cherry pick harnesses "sludgy, gross" shoegaze with a skateboard pedalboard
BY GREGORY ADAMS
There’s controlled chaos coursing through Vancouver shoegazer cherry pick’s fantastically noise-dialed new sorry place EP.
Released as a four-song digital EP at the end of May, the collection sandblasts the soul through sometimes melancholic, and sometimes anarchic loud-quiet-loud dynamics — check the way “pretty thing” upends its sigh-worthy chorus with a dissonantly jarring E/Eb-chorded resolve, or how cherry’s falsetto vocal evaporates into a gloom-wobbled cloud of whammy bar unease on “rosy.”
And yet, things got especially out of control during cherry pick’s recent outdoor performance at Vancouver’s Victory Square Park.
The mid-July set was already going to be a bit of a weird one, with half of cherry’s usual band unable to make the gig. Instead, a couple old high school friends were contacted last minute to fill in — guest guitarist Eugene was asked the night before if he was “up for a challenge,” before being sent tabs and video playthroughs.
“I found Eugene in my high school music room,” cherry explains of the connection. “We formed a band when we were 16 that ended up dissolving. It was called Eavesdrop. Then I started my own solo project. And when I need help, Eugene is always there for me.”
While everyone came together in the clutch, the set got wild. Almost instantly, cherry had to chase a boom-style mic stand that pulled a 180 on her. During an early, noise-hammered crescendo, guest drummer Daniel’s kickpedal mallet came flying off — this happened a couple of times.
Later, cherry scrambled between her 50-watt BOSS Katana combo and the bright orange, fat-beveled skateboard that held all her guitar pedals, swapping out cables when her sound cut out. Bassist Tao wandered off to the side of the small concrete stage to futz with his instrument briefly, as the rest of the group traipsed into the closing waltz theme from Spongebob Squarepants.
“Sorry,” cherry said to the crowd through a sense of lighthearted exasperation, “We literally had to fix everything about our instruments, but we’re ready to turn it around.”
Sure enough, though, the band did just that while delivering a Drop-D-chunked cover of Hum’s iconic “Stars,” while a frantic closer had cherry crash to her knees while expertly harnessing harmonious guitar damage.
While it was an off-kilter set, the right kind of chaos eventually reigned. And just like cherry’s vocals sometimes, memories of those technical difficulties eventually dissipate into the ether. The songs, you’d hope, are what endure.
This interview took place before all that happened, picks up after a quick introduction, and has been edited and condensed.
So, you mentioned you were in the other band, and you’d also put out a couple cherry pick singles leading up to this new EP. How have you developed your style and tone along the way?
CHERRY PICK: I was in an indie band in high school for a year, and then my lead guitarist left for Alberta. Me being heartbroken by that, I started my own solo project called cherry pick. I wanted to stray from that indie sound, and I though the opposite of that would be really distorted, sludgy, gross guitars. So, I started making shoegaze music.
With the first two songs that I released, I recorded them in my high school band room — where I met Eugene — on a 2004 Mac that had no access to Wi-Fi. It was so bad! I mixed it all myself, put them out, and got lucky when one of the songs landed. “Daze” did pretty well, and it gave me the momentum to just keep going. I haven’t stopped yet!
You have a strong TikTok presence, and in some of those videos you’re ripping leads along with My Chemical Romance songs, which isn’t necessarily a playing style you bring into the sludgy shoegaze of cherry pick. What were your beginnings on guitar? Like, did you start out shredding and then work your way towards a more tonal approach?
CHERRY: No. Acoustic fingerstyle is what I’m most confident in, actually. I started learning so many fingerstyle songs, and that continued for three years. Then I started getting into theory and creating songs.
That was on a nylon-string?
CHERRY: Exactly. I think you can hear that in some of my chords. A lot of them sound beautiful if you’re just picking them out.
Is there any acoustic on these cherry pick recordings?
CHERRY: No. But I will work towards that.
Let’s get into some of the gear you are using, then…
CHERRY: Oh…it’s in my car. It’s right there, if you want to just pop open my trunk and look at my pedal board.
Let’s do it! While we’re walking and talking, you’ve got your Squire Strat super stickered-up. What is actually underneath all that. Like, what kind of a colour-coat are we talking, here?
CHERRY: It’s pure black. It used to have an iridescent pickguard, but I replaced that with a clear one on the front and back, so you can see all the inner wiring.
Was that your first electric guitar?
CHERRY: Yup! But I didn’t buy it; it was my step-brother’s.
What was the first sticker you put on the guitar?
CHERRY: Oh man…it was this sticker from Disneyland that my friend got me. It’s covered now… I don’t think you can see it anymore. [cherry opens her trunk and pulls out her pedalboard]
So, this is all laid out on an old-school ‘80s skate deck, where did this come from?
CHERRY: This came from my stepdad, he used to skate back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He just had this laying around, so I took off the wheels and trucks, and now it looks like this!
Looks like everything’s all velcroed-up tight on here.
CHERRY: Barely! It moves around a lot.
What’s the most essential pedal on here?
CHERRY: My Electro-Harmonix Oceans Eleven reverb, by far. I use this so much in all of my songs, especially the shimmer setting. It basically makes the guitar iridescent and almost synth-like, which I really like. You hear that on [sorry place closer] “lili” — it’s got so many guitar layers.
Most recent addition to the board?
CHERRY: That’s got to be my Bigfoot King Fuzz. I got this from Luka, my guitarist, and I use it as my main distortion for the heavier stuff. Then I switch to my Big Muff when I really need to dial it in — it’s an OpAmp, just the generic one. The Big Muff’s got really good Pumpkins tones for when we cover “Zero.”
My favourite pedal, though, is probably the JHS Morning Glory. It gives you a really light overdrive, just to saturate your sound a little bit. And this JHS Red Remote switches the Morning Glory circuit from a really light overdrive to a slightly more driven sound. So, I’ve basically got four distortion pedals on here.
You ever max ‘em all out at the same time?
CHERRY: No…but I will now that you’ve said that. [laughs]
Following the first few singles, what was it like to craft a slightly larger collection like sorry place? Were you looking for anything in particular out of the EP format?
CHERRY: Honestly, it was more of a challenge to myself. I don’t think of my music in terms of projects, or albums, or EPs. Each song is pretty individual. But I didn’t know if I could whip out four songs that I actually liked, so yeah … it was a challenge. I wanted to put out an EP, so I did. That’s it!
You put up a photo on Instagram recently where you’re on the ground, screaming at your guitar pedals, basically. And you mention in the caption that this seems to happen every show. Why do you think that is?
CHERRY: Well, when I end up on the floor it’s usually for a Mannequin Pussy cover called “Perfect.” And Mannequin Pussy is the reason I’m in a band, so I’m very passionate when I’m covering their songs. They’re my favourite band! I am trying to be like [Marisa Dabice,] and embody her to give people the best Great Value version of Mannequin Pussy that they can get in Vancouver. [laughs]
But yeah, I also just think getting on the floor is super fun and awesome.
You just dropped the EP, but are you working on anything else at the moment?
CHERRY: I just whacked out three songs last week, and I’ve got a few in the vault. I’m in the process of narrowing it down to the strongest one so I can release a single sometime in September, hopefully. It’s mostly singles for now. I don’t have any plans for an album. I’m not even sure if I can do that.
Why not?
CHERRY: Because I grow out of my songs so fast. An album takes a really long time to make. I feel by the end of whatever five-or-six months, I’d hate all the songs. I just move on quick.
cherry pick’s sorry place is streaming now, and is also available on cassette through Semi Collective Records.
You can find more of Mungo Dulmage’s live photography on Instagram.