cheerbleederz - sometimes i cry at work
London indie punk trio cheerbleederz are are a collaboration between Kathryn Woods (guitar/vocals) from Fresh, Sophie MacKenzie (bass/vocals) of Finish Flag and Happy Accidents’ Phoebe Cross (drums/vocals).
sometimes i cry at work, is the latest track to be taken from their second EP lobotany, which is out now on Alcopop! Records.
Both a fan and band favourite, sometimes i cry at work was a surprise sleeper hit from the new EP on streaming platforms. Landing cheerbleederz a cover shot on Spotify’s Hot New Bands playlist and a spot on The Rock List, plus key radio support from John Kennedy (Radio X) and Tom Robinson (BBC 6music), the new record clearly resonated on an even broader scale with listeners.
Commenting on the new single, the band say:
sometimes i cry at work focuses on someone who is at war with themselves and has extreme fluctuations of confidence. It's the internal conversation to try and find the truth of what you really want and how sometimes that truth can be really hard to find. It speaks to a feeling of inadequacy and imposter syndrome that can plague you and prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve. When we play it, we really channel that frustration and defiance in Sophie's lyrics, it's an empowering song for us!
sometimes i cry at work was released today Thursday 30 April, and it’s very much punk at its poppiest and it’s absolutely fantastic, it has a very catchy guitar riff, great rhythm provided by the bass and drums, and Williams adds a very strong vocal, and the harmonies on the chorus “sometimes i cry at work, I want to die there first” are pitch perfect. The guitar and drum solo is also spot on building the track up again until we are left bouncing along to the catchy chorus as the songs reaches its crescendo finish.
Lyrically it talks about the struggles in life at different points, there are two fantastic verses which describe this perfectly “this is the oldest that I’ve ever been and what have I achieved, I should hardly like to live with her, standing back and giving me grief” and “this is the youngest I’ll ever be she says you look so pretty, now the boys might be back in town, but the girls will only play with me”.
Now cheerbleederz are new to me, but not anymore they are firmly on my radar as ones to watch, sometimes i cry at work is a brilliant pop punk tune, it describes how we all feel at times, but the upbeat melody of the track had me dancing along to it as I was doing the review, loved it, loved it, LOVED IT, YOU WILL TOO !!
Give sometimes i cry at work a stream here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4C7VsIxlEo8HLNM4SgP68m?si=Ny9UrH5TTWmK9kgOkZVSxA
The track is accompanied by a super-fun, emotional rollercoaster of a video, which was filmed and directed by the band in self-isolation, and was edited by drummer Phoebe Cross and long-time collaborator Rich Mandell.
On the challenge of creating the visuals under the current circumstances, Cross explains:
We originally planned to have someone film a video featuring us all, but then lockdown happened, so we took things into our own hands and filmed one from isolation. It's such a weird time right now so it was fun to have some distraction and get a little creative and silly, now more than ever it's nice to stay connected with people and continue getting some fresh content out that we enjoyed making.
It all came together pretty quickly; we all shot our parts in nice lighting (thanks sun!) and me and Rich edited it. It was therapeutic smearing ourselves in mascara and eyeliner and having a good fake cry!
Guitarist and vocalist Kathryn Woods adds:
It was a really cool way to come together as a band and keep creating things while being on lockdown. People often don’t realise how close bands are to each other. We really feel like we’re losing out on our friendship (getting together for meals together in the evening, going for walks around the city) as well as more typical band stuff (gigs, practices, recordings). With that in mind, this video was a great way to jam together virtually again, hopefully we’ll be able to reunite in the real world soon.
You can watch the video below:
cheerbleederz also recently released a special charity cover of Now, Now track Dead Oaks with all proceeds going to The Trussell Trust food bank charity. The track is available to download via their bandcamp page here:
https://cheerbleederz.bandcamp.com/track/dead-oaks
cheerbleederz can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/cheerbleederz/