Charli’s Angels: Nasty Cherry

It’s really crazy because initially, we announced the band with an Instagram account, that didn’t have any songs out, it was a crazy scenario and we were just trying to go get everyone hyped about something that didn’t exist yet. So obviously it feels great now that we’re performing shows, putting out music… it’s really exciting.

So, Charli called all four of us separately a few years ago and pitched us this idea of a girl band, and that she wanted to make a tv show about a girl band coming together. It sounded like the most punk, cool and funny idea, I feel like once all four of us got pitched the idea we wanted to jumped on it straight away. We arrived at this house that we moved into together to be filmed in and, obviously, I knew Debbie and Chloe a bit, Chloe and I had done a session together but have never met Gabby. We soon realised that the chemistry was insane. When we merged together and started to play music together it felt like a new discovery of how much we love playing together… it was perfect. I don’t even think Charlie quite realised how cool this would all be and that it would materialise this fast. She put so much on the line to put us together and it was such a huge risk to her name.

Honestly, it’s a weird one, you’re forming friendships while working together and living together, its a very interesting dynamic as a band. I wouldn’t typically say it’s like your classical band set up because we’d only known each other for like 4 months. We started to develop a sibling friendship so it’s surreal – we all saw each other pee within the first week of living with each other, so it was definitely a bonding experience. People have this idea that girl bands are always so chirpy like “Oh look at us were the best of friends” but no. Honestly, the reality of it is that we developed a close bond is because we were in a situation where we would have to call each other out on our bullshit. To get to this point you have to get to know each other and get on top of each other with work. Writing lyrics especially came really quickly to each other in the group cause we saw so much of each other.

At first, it was quite chaotic because we were working part Brit and part American. We had different creative processes, working in different places along with different people. But we have a studio in the house and the first few songs we wrote, we were so hyped on. But, really they weren’t very good so I doubt we’ll use them, but it was a fun place to explore ’cause you would wake up make a coffee, head to the studio and join in with what was going on. There was a lot of bringing each other’s lyrics and showing off what you had, kind of like a show and tell, and if people liked it someone would pick up an instrument and start playing along or joining in, or you would get an “Uh, yeah that was cool… I’m just going to go and make breakfast now.”

I felt like we all had different influences and that we’d learn a lot about each other and where’d we all come from. I think the music came really weirdly, as our friendship got stronger so did our calibrations of making music together. I mean you don’t just meet people straight away and just make good music, but you can end up writing good songs, so I think at the time songwriting became our common of ground developing friendships and our craft.

I feel like for me (Georgia), in particular, it was early 70’s, late 60’s films – Los Angeles based thriller films really inspire me. In terms of fashion, I think we all gravitate to visual art and it definitely gets the mood going which helps with the atmosphere in the creation of music.

Yeah, I think its a really important thing for me (Georgia) as I used to be a set decorator, so I’m always looking for inspiration in art and trying to see things in a different point of view. I also really like the idea of everyone coming to our shows and having a good time with us, our shows can be quite chaotic in a sense that we all have different performance styles and it can be like watching four different characters which is kind of cool. We get to look back at videos us and see how different people in the crowd lean towards Debbie, Chloe or Gabby and I. You feel like you’ve created an atmosphere where everyone is in it with you. When we all get ready for a show we dress up and make the effort beyond the sound, cause currently, we’re a small band so we haven’t got any visuals so we try and present as a show that you’d want to be part of.

Definitely releasing more music! We’ve got plans for bigger bodies of work that we’re looking forward to releasing and to just to be able to go on tour which I feel will be really important to us. To be able to go and perform for more people in different places, to be able to explore other areas and meet more amazing people is something to look forward to!

I (Georgia) love writing with my three bandmates, it’s like being in a little gang. I’d say a big part of it is having this little gang but we all have our own identities.

I (Georgia) would say that if Nasty Cherry were a person they would be funny, obnoxious and very emotional.