Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Detonating The (Cherry) Bomb With CHERIE CURRIE

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Detonating The (Cherry) Bomb With CHERIE CURRIE · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: I'm sure re Curry from the nineteen seventies all girl
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: teenage rock band The Runaways, and I am coming to
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Australia for my final tour in September and I hope
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: to see you there. My cherry bombs.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, Jerry, thanks for joining us tonight. That was sensational.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Oh thanks Chris, thanks for having.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: Me Ahi, absolutely pleasure.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: So as you say, you were headed to Australia for
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: the second and final time in around one month for
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Runner Show starting in Perth on September fifth, and you
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: get Adelaide Moment and Sydney.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Finish at Bristolo on September thirty. So he's not too
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: long now you've packed it ready to go.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Oh you know what, definitely, I've been looking forward to
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: this for months now and I was in Australia in
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: twenty sixteen.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It was a completely different band.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: The reason why I'm so excited about this one is
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: my son's band is going to be backing me, Jay Hayes.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: His band is modeled Strangers, but Jake is taking the
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: drums this time. He's a front guy, amazing singer, guitar player.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: But Sandy West god rest her soul gave him some
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: lessons when he was just a kid, and he is
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: paying such homage to Sandy West. He plays it just
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: like her. And when I turn around and I get
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: to work with my son on stage, it just feels
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: like I've got Sandy with me. Such a fantastic and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: this band is off the charts. And I've got Nick Mayberry,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: who is from Australia and he's one of the greatest
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: league guitar players and one of my son's guitar players
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: is only twenty one years old, and he's really cute.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So I think there's going to be a little bit
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: for everybody.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: You probably can't see it for me, but up until
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: you said the cute bit, I've actually got goosebumps.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: That was beautiful.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Five in this family, it is and you know what,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: considering I mean, I'm on my way out. I just
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: want to be able to do the rest of this
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: with my kid because he really deserves it. I know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: you know, that's just really hard these days for kids,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I mean really talented and my kids, well he's thirty five,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: so he's not a kid anymore. But it's just very
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: it's very different from the way it was in the seventies.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: As far as getting noticed, there's just so much talent
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: out there and social media and all that stuff.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Now, as you mentioned this, is he going to be
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a farewell Tom plantstro You've already done farewell shows in
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: the UK and Islands, so it's a fitting celebration of
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: an extraordinary career. But it must be hard for you
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: night off to night saying goodbye to different people in
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: different countries and different cities.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: It is, but you know, I mean, and again, something
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: could happen where I come. I know I'm going to
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: go to Germany for just one show and that's next year.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: But it does hurt. I mean, it is painful because
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I still see people that I've seen at other shows
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and other tour I've done in the UK and Europe,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and I see them and I see their faces, I
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: recognize them, and it is a little tearful, it really is,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: because I thank them so much for all this support.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Almost fifty years now, Chris, fifty years, Yeah, long time.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: You still remember? Facing is? That's beautiful?
