It was 1990-something when the young kid who’d grow up to make music under the name Cherry Blaster was deep into a constant rotation of Ace of Base and AQUA. Of course, “Barbie Girl” took a backseat to Britney Spears soon enough. We all have our pop obsessions, but as that kid evolved into Cherry Blaster, a love of traditional guitar soon transformed into synth-inspired soundwaves generating two very distinct singles this year. From a yellow walkman on her side to her computer and guitar, we talked to Cherry Blaster about the music, the dreamers and more.
Kendra: When you made the transition from traditional guitar to synth, did you feel a whole new creative awakening within yourself?
Cherry Blaster: Yeah I was definitely surprised at how much easier it came to me to write songs on my computer/a keyboard than on guitar. But it may have just been the timing and I’m attributing that newfound ease to the tools when it would’ve happened anyway. Because since then I’ve added guitar back into things and it’s fitting just as easily into the songwriting process now.
Kendra: This year you released two stand-alone singles. A very common thing nowadays. Why do you feel artists are abandoning the traditional album cycle more and more?
Cherry Blaster: It’s because we all know attention is in its highest demand and lowest supply right now. It’s also easier to tackle the full process of making/releasing music on a song by song basis than a full album. With a full album, you might not be able to share it with people until two years later when you don’t even feel connected to it anymore. That’s probably the biggest benefit of singles for me. I really like to share music while I’m excited about it but I rarely get to. But even my latest singles weren’t fresh. I had written them in late 2016 and had kind of left them sitting around. I thought I’d do a hap-dash low-key release but it didn’t turn out that way. So even with singles, it can take some time. I do love albums though and I’ll never stop making them.
Kendra: The second of the two, “Olive,” dropped in early September. It’s about the downside of dreaming too hard. As someone who lives in LA, I see this all the time. People often placing too much on the dream and not enough on the work to attain a goal. With that, what is your advice to the constant dreamers?
Cherry Blaster: This is also advice to myself . While excitedly looking forward to things can motivate you, and it’s important to be passionate, make sure you act on your dreams as soon as you can. Because the longer you spend thinking about it the less attainable it actually becomes. Acting on your desires helps you understand what you actually want and helps you see the reality of what you think you want. From there you can navigate your goals in a healthier and more realistic way.
Kendra: “Olive” has this melancholy vibe to it, whereas “Demo Reel” felt a little lighter. Did you mean to have the tracks be on opposite ends of the sound spectrum?
Cherry Blaster: No that wasn’t planned but I like how that ended up lining up with spring and fall. These two songs were just the first two of a batch I wrote in the winter of 2016/2017. And they were the ones I liked the most.
Kendra: Will you be dropping another single before 2018 is up?
Cherry Blaster: Sadly no. I’ve been derailed by writing a bunch of new music instead of going back and finishing a backlog leaving off from when I wrote “Demo Reel” and “Olive.” I kind of want to keep riding that wave and then I’ll see if I even want to release the older stuff anymore.
Kendra: What about 2019, any plans for the upcoming year? Touring perhaps?
Cherry Blaster: I’d like to release more music in 2019. If anyone wants to take me on tour I will say yes.
