Thanks so much to Gaz Parker for the interview! Cherry Forever during their time recorded one Peel Session and an EP for the Wilde Club. And then disappeared. I wrote about them some time ago and as it turns out Gaz got in touch and was up for an interview. Even better I learned that he had uploaded all of thee band’s recorded output to Bandcamp. So yeah, this is really a treat. Enjoy!

++ Hi Gaz! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?

No probs, Roque. I’m very good, not involved with music directly, apart from listening to a wider variety of it than I ever have. Currently listening includes Aldous Harding, Grace Ives, Kelela, Tinashe…also keen on rock bands Geese & Wednesday.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what your first instrument was? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen tao at home while growing up?

Music at home growing up was great, looking back….Prog rock titans Yes, Bowie & Steely Dan, among other stuff. Dad got me Aladdin Sane on gatefold vinyl for my 8th birthday, still got it today.  On TV we always watched Whistle Test & Sight & Sound in Concert (look on YouTube), great performances by a wide variety of artists like Curtis Mayfield, Thin Lizzy, Ian Dury & many more.

My introduction to drumming was playing a snare drum in a scout band as a young kid for a year or two. Nothing like a drum kit, but I kind of taught myself.

++ Had you been in other bands before Cherry Forever?

Cherry Forever existed for around 18 months before as Ram Shavi (a mantra/chant in an Indiana Jones film!), David with me playing one-fingered bass badly & two mates on drums & guitar. The drummer left, I got a kit, then Mark (a local mate) joined to replace the guitarist, who was at University. Pete joined shortly after on bass. A few songs began life there, including Plastic Toy & Wallpaper Ceiling.

++ Where were you from originally?

Pete was originally from Wokingham, but lived in Sneinton, Nottingham at the time…the rest of us from Nottingham, town called Arnold.

++ How was Nottingham at the time of Cherry Forever? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

We formed a good bond with a Leicester band who went on to much better things, call Earth the California Love Dream. They turned up late looking to play with us at The Old Angel in Nottingham, having been chased out of doing the venue they intended to play by guys wielding pool cues!  They ran off, drove & saw a van outside the venue, asked if they could play, we said why not.

There was a great record shop called Selectadisc in Nottingham, sold literally everything but loads more obscure stuff than the usual, mad you can now get literally anything online, no matter how rare. They always had something decent playing – I bought a few things there after asking what a track was. They eventually had 3 shops on the same street, LPs, singles/12’’ & 2nd hand. Closed in 2000s with streaming taking over.

++ What were your favourite bands in your area at the time? Was there any that you think deserved more attention, that should have been bigger?

None really, never really followed a local scene, if there really was one. Saw a band called Asphalt Ribbons a couple of times, who ended up with two founding members of Tindersticks, who are still going now I think, they’ve had a long & successful career.

++ How was the band put together? How was the recruiting process?

As above, me & David are brothers, Mark a good mate back then. Pete responded to an advert placed in Selectadisc record shop, he said he wanted to get involved cos we had a PA and our own Van. He came to us from a band called Idi Eisenstein. We liked his bassline on their track ‘Baghdad a Buddha’ (I’m not making this up).

++ Was there any lineup changes in the band?

Bar the early departures mentioned before, no… apart from a brief experiment with a double bass player – didn’t work!

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Started in a top room at a local Labour Club, cheap beer & room rental and would leave the equipment there set up. Then moved to city centre rehearsal centre, then to upstairs rooms at a Pub on Canal Street in Nottingham, since demolished & now the site of Nottingham Crown Court!

++ What about influences?

Collectively, at the time, we all liked Evol/Sister era Sonic Youth, early Smiths & 70’s Bowie. But our tastes also varied widely, it’s hard to call anything an influence, we just played what we played.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?

It’s the name of the prostitute (sex worker in today’s language) in puerile 80’s ‘comedy’ Porkies. Decent band name, dreadful film.

++ In 1991 the band recorded a John Peel Session. As far as I know you hadn’t had a record released by this time. How did this happen? Did you use to send demos? What’s the story behind you getting a deal to record at Maida Vale?

After recording our first demo, we posted it (i.e. on cassette tape, in an envelope, in a post box!) to various places, record labels, music press, local & national DJs who might like it. Local Radio in Nottingham played tracks first, then Peel actually called our guitarist Mark pretty quickly after it was sent, so soon he thought it was a joke. John took it very well & quickly convinced Mark he was who he said he was & offered us the chance to record a session, readily accepted obviously. It was a 3 month wait to record it I recall. Maida Vale was a massive, cavernous place, built for recording large orchestras I think.

++ Four songs were recorded for the session. How did you pick these four songs? Were they easy choices?

Spook was the obvious lead, we pretty much knew when we wrote it we might have something. Down & around was an enjoyable racket to play live, Higher than heaven more mainstream that showed us in a different light. Back to back was, in my opinion, a poor inclusion, just an idea really, not even a fully formed song – it was soon dropped!

++ The next year, 1992, you released your first record, the “Headstrong EP” on Wilde Club Records. I want to know how did this relationship with the band start? 

Barry Newman, who ran Wilde Club, got in touch pretty soon after the Peel session aired in June 91.  There was other expressions of interest from a handful of indie labels, InTape springs to mind & David/Mark went to a meeting with Rough Trade in London. The fact that Barry was keen to get us in a decent studio quickly appealed though, and we recorded the 1st EP in October that year.

