Don’t call the Cherry Drops a revivalist band. If you
do, you’re only telling part of the story and missing all of the point.
Granted, it’s not too tough to piece together from exactly which
kinds of music they draw inspiration.
Many other bands have attempted the very same mix, but most often
they end up sounding like a thrown-together salad – a little garage here, a
little bubblegum there, an audio version of a TV dinner with a nice thick wall in the tray to keep the peas from getting too cozy with the mashed potatoes
But with the Cherry Drops, you get lots of little half-pea,
half-mashed potato babies.
“We're just a modern-day extension of all those kinds of
music,” explained Vern Shank, lead singer of the band, talking by telephone
from Florida,
where he resides. “We're just paying homage those bands from the ‘60s and
‘70s, real live bands that paved the way for all the rock and roll bands
that came after them.”
“And we don't sprinkle it on. We come on like a freight
train. Our music sounds like older music, but with a new twist. Our original
songs sound like something you've
heard before -- but you really haven't.”
Perhaps where they stand out most is their unabashed use of
bubblegum, that perky half-brother of garage rock that had its heyday in the
late ‘60s and early ‘70s
For those who may not remember or might not have been
around, bubblegum was sort of an offshoot of what we now call garage – but a
very cleaned up, brighter, sunnier brand aimed squarely at the pre- and
early-teen crowd. Think what boy bands must’ve sounded like 40 years ago.
And like the boy bands today, bubblegum was regarded with an
almost maniacal scorn by those rockers that considered themselves grown-ups, as
an affront to real rock and roll. And if the music wasn’t saccharine enough,
the bands often adopted fruity names, such as the Lemon Pipers and the 1910
Fruitgum Company.
The Cherry Drops have made the best use of bubblegum with
original songs like “Sweet Lovin’” and “(Pop Pop) ‘Til You Drop.” But bubblegum
is only part of the mix for the Cherry Drops.
“What I don't want to do is take a little of this and a
little of that,” Shank explained. “I'm actually trying to emulate being on American Bandstand in 1967. I close my
eyes and transport myself to that time. And I'm not just trying to imitate that
-- I'm trying to be that. I'm trying to make our music a time portal from right
now back to that time.”
Helping Shank to that end is guitarist Evan Foster, also head of the axe department for the great Seattle band The Boss Martians. The other Cherry Drops are James Schiavone and Josh Cobb. The band has been together since 2012. Their most recent release is Life is a Bowl of Cherry Drops, released last year.
That Shank and company would so expertly pull from various
genres shouldn’t be surprising. The Boss Martians are almost a living rock and
roll encyclopedia unto themselves, and Shank’s own background includes metal,
R&B, and rap, including close work with the likes of Stevie B. and former
C+C Music Factory front man Freedom Williams.
“I had a DJ work for my company who knew Freedom and we
reached out to him,” recounted Shank. It was also a vehicle to get Stevie B
out there. I started writing songs and Freedom added some rap to it.”
“It seems like a lifetime ago. I'm not hip hop or rap, but I
know how to do them. For a time I was also in a metal band, too, complete with real
long hair. But that just wasn't me.”
But under it all, whether he realized it or not, Shank
always had a pretty good idea of just who he was and what kind of music he
wanted to make. That likely was because Shank, as a boy, spent a lot of time
thumbing through his parents record collection.
“When I was a kid the records were everywhere,” Shank recalled. “I started flipping through them. My parents had the Beatles, but they also had the music that had a rebellious spirit that went back even further. Stuff from the earlier part of the sixties -- such as the Rat Pack – which was rebellious in its own way. Listening to those kinds of music stuck with me, and I could see where the roots of a lot of music I like were.”
“When I was a kid the records were everywhere,” Shank recalled. “I started flipping through them. My parents had the Beatles, but they also had the music that had a rebellious spirit that went back even further. Stuff from the earlier part of the sixties -- such as the Rat Pack – which was rebellious in its own way. Listening to those kinds of music stuck with me, and I could see where the roots of a lot of music I like were.”
Like many other bands featured here at Garagerocktopia, Little Steven’s Underground Garage is
one of the main conduits to the Cherry Drops music. The band has had a couple
of songs included on the syndicated show and satellite radio station’s
playlist. Recently, the great rocker “Far Out!” was a “Coolest Song in the
World,” as was the 2013 power pop song, “Outta Sight.”
“(LSUG) is getting the music out there more, and getting it to people who otherwise wouldn't know about it,” Shank said. “All the stars of just lined up right, and our songs are right up their alley. Drew Carey (yes, that Drew Carey, who does a monthly show on the satellite station) likes some of our songs and plays them. So does (Woggles singer and LSUG DJ) the Mighty Manfred, who has also sang (The Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction”) on our records.”
“(LSUG) is getting the music out there more, and getting it to people who otherwise wouldn't know about it,” Shank said. “All the stars of just lined up right, and our songs are right up their alley. Drew Carey (yes, that Drew Carey, who does a monthly show on the satellite station) likes some of our songs and plays them. So does (Woggles singer and LSUG DJ) the Mighty Manfred, who has also sang (The Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction”) on our records.”
When Shank isn’t busy with the Cherry Drops, he still has
lots to do. He lists no less than five other ventures, including a DJ company
which he has headed for 27 years; he has an indie music label; Shank is also a
screenwriter. But maybe coolest of all is that he’s also a broadcaster and
owner of surf and oldies station WQFB in Flagler
Beach, Florida.
Thanks to the radio station, Shank has hobnobbed with some
of the very artists whose music were so inspirational to him, paving the way
for their participation in the Cherry Drops’ music and videos. The Standells’
Tony Valentino is featured on the song “I Believe I Believe,” while the Lovin’
Spoonful’s Steve Boone checks in for “Sweet Lovin’”
“Because I own a radio station, I'm able to reach out to them,” Shank explained. “I'll ask them to do an interview, and then I’ll introduce them to world of the Cherry Drops and ask them if they would mind playing. “
“We bring their sound to a new audience, and then we also get credibility. They respect what we’re doing, because it’s exactly the same as what they were doing many years before.”
 |
| Vern Shank |
Perhaps coolest of all, the veteran rockers stop being idols
and start becoming something a little more real.
I’ve also become friends with some of them,” Shank said. “I
had coffee with Steve Boone the other day. It’s so cool, I have to
pinch myself sometimes.”
No comments:
Post a Comment