Grab your 3D glasses: Nasty Cherry get cinematic on ‘The Movie’
Welcome to CHEW THE FAT WITH…, our long-form profile series where we invite you to sit down with fashion’s next generation as they dig deep into their memories. To chew some fat - defined as an informal conversation brimming with small talk - we encourage you to pull up a chair and take a big old bite as we spill the tea on the life and work of the industry’s need-to-knows. Just remember to mop up after yourself.
Anyone else absolutely gagging to get back into the cinema? Nothing says kick back and relax like strolling up to the Walthamstow Empire on Cheap Tuesday, picking up a fat bag of popcorn and hitting up Screen 2 as you scramble on a dark staircase trying not to plunge to your death while shimmying toward your seat. It’s a familial pastime as old as those Brits who have an age certificate from Queen Lizzy herself, and one that Prime Video couldn’t replicate in our living rooms even if they wanted to. Film transcends what you see on the screen, often leaving you breathless or with an entirely different outlook on life after the fact. Arresting your mind if only for an hour as someone’s vision is brought to life on a crystal clear widescreen, is the entrancing ethos that NASTY CHERRY have bottled up and turned to song for their latest EP, The Movie.
Now, I suppose some introductions are overdue. For those who haven’t snuck a peak at their calamitous Netflix documentary, I’m With The Band: Nasty Cherry, allow me to give you a quick de-brief. CHARLI XCX, the pioneer of all things Future Pop, set out to start a band signed under her Atlantic Records imprint – Vroom Vroom Recordings. She wanted a band she could’ve related to as a teenager, one brimming with girl power à la the SPICE GIRLS, but with that punkier edge so expertly mastered by Joan Jett’s THE RUNAWAYS. Throw in a bit of Bratz: Rock Angelz and an undeniable ear for all things feel-good, and bam! You’ve got yourself the sound of the new twenties – Nasty Bloody Cherry.
In the mix is former set-design expert, GEORGIA SOMARY, who learnt how to rock out on bass only a few months before uprooting her life in London – alongside bandmate DEBBIE KNOX-HEWSON – to make it big in Hollywood. True Angels might’ve already caught Debbie in her happy place as she went all-out behind the drums at many a Charli XCX tour (True Romance stans make some noise). KITTEN’S powerhouse frontwoman CHLOE CHAIDEZ has a similar link to Charli, having lit up the stage in the support slot for some of her shows many moons ago. Lastly, the role of lead guitarist-cum-natural born rockstar is led by the perpetually-pouty GABRIELLE BECHTEL (she’s a sweetheart really!), a SAVAGE X FENTY muse and bad-ass singer. The documentary spotlights the foursome going through all the highs and lows of band life within a matter of weeks, showing tears, sudden exits, heated phone calls, champers by the pool and plenty of partying. I’d give it a watch if I was you…
It goes without saying that it’s been a crazy past two years for the girls since going to air: a mix of studio sessions, jet-setting world tours and releasing music whenever they could, at least until the pandemic hit. Stopping the end of their US tour in its tracks, as well as giving the proverbial middle finger to an upcoming European leg this past Autumn, the band are understandably itching to get back out there. “I feel like a lot of people that would like to see us didn't get to see us,” says Somary. “So it’d be nice to play for those people first.” Knox agrees, adding that The Season of The Cherry hasn’t even taken on festival season yet. Oh, to be jamming out to Cardamom December by some putrid-smelling portaloos...
So, what have they been up to? They’re still doing the “Zoom” thing, Somary jokes, as well as “making music and jewellery.” Putting her design background to good use, Somary’s resin business (@nogood_resin) is taking off in true Nasty Cherry fashion with glowing co-signs from her bandmates. “She makes beautiful jewellery,” affirms Gabi, who’s admittedly over lockdown but slightly scared to return to ‘normal.’ “Now I have to readjust, but it’s not as dark as I thought it was going to get.” As for Debbie, who returned to the UK just in time for lockdown 3.0, pub memes have been getting her through this toughest of times. “I've got post lockdown anxiety now,” she explains. “I'm nervous to have to do more than like one thing a day.”