The EP was released some acclaim and a sold out pressing. Radio plays followed on the Peel show, but was also well supported by Mark Ratcliffe on  Out On Blue Six and many local alternative radio shows.

++ The EP had four songs and they were recorded in Yarmouth at Purple Rain Studios and produced by Richard Hammerton. How was that experience? Was it your first experience at a proper recording studios?

We were pretty well disciplined as there are always time & budget constraints! We were well rehearsed after recording for Peel & pretty much knew what to do, Rich Hammerton was great, a fantastic engineer & made us all feel at ease.

++ Also very curious about the artwork on the sleeve. What’s the story behind it?

Artwork was supplied by a local artist, created  while on a solo acid trip in his bedroom…he was called Big Al, my brother’s occasional lodger back then, his current whereabouts are now unknown!

++ Then there was plans for a 2nd EP but that never happened due to label finance issues. That would have been the “Gods EP”. What happened with it? Songs were recorded and produced, I guess only pressing the records was missing? Did you have the artwork done for it too?

No artwork from memory, if there was its long gone. We were very happy with the Gods tracks & thought their release might give us the push we needed. But time drifted on, Barry was hard to contact back then by this stage (one landline number available!), we eventually came to realise it wasn’t to be…

++ The only other release I know was appearing on the compilation “I Might Walk Home Alone” but then it included a song from the EP. So I wonder, why were there no more songs of yours released even after the 2nd EP not being released? Was there no interest from other labels?

Apart from mentioned already, In Tape & Rough Trade plus a few more. We no doubt became disheartened, but continued to record some premising songs & played some cracking gigs….

++ Speaking about recordings the band did many and luckily they are now on Bandcamp! I’m really enjoying going through them and you even have the Peel Session up there. What made you rescue these songs, so many years after? A bit of nostalgia? Or is there a renewed interest in the band? Maybe planning to play again?

I’ve always kept all our tracks on my laptop, some guy contacted me about putting the stuff in an online archive, asking for a biog etc. I gave him the info & tracks but wanted to put it online myself, in the format we wanted. Plus I’ve taken early retirement so it’s something I have time to do!

++ My favourite song of yours is “Spook”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Spook came about in a Saturday practice session when guitarist Mark discovered power chords after a guitar lesson (he began with us as a relative novice). It was like discovering the Holy Grail!

As ever, most of our songs back then came thru extended jams, until we hit upon something good and the drummer caught up (that’s a guitarist ‘joke’).

Lyrics generally mean whatever you want them to, David just tended to sing something to what we’d done musically, then formed something on paper that was vaguely coherent. I remember liking the opening line ‘runaway train, riding across your heaven’ & thinking this might lead to something decent…

++ If you were to choose your favorite Cherry Forever song, which one would that be and why?

I’d say Gods or Wallpaper Ceiling off the unreleased 2nd EP.

We were a much tighter band by this stage, writing better songs or reworking existing stuff.

Both tracks slap you in the face from the get-go, were well recorded & engineered…the finished article pleased all of us, I think…just a shame they didn’t reach the intended wider audience, because we had a real confidence & aggression in our playing after that for a while.

I like the original Spook demo best, very rough & ready. On later demos, The Unfortunate Boy, Plain White & Hostility Vine show real promise & were live favourites.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

We made a colossal racket & became a really tight unit!

Played at legendary Sausage Machine club nights at the White Horse, Bull & Gate & the Falcon and Rock Garden in London in 1991/1992.

We did loads of dates & headline slots at Wilde Club nights at Norwich Arts centre from 1991 to 1994. Also played regularly in Coventry at The Golden Cross, always very well received.

Live across Nottingham & East Midlands throughout the bands’ lifetime, including Rock City basement bar, Narrowboat, Old Angel & Hippo in Nottingham; the Charlotte & the Shed in Leicester.

++ And what were the best gigs that you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Playing Gods at an intense volume to a packed room of mesmerised watchers at Norwich Arts centre. Playing downstairs at Rock City, starting with a few people there but by mid set it was rammed with a very excitable crowd, some kid was that impressed he asked for my drumsticks!

++ And were there any bad ones?

Late on yep….playing to modest numbers who had no interest – once the moments gone, it’s gone!

++ When and why did Cherry Forever stop making music? Were any of you
involved in any other projects afterwards?

Guitarist Mark left, we continued to play as a 3 piece, did 2 recording sessions under a different guise in a top notch studio in Mansfield…of those 8 or 9 tracks, 3 or 4 still sound very good. Gigs were rare, momentum had gone, we drifted to an end…

David played in various outfits, but me & him played as a two piece called Crimson General from 2012-2018 & released an EP on 12’’ vinyl, you can listen on BandCamp link below:

https://crimsongeneral.bandcamp.com

We played live frequently and I’m still very pleased with these tracks, especially the 1st 3.

++ You were on Blindmouse, how do you compare that band to Cherry Forever?

No comparison, it was a short lived hook up with 2 nice guys from another band with very different ideas, really.

++ Looking back in retrospect, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Peel session, definitely. Gigs mentioned above, along with Sausage Machine club night at the White Horse. The launch gig at The Old Angel, Nottingham for the EP release was rammed, a night full of anticipation…nice memories!

++ And aside from music, what other hobbies do you have? 

Running, horse racing & watching older/obscure films.

++ I would love to ask a local. What do you  suggest checking out in Nottingham, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

A few nice pubs in Nottingham I still go to….Playwright, Bath Inn, Bell, Dragon. Kayal always a winner for a curry.

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Listen
Cherry Forever – Spook