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Oh I do, thank god. At sixty five, I just
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: don't want that to go away.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't quite see.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: You exactly exactly now.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: The press release says that you can be playing a
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: set list packed runaways, HiT's, solo favorites and surprises, celebrating
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: your remarkable journey. But I'm not sure if anyone's told
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: you at all, but Australians don't like surprises.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: You gotta tell us what you do.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Oh well, We're gonna do a lot of runaways because
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: nobody else does it, you know, Joan and Leda, they don't.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And the thing is is that there are Runaways fans
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that are they deserve it.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I so wish that Joan and Leda could have.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Come together and been able to work through their differences
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: so we could have had a reunion after the movie.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: But you know, I've kind of given up on that.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: But I have worked with all the girls in the band,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Joan and Lita as solo artists, and Jackie and Sandy
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: which she was still with us.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: So but the fans.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I do it for the fans because they love our music.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to be doing Runaway songs their favorites
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: because I've asked all all the fans, you know, what
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: do you want to hear? And then I'm going to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: do some songs off of my new record Boulevard's a
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Splendor that Matt Sore produced, and and.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna do.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I might do one off of the Mess with the
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Boys album, and I am going to do a couple
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: of covers like so that's yeah, surprise.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: But yeah, some of the songs you're playing written got now,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Like you said, love it is it difficult to deliver
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: them with as much passion and consider it there was
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: a much different period of your life when they were written.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what, It's kind of funny, Chris, because
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I'm sixty five and I don't know how much longer
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I can sing have you and grab you to You're sore, you.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Know what I mean?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean, Hello Daddy, Hello Mama.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Ye know.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But but I think I'll be able to do it
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: until I just can't sing anymore.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Because the thing is is nobody does it as good
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: as I do, because I bet. I mean, it's just
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: it's just.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: When you grow up making these songs possible, you know,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: and you they're like it's like giving birth to a child.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a there's a magic there. So that's
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: why I still have to do it.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I see you're taking Melbourne Rock out bit Hot Machine
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: with you as national supports. Now, you honestly could not
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: have picked a.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: Better and more deserving band. Those guys, those ladies, they're unreal.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Oh I can't wait.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I mean I've been really looking at their their stage
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: show and their song and I think it's just I'm
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: so glad that you feel that way, because I'm very
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: excited to meet them.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I think they're so talented.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: I a good friend of mine's daughter is I think
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: he's a guitar bay And then he's been telling me
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: about them phrases and I saw the ninth Pop publicial
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: support and I'm right, Well does that girls? Well?
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Does that? Oh?
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I'm so happy.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Well am I going to see you at one of
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: these shows?
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: You see me at the Brisbane show for sure.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: A couple long in silly, Oh, terrific. I can't wait.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to see you in person, give you
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: a big hug and just say.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you, because that's really what this is all about.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: To thank people, because without you, you know, we ain't nothing.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: And it's just the truth. And I think I think
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: a lot of performers and musicians forget that, but I don't.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: They do all they take it for granted a little bit,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: and it's just a type con gesture, but you can
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: tell when someone actually really believes what they say in
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and you sound like you did.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, thank you so much.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Very very good.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Now, your career started when you joined the Runaways at
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: fifteen years old in nineteen seventy five.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: So what was it a musical climate like at the
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: time that.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Gave birth to your ambitions and where did you fit
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: in back when you started?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well, you know what, I had seen
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: my very first concert and it was David Bowie Diamond Dogs,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: and I was fourteen years old, and it was one
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: of those moments where you know that voice in your.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Head, I mean just that says you have to do this.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: And I mean I was a very I was a
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: surfer chick with long hair and very shy. My twin
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: sister was really the popular one. So when that realization came,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: it was amazing that, like in a year, just a
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: little over a year after that show, that I met
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Kim and Joan and I was ready, and boyd did
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: it take off like a rocket. I mean, there was
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: no time for anything but this band. And you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: we worked really, really hard, Chris, We really did, but
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: it was it's kind of a whirlwind, you know, we
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: just never stopped. I kind of wish we would have
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: had just one vacation. I think we might have gotten
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: along a little bit better.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, I don't think it's about this a hard
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: to pinpoint out of the fact that was there a
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: feeling amongst the band back in those early days that
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: you were onto something special? Did you have an inkling
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: that you were gonna explain like you did?
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: You know what, we didn't even have time for that.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: We just knew that we had something to prove, and
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: there weren't any besides Susie Quatro, one of my dearest friends.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, she's just the godmother of rock and roll.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: If it wouldn't have been for Susie, there would have
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: been no Runaways, no jone jet And that is a fact.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: We need to get her to the Rock and Roll
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Hall of Fame, don't Yeah. But it wasn't until we
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: did our Japan tour that we really realized that we
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: had really broken that that glass ceiling, and that was
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: we'd finally made it. Not as much in the US
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: like Susie didn't, but we were pretty well known throughout
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Europe and we got our first gold record from Australia.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Oh wow, that's interesting today.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure back then there would have been
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: a heap of industry people trying to change your image
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: or mold you in their own way. But you stuck
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: firm to yourself as like you believed in your music,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: you believed in what you were doing, and history has
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: proved those people to be incorrect and what you did
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: to be correct. But was it ever attempting to listen
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: to what the so caught experts were telling you back
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: then and go along that line?
