaven
Concert that you couldn't wait to see but totally let you down: Mark Kozelek - solo tour, 11/08. I could listen to this man sing for weeks on end, but the second he opens his mouth to speak between songs, he's a raging jerkface. Disappointing.
Guilty pleasure: Third Eye Blind...first album only if that makes me any less guilty.
Ideal year to live in based only on the music: 1993
Favorite TV show/series about music: Alternative Nation
Favorite documentary on music: DIG
Favorite Richmond band past or present: Engine Down
What music magazines do you read: Paste and Magnet
What music websites/blogs/online magazines do you read:
www.muzzleofbees.com
www.brooklynvegan.com
www.stereogum.com
Pearl Jam, 1995 fan club single. This band has been a big part of my life for nearly 20 years and this is the first piece of collectible vinyl that I owned. The track I have chosen is a live cover of Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer" with Joey Ramone. It's messy and wonderful and reminds me of being 15 making everything in the house rattle with my stereo.
Pearl Jam w/ Joey Ramone - 1995 Christmas Fan Club single "Sonic Reducer"
Talia Eve Miller - post grad student, ART 180 music teacher, bartender, and admin. work for Congregation Beth Ahabah
Lived in Richmond for 3 ½ years.
Favorite record store in the world: I really love Som and Smash in DC, having grown up there! Locally Deep Groove, Vinyl Conflict and Plan 9!
Favorite website to buy records online: I’m not much of an online buyer... when I do buy online I buy from Ebay.
Best thrift store record find: Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd – Jazz Samba; absolutely my favorite record to listen to while dancing around my room alone.
Favorite concert: Fugazi at Fort Reno in Washington, DC, August of 2000. It had been raining off and on all day, and even though the rain stopped just before the show was scheduled to start, the sky still threatened. They played anyway, and throughout the set as they did, these huge fingers of lightening continually uncurled across the sky. It was so beautiful and made the experience intense and dangerous, but fantastic to be a part of.
Concert that you couldn't wait to see but totally let you down: Cat Power at the Satellite Ballroom in Charlottesville... it was easily the most uncomfortable, awkward concert of my life!
Guilty pleasure: Lady Gaga right now. I just kind of think she’s a total badass!
Ideal year to live in based only on the music: 1992
Favorite documentary on music: “Don’t Need You” The Herstory of Riot Grrrl
Favorite Richmond band past or present: I rocked a pretty huge Antlers obsession for awhile, and I love, love, love Ultra Dolphins and Julie Karr cause she’s my girl.
What music magazines do you read: Razorcake, and Interview, which is really more of a pop culture magazine but it frequently features music.
What music websites/blogs/online magazines do you read: Lightning’s Girl! and punknews.org
This record changed my life! At the time It was entirely different from anything I had ever listening to before, and it was so empowering for me, as a 13 year old girl, to hear women expressing themselves so fearlessly.
"Outta Me" is just so haunting. All of the other songs on the record have this angry drive, and this is the song where I feel like they dropped so much of the defensive edge. You can hear the raw emotion in her voice, in the way it almost cracks on some notes.
Bikini Kill - Huggy Bear Split - "Outta Me"
Tracy Wilson - Sales & Marketing for the Independent Label Collective, Deep Groove asst. manager, Little Black Cloud Records - part owner
Lived in Richmond Almost 9 years
Favorite record store in the world: It was Pier Platters in Hoboken, NJ. RIP.
Favorite website to buy records online: Other Music & Aquarius Records - TIE
Least favorite music format: MP3
Best name for a mixtape about Grim Honky Tonk Country Songs: Shit Happens! (Actual CD comp - so good!)
Best thrift store record find: Rose Maddox - The One Rose (have tattoo of the cover art on my arm)
Favorite concert: Sugarcubes reunion in Iceland. 11/17/2006 - my birthday! Hearing their song Birthday on my 35th birthday was the best present of my entire life. Goosebumps, tears, smiling ear to ear...I was so moved and happy by that moment.
Concert that you couldn't wait to see but totally let you down: Echo and the Bunnymen in NYC 10 years ago
Guilty pleasure: The Star Wars Christmas in the Stars record is a serious favorite. I LOVE IT and one of the main contributors is Bon Jovi using his real name.
Ideal year to live in based only on the music: 1968
Favorite TV show/series about music: The Jon Stewart Show 93 - 95
Favorite music documentary: Scott Walker: 30TH Century Man
If you could start a music channel on TV it would be called: Psychocandy
Favorite Richmond band past or present: Honor Role
What music magazines do you read: MOJO /Uncut
Music websites/blogs/online magazines: Too many to list but honestly I read more record store websites/blogs than anything else.
Tomorrow was one of the first lesser known psych/garage bands
(pre-Pretty Things and Asia!) an older / wiser friend turned me onto
senior year of high school. This one record, or more specifically the
groovy chugging of "My White Bicycle" laced with backwards guitars and
a rattlesnake shaker beat lured me into collecting a genre I have
since spent the past twenty years adding to. There is world of
terrific '60s music past the Beatles or Pink Floyd and my DJ set is
heavily influenced by this one group that started it all for me.
Tomorrow!
Tomorrow - S/T "My White Bicycle"
words & photos: PJ Sykes
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5 Comment(s)
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This ladies are SO much cooler than I will ever be. Thanks for highlighting what they do.
— Posted by: Valerie on March 23, 2010 - 9:41ampoor chan! she gets so many thumbs down from the cherry bomb ladies, but to be honest that satellite show was spectacularly awful. kinda like when she played that art gallery in richmond. way back around 1999 or so, except in richmond you had the option of moving around (sorta).
luckily i've seen chan put on some equally uplifting shows.
— Posted by: baconfat on March 23, 2010 - 4:22pmI was at that Cat Power show, too! Spectacularly awful indeed - I think I've blocked it from memory. I change my answer!
— Posted by: sarah pratt on March 23, 2010 - 5:25pmI love Cat Power but I've heard from many different people not to go see her live.
— Posted by: pjsykes on March 23, 2010 - 5:31pmI used to frequent the Blue Dog all the time back in the day. It holds a special place in my heart and I was deeply saddened when it left.
— Posted by: boombalonga on April 1, 2010 - 9:56amPost new comment