REVIEW/INTERVIEW: Cherry Glazerr
By Julia Bertelli
On February 15, Brighton Music Hall was filled to the brim with punks of all different shapes and sizes as the heavy sounds of Los Angeles-based rock band Cherry Glazerr pulsed through the speakers. After an opening set from the genre-defying Sneaks, fans eagerly awaited until the trio, fronted by 22-year old Clementine Creevy, took the stage. Psychedelic animated graphics projected on the stage’s backdrop, directly behind a large inflatable cherry, as the band performed new songs “Ohio” and “That’s Not My Real Life,” as well as fan-favorite “Had Ten Dollaz.” In a moment of vulnerability, Creevy opens up about her insecurities while performing “Self Explained,” before once again riling up the crowd to form a mosh pit that doesn’t break up until after the encore. After closing off with cool-girl punk ballad “I Told You I’d Be With The Guys,” not a single person ended off the show without being covered in sweat from the intense mosh pit or having lost their voice from screaming alongside the electrifying band.
“If you’re trying to do anything, you’re not making art.” – Clementine Creevy
Since its debut in 2014, Los Angeles’ Cherry Glazerr has gone through a variety of changes, but frontwoman Clementine Creevy has remained at the band’s core. Their third record, Stuffed & Ready, was released earlier this month, and features Creevy at her most frustrated, self-reflective, and vulnerable state.
WTBU DJ Julia Bertelli recently spoke on the phone with Clementine Creevy. They talked about growing up, being political, and learning to trust yourself.
Julia Bertelli: Let’s start off easy. Who are you?
Clementine Creevy: Oh, wow, well that’s a loaded question. I am Clem-en-teen Creevy from the band Cherry Glazerr, and I play guitar and I sing my songs and I write music!
JB: Sick! How would you describe Cherry Glazerr to the average listener?
CC: Heavy, guitars, funky, hm… Rock with some soft vocals….
JB: So, on a personal level, your career’s gone in so many different directions since you “blew up”… What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on, besides fronting Cherry Glazerr, if you can pick one?
CC: Well, I really thoroughly enjoyed working on Transparent, and I did something recently with the gang that I can’t talk about, but it’s very exciting! I don’t know, I think acting is a really awesome medium and I very much respect it as an art form… But nothing feels more successful to me than making music and writing music and playing it.
JB: I was gonna say that I really love the super extended version of “Had Ten Dollaz”…
CC: Thank you! Well, you get 20 minutes of it! Yeah, that was fun to create, I loved recording that, it was cool to arrange a 20 minute piece.
JB: For such a big brand too! YSL, that’s crazy! Okay, so, Stuffed & Ready came out less than a week ago, I’ve got it on repeat, and it’s already got some really great reviews, how are you feeling post-album release?
CC: Oh my gosh, I’m SO happy that the album is out! I’m so relieved that the reviews are out and I don’t have to think about it, and that we can just play the songs, because I love the songs on the album… I feel very lucky and excited to be able to play them every night, I’m just feeling really really happy, I feel elated that the album is out.
JB: Do you have a favorite song off the album, or is that a hard question?
CC: Yes, that is a hard question… I don’t know which one is my favorite, really, ‘cause it changes all the time, but I love playing “Self Explained”. I love playing that song in real life, but I think “Distressor” is probably my favorite song as a whole, because I love the two guitar melodies in that song. I feel like there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in those guitar melodies.
JB: Nice! But yeah, I totally get that you would feel super relieved now that the album’s out because it’s so much more personal than your other two albums. Can you talk about what it was like writing and recording this album compared to your other two?
CC: Yeah, it was really fun making this album! I felt like I had developed a better ear and better communication skills in the studio and it was really incredible to be able to craft something that I felt like I had in my head. It was like, translated, and I when I had heard the record back I wasn’t surprised at what I was hearing. I wasn’t like “What is this?” I was like “Yes… YES!”
JB: So you were more sure of yourself when you were making it?
CC: Yeah, more so than ever!
JB: But I also read that you made an album before this one—
CC: I did!
JB: Did scrapping that album have a significant effect on the completed version of Stuffed & Ready?
CC: No, they’re two different records with different material and they were different experiences entirely. I love the record that we have put aside, that we made with Jonathan Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone. I’m sure that at some point it’s gonna come out. I think we’re thinking about doing an EP version of it at some point or another.
JB: Very sick! Since Apocalipstick dropped on January 20th, 2017, on the day of Trump’s inauguration, you’ve been a lot more open politically. How important do you think it is for artists to be politically involved?
CC: Well, I think we all as people are a product of our society, and therefore we are inherently political. I don’t think it’s anyone’s duty to do anything, but I think if you’re so compelled to make topical music then that is fine, and I think if you don’t feel compelled to make topical music that is fine as well! But like I said, I think we’re all products of our society and therefore, we sub-perceptually reflect the society. So I think we all make political music in a way.
JB: I was gonna ask if you had any feelings on artists that try to stay neutral, but I guess you kind of answered that for me—
CC: I don’t know — Artists who try to stay neutral are… I can’t really relate to that? I think if you’re trying to do anything, you’re not making art.
JB: I guess it’s more about expressing yourself than trying to please others?
CC: Of course!
JB: Yeah. So you recently said in an interview with Stereogum that recording this album made you realize that you’ve been struggling with growing up, and you can definitely hear that in the album. Can you talk a little bit about how going through such formative years in the spotlight affected you as a person?
CC: I don’t know if I consider myself to be in the spotlight…
JB: In a spotlight?
CC: [laughs] I guess so. I try not to expect anything and I try to live each day with as much self trust as I can manage. I find that that’s been a very helpful tool in staying happy and making art.
JB: So do you ever feel pressured in any certain way because of, this is embarrassing, but people like me, for example, who look to you as a figurehead or an inspiration in a way?
CC: To answer your question, I probably do, but I try not to think about that stuff. I think the best thing to do is to trust myself and try to lead by example.
JB: That’s good advice! Well, I don’t wanna keep you too long because I know you have another interviewer waiting, so I have one more question, it’s pretty broad — I’m only two years younger than you, but do you have any advice to other young twenty somethings just trying to get through life, just trying to make it?
CC: [laughs] The greatest lesson I’ve learned, it sounds cheesy, is not beating yourself up and telling yourself that you love yourself. And once you start to fake it, then you start to feel it.
JB: So fake it ‘til you make it?
CC: Fake it ‘til you make it, baby!
JB: If it’s cheesy, it’s probably right.
CC: [laughs] That’s a good lesson, that should probably be the advice.
Stuffed & Ready is out now via Strictly Canadian and available for streaming or purchase here!