Still, not even a worldwide pandemic could stop these girls doing what they do best, and back in August they got together to create some new sonic magic for the year to come. The project is the first the band have ever worked on with just one producer – YVES ROTHMAN – with co-writing credits from a chart-topping Ms. Charlotte Aitchison herself as the band set out to explore the love they have for one another. But despite a clear vision, the process didn’t come without its complications. For starters, Knox had to join her bandmates via a three-week layover in Bermuda (yes, where the spooky triangle is). “It was the beginning when things were still a bit scary,” Gabi recalls. “We were like ‘please get tested beforehand and don't do anything in a month that we're gonna write!’”
The foursome were determined to get the most out of the time they had together, even with the threat of an invisible ticking clock looming above their heads. Chaidez says the experience saw the band adopt an entirely new style of writing and composing, welcoming the seemingly easy-breezy, free-wheeling vibe of a jam session with open minds and open hearts.
Of course, as tried and tested professionals, things began to take shape within a matter of days, and it wouldn’t be long before a Lynchian epiphany would come along and define the project’s entire oeuvre in one fell swoop. The girls resolved their next offering would be a cinematic epic, a feat that would singlehandedly topple the Marvel Cinematic Universe and give cinephiles something to talk about for decades. “We kind of lost our minds and thought we were going to make the Nasty Cherry film,” Somary says, laughing as she points out producer Yves Rothman was totally on-board too. “Our ego was out the room with how much money we thought we were going to get from the label.” As it stands, the multi-million dollar budget required for their feature film is yet to be seen – “so all the concept has gone, and now we’re just left with it!”
“That says a lot about, like, everything we've done,” adds Gabi. “It just kind of ends up not making sense.” There is, however, a method to all this madness. Though the girls are yet to find a way to realise their sonic-blockbuster, a task that would’ve proved infinitely hard given pandemic restrictions and one of their members decamping to the drizzly UK, The Movie tells a gripping story on its own terms, grappling with the bands second coming of age over punchy ‘80s synths and an array of stirring melodies.
Kicking off the whole shebang is Six Six Six, a track that’s brimming with grungy guitars, sweet vocals and an undercurrent of palpable electricity. It’s what I imagine the inhabitants of AVRIL LAVIGNE’S Sk8er Boi flash mob would’ve bumped on their walkmans as they sped away from the crime scene. Next comes What’s the Deal, a dreamy number that sounds exactly how a first crush feels, you know, that feeling when you catch a fittie’s eye on the tube...your insides turn to goo and you feel like you’re the main character of your own teen movie.
Her Body follows up soon after, visualised in a smoky room laden with a singular stripper pole. It’s about tough love, making an excellent addition to any sex playlist with its slow grooving synths and hip-thrashing melodies. All In My Head takes a more wistful approach to life, one that’s not quite down in the dumps but will definitely have you in your feels, perhaps a teaser of the ever-so-fittingly cinematic end track – Lucky. Metallic ‘80s synths and heroic rallying cries see the girls send off the project with a beautiful bang, crafting a chorus so punchy you won’t be able to make out the words, by that point you’ll be enveloped in an aura that transcends language entirely.
The cohesion and passion that seeps out of each song makes it abundantly clear that the girls are in their element, charging into the musical unknown with confidence and talent by the boatload. After filling me in on the trials and tribulations of crafting their ballsiest offering to-date, it seems only fitting that I ask one final question: who the hell is in their dream blunt rotation?
Bechtel is first up, pulling out a gigantic butternut squash that she’ll be cooking for dinner as she confides that her partners are simply her bandmates and mum. Somary names PRINCE, and only Prince, as the sole beneficiary of her spliff, while Knox reveals her circle would also be similarly small – “JONI MITCHELL would go in deep,” she explains, “No one else is invited.” Chaidez respectfully takes a minute to mull over her choices, making sure no one in her circle would leave things wet, or cramp the vibe. “I say Jesus, GRACE JONES, uhh.. Charli XCX and OBAMA.” It’s an odd mix, I’ll give her that – “but imagine the song.”
I think we might’ve just struck gold on all the musical icons we can expect to feature on Nasty Cherry’s debut album, but before we open that can of worms, you better fucking stream The Movie, ok?!
Photography by TOM GODDARD
Art Direction by JEFFREY THOMSON
Special thanks to JOSH MOSS at ATLANTIC RECORDS