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Yep? You mean the negative reviews we would get, So.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: The ones that try to hold they knew you had
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: something they wanted to make you what in their image?
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I guess well there really wasn't anything for them to.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Compare us to.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: But it was tough being that young fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: uh to for it not to hurt you, you know,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: for it not to injure you, because when you're that young,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: you don't you don't know who you are, and that's
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: just a fact, you don't. And having to try to
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: figure that out in front of thousands of people was
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: a bit of a challenge, but you know what, it
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: was great to be Trailblazers and to do something that
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: really pissed the boys off because we did. They did
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: not like playing with us or having us open for them,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: and then when they had to open for us, it
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: really pissed them off. But ha, yeah.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: This is probably going to be hoty to answer with
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: the lesson and now answer that you were seventeen when.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: You left the Right of Ways.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: But so, how did the two years that you're in
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: them shape your life and your music and who you
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: are today?
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Well, hmm, that's that's a really tough question. Oh my gosh,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: how did it shape me? Well, it made me tough.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: It really made me tough. And I also knew that
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I was born to do this by the time I'd
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: left the Runaways. It was really something that I had
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: worked very hard at and I knew I was good
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: at being on stage as a singer. No, I was
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: not a good singer because my voice was changing, you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: and when you're sixteen, I mean, you know, my voice
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: was very low and now it's now I'm in I
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: can actually sing. But it was just dealing with the
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: insecurities I think and then really really realizing that what
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: we did we should be proud of.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And that took some time. That took some time.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to throw a bit more value. Mysed
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: popular song Cherry Boment and specifically the part why you
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: started it before I like you need the chorus? Was
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: that written into the song initially or did that come later?
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: And how did what's the story of Paul and someone
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: sitting there and went this guy?
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: Because you couldn't have mentioned the.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Song without now that that was Kim Falley. I mean,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: you know, Joan was really lucky that he grabbed. And
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: of course, had I gone to rehearsal with probably can
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the Can or one of those Susiequatro songs, because they
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: asked me to learn a Susie Quatro song, and because
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I'd grown up with you know, Dean Martin and the
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Andrews sisters and you know, sang at the Koalas Club
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: with my twin sister and my father. It was very
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: middle of the road. So I picked Fever and they
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: were not happy. So Kim just turned and he could
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: have picked leader, but he went, Joe, come.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: With me, and.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: You know he was really when he wrote a song.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: First of all, he could write the lyrics like that
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: and nothing ever had to be changed. He's just that brilliant.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: And before he.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Passed, I don't know if you know that, I took
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: him into my home and took care of him when
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: he was dying of cancer, and we wrote a lot
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: of songs together for Reverie when he was just out
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: of the hospital. And uh, there was just something about Kim.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: He he would tell us what to play. No, no, no, now, modulate, no,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: change that chord, No, I want this. So basically, I
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: mean when you wrote with Kim, it was really Kim.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: And I did not to put Joan down in any way,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: but Kim ruled, ruled the roost, and uh, and he
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: just did that in one one take. I mean writing
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: those lyrics. I did help with the melody on Cherry
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Bomb because no one had sung the song before. They
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: came in and said, okay, you know you're now cherry
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Bomb sing it, and it was like so I kind
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: of had to make stuff up as I went along.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: And little did I know at fifteen that I should
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: have gotten writing credit. Wouldn't have that been nice? But yeah,
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: that's too bad. But you know, Kim Fowley was truly
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: a genius. He really was, and he's got a roster
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: of hit songs to prove it.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm unfortunately going to have to cut us off.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: I could keep going for every talk. Sure, this is
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: a fantastic conversation, but other people need your time. You
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: need a bit of a break, So thank you.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: For your much when you when you come to one,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: when you come to the show, please Chris, when you
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: come to the show, we can do a little something.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Then after the show, what do you think of that?
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: And I make it up to you.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Fantastic to me. I shall see you there for sure.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But in the meantime, the tour I started in September.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: Can't you take it through civil back touring. It's gone
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: well already, but this is going to be the end
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: of our lifetimes generation with the work. So congratulations and
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: we'll see you in a month.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I'll say thank you, Chris, thanks so much for having me,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: assass