With the release of their latest single Stranger today, I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with the band. The band is made up of Ernest (lead vocals, guitar), Lou (vocals, piano, guitar), Stell (lead guitar), Nick (drums) & Keenan (bass)
Tell us a bit about the band. Where are you from and how did you all meet?
(Stell) Ernest and Lou had been writing and demo’ing some tunes together, and they asked me to lay down some guitar tracks for them, and before we knew it this became a permanent thing as the three of us. After the recording of our first EP ‘Show Me Something’ it became obvious that we needed a drummer and a bass player so we could do what we really wanted which was to play gigs. That’s when Nick and Keenan came in.
Where did the name Cheekbone come from, and why did you decide to use it?
(Lou) I was really into The Mighty Boosh as a kid and there’s this episode where they subscribe to a music magazine called CHEEKBONE. I don’t know how many bands are named after an obscure joke from a surrealist British comedy, but I like to think we’re one of the better ones.
You recently released your latest single Stranger. What does this song mean to you?
(Lou) Well we’re really proud of it, it’s one I had for the longest time and it’s taken several different forms. We think it’s one of the best thing’s we’ve written at this point and we’re just excited for people to hear it on June 19th.
Where do you look for inspiration?
(Stell) At the time, I was listening to bands like Cigarettes After Sex – really chilled and mellow tunes, and I had a riff that was based on their stuff which I got bored of soon enough, so I sped it up and put some distortion on it, which ended up sounding like something not too dissimilar from an early Arctic Monkeys tune.
Is this single a hint at more new music on the way?
(Ernest) We had two or three songs that we were thinking about as the next single and Stranger wasn’t one of them but we were blessed that we had laid down the basics of the track before lockdown started so, when we were left with no way of rehearsing or recording, we had that one to turn to and all it needed was mine and Lou’s vocal to be put down. But yes this is a massive hint to new music coming on the way, we want this song to push us towards a position where we have to make an album. Stranger is a song right for this time, it’s an upbeat summer tune and more new songs will be coming sounding similar and bigger that we’ve been keeping locked away for the right time.
Who produced this music? Have you worked with them before? How was it working with them?
(Lou) We produce all our own stuff ourselves, in the case of Stranger, Keenan (our bass player) messaged me asking if there was anything he could be working on in lockdown, so I sent him what we had recorded of the track and he added a bunch of layers and did this amazing mix that really changed the way we looked at the song.
What have you been doing to keep busy during lockdown?
(Ernest) We’ve been busy challenging each other on Fifa and pretending it’s Euro 2020 , we’ve been ringing each other up and crying on the phone about how much we miss going to the pub, we’re all separately writing a lot of new music and sending it to each other as voice notes and we’ve been having at least a pack of 4 Guinness a day to keep our minds strong and make sure we don’t lose the plot! You know just the usual.
Which artists are currently on your release radar?
(Ernest) We love the new Strokes album and think the world really needed it and we’re enjoying listening to Fontaines DC and looking forward to their second album dropping, we saw The Big Moon at the Roundhouse and thought they were class, apart from that, not much else going on that we feel the need to mention.
Where can we find out more about you?
(Stell) You can find us on Facebook, Insta, Youtube and all streaming platforms as Cheekboneband. But the real action is on our OnlyFans page
Anything you would like to tell us?
(Lou) Just to listen to Stranger when it’s out on June 19th and to check out #saveourvenues
I’d like to thank the guys for taking the time to answer my questions and wish them the best of luck in the future! (you can check out the OnlyFans for yourself, I’m not linking that)
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