In December 2017, the Cinema Bar in Culver Metropolis opened its doorways to native trio Cheekface for the group to play its first official present. Greater than seven years, a whole bunch of exhibits and tens of hundreds of followers later, the band was able to return to the venue that began all of it on a brisk Valentine’s Day afternoon.
Sadly, Cinema Bar was unexpectedly closed, as was the doughnut store throughout the road.
“It’s kinda fitting,” drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards says with a chuckle behind a face masks and glasses because the band jaywalks throughout Sepulveda Boulevard for the second time earlier than settling in at Maple Block Meat Co.
“For us or for Cinema Bar?” each singer-guitarist Greg Katz and bassist Amanda Tannen quip again, almost in unison.
Edwards meant it as a well mannered rib on the Culver Metropolis staple dive bar, however it’s additionally an applicable joke to crack concerning the group that calls itself “America’s local band.” As an indie rock band that dabbles in the whole lot from ska to crabcore on its new album, “Middle Spoon” (launched Tuesday), Cheekface,since its 2017 formation, might be finest described with phrases like “scrappy,” “unconventional” and “surprising.”
“When Greg and I started the project, it was like, ‘Let’s do everything with the intention of having fun and not take ourselves too seriously,’” bassist Amanda Tannen of Cheekface says.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Occasions)
Why? Effectively, for a band each releasing its fifth album and headlining a nationwide tour this spring, Cheekface is dedicated to a DIY mentality on ranges that many bands abandon the second they style success. All three members have spent loads of time within the music business (each in different bands and in different positions) exterior of Cheekface, and so they’re every prepared to make use of their acquired abilities for the betterment of the band.
As an illustration, Tannen handles the entire visible paintings and merch aspect of issues whereas Katz makes use of his publishing expertise to have Cheekface self-release all of its albums with no label (and Edwards contributes his “glowing” skincare routine, the band jokes). And it helps that the band has a writing model that interjects memorable wit and humor into catchy songs about relatable matters — significantly for its viewers of largely therapy-attending millennials and Gen Zers.
“I’ve come to understand that the only thing that matters as far as a project ‘succeeding’ is whether people like the music and want to listen to it,” Katz says, carrying a pink crewneck sweater. “The deeper you get into it, the more you relearn that. If you put out music that people want to hear, they will keep voting for you to continue doing it. I also think we stripped the need for external validation for this band from the jump by basically planning for it to be nothing.”
When Katz says Cheekface started with no expectations, he means it. Your complete mission began with the purpose of he and Tannen writing a handful of songs collectively for their very own psychological well being, releasing them on Bandcamp and perhaps enjoying a yard present or two. However one native gig grew to become many, with the group leaping on to dozens of exhibits with buddies’ bands round L.A. in 2018 and 2019 earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic shut down its touring plans in 2020.
By the point dwell music was a factor once more later in 2021, Cheekface was already two albums (2019’s “Therapy Island” and 2021’s “Emphatically No.”) into its profession and had began constructing an internet following of “Cheek Freaks.” The trio discovered a distinct segment within the oft-serious indie world by utilizing humor and irreverence to lighten the temper of their anxiety-infused pop-rock, incomes a novel fan base that spans generations, genres and scenes throughout the nation.
So although “Middle Spoon” was born out of a traumatic 2024 for each Katz (whose father suffered a stroke and grandmother handed away) and Tannen (whose long-term relationship led to “a really traumatic breakup”), the songwriters are fast to level out that it’s neither a breakup album nor “a dead grandma album.”
“Both Greg and I were going through a period of change at the same time right before [2024’s “It’s Sorted”] launched,” Tannen says, referencing her breakup and Katz’s familial losses. “I had also just left my full-time job to be able to focus on Cheekface, so all of the things that were stable in my life got taken out from under me, and I didn’t know how to process things. When we got home from touring, we really had to face that, so I think a good part of this album is about change and loss and finding your footing.”
“A lot of our music references self-help culture,” Katz provides. “In self-help culture, ‘growth’ is very romanticized where you do breathwork and meditate, and then you mature into this philosophic version of yourself. But a lot of growth is not intentional. It happens because some s— occurs and you have to move through that s—, whether you like it or not. That process is awkward and painful and makes you look at a part of yourself that you really don’t like. A lot of this album grapples with that discomfort that we were feeling as we were writing it.”
From a logistical standpoint, the discharge of “Middle Spoon” can be an ideal have a look at how the DIY wheels of Cheekface flip. Having simply launched its final album in January 2024 after which instantly touring by means of late Could, the brand new album comes simply 9 months after the band started writing it. And having put out 5 albums (plus a number of EPs, covers and different tunes) in lower than six years, the fast turnaround is successfully par for the course for the trio.
Whereas different artists see their launch schedule slowed by label politics and producers fiddling to excellent each track, Cheekface isn’t beholden to any of these limitations and sees no motive to delay creating or releasing new music at any time when it desires.
“I’ve come to understand that the only thing that matters as far as a project ‘succeeding’ is whether people like the music and want to listen to it,” singer/guitarist Greg Katz of Cheekface says
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Occasions)
“Writing the music is the most fun part, and recording the music is the second most fun part, so why would we block that off?” Katz says. “If it’s the fun part, we should do it the most, because this band runs on having fun. We don’t have to deal with a label because we’re not on one, so there’s no one saying, ‘You should space this out,’ or ‘We have a lot of other albums that we need to put out before we get to yours.’ One of my favorite bands is Bad Religion — who also self-released their own records — and from 1988 to 1994, they released six of the most classic Bad Religion albums.”
“When Greg and I started the project, it was like, ‘Let’s do everything with the intention of having fun and not take ourselves too seriously,’” Tannen provides. “We just want to have some fun and write some music, so the songs mostly get written quickly. If a song takes months to write, there might be something wrong with that song, and maybe it’s not a Cheekface song anyway. We’re not looking for something perfect, because there is no perfect.”
“I’ve been in bands where things get super bogged down by that sense of preciousness, where it’s like every song has to be perfect,” Edwards provides. “You can never move on with ‘good enough,’ and it gets so frustrating.”
“I don’t think we feel burdened to make a heartbreaking work of staggering genius when we sit down to write,” Katz says with fun. “We just make the music we want to hear.”
