“There is a lack of the kind of music we like in the scene. I just want to make fresh, chaotic soundscapes of straightforward, noisey rock.” – Adam
MARRY CHERRY is a new rock sound from the Austin underground. They were founded by Adam Schnitzer (songwriting/vocals/guitar) and Stevie Trudell (drums) who began recording the first few songs in summer 2021 in the home studio of Christian French (guitar/harmony vocals). Adam and Christian realized they shared a vision of playing feedback-heavy guitar as loud as possible, so it only made sense for Christian to make it a trio. They enlisted filmmaker Andy Ray Lemon (Mondo Fuzz) to capture the energy of their first single through the signature low-fi, analog fx-heavy aesthetic he’s cultivated for years while documenting the best new local talent. Programming at the Blue Starlite drive-in, aside from giving him a steady stream of visual inspiration, also affords Andy the opportunity to indulge his more deviant tastes in fringe cinema. When Adam brought Christian out to an after-hours screening of Larry Clark’s made for TV sleaze party Teenage Caveman (partly the inspiration behind Andy’s own band Teenage Cavegirl), the three realized they saw eye-to-eye on a lot of things musically and visually, informed by trash movie culture, retro-modern style, and fuzz guitar worship.
Andy finally experienced the band live when he DJ’ed their 2nd ever show for a New Year’s Eve block party, and the (then) 3-piece really got his attention, sowing the seeds for the “Smashed To Pieces” video concept. The title track off their debut was recorded by Adam and Stevie with Christian handling production and mixing duties in their shared art studio/practice space. They worked with available mic’s, DIY-style, and had it mastered by Eric Debris of legendary French synth punk outfit Metal Urbain (who better than the man who influenced the Jesus & Mary Chain and re-mastered The Archie’s Greatest Hits). The outcome mingles 90s Britpop and shoegaze with 70s garage punk and proto-glam into perfect rock nugget confections. There’s a seductive tension between the sugary production of Adam and Christian’s pop-psych vocal melodies and the feedback fest of their twin overdriven guitar attack, a monolithic fuzz bass tone and Stevie’s splashy cymbals and driving beat. But where the recordings are succinct pleasure delivery vessels, live shows are raw, the borderline abrasive textures and volume levels flirting with the pain threshold and weeding out the tourists.
“To me their songs are tough on the outside and bubblegum on the inside, like blow pops.” – Andy Ray
Starting from a red and black color palette inspired by Adam’s unusual cherry red amp and the New York Dolls’ Malcolm McLaren Communist period (and like the Dolls, three of the Cherries met through selling vintage clothes), Andy filmed the band on 16mm, hi8 tape and VHS cameras at a rented church’s green screen studio and then distressed the footage through a battery of circuit-bent vintage glitch toys, broken & modded FX processors, razorblades and bleach. As you can see, the surviving footage bears the beautiful scars of its tortured journey to your screen (For the full hi-def low-fi experience, watch on a decent-sized screen with the quality set to 4K).
After the shoot, their friend Andrew took over on bass in order to free Christian up to play with 6-strings. Andy: “The guys sent me an advance copy of the album and I loved it. Riffs for days. We had casually discussed putting some more house shows together of the rock ‘n’ roll bands and DJs in this town who don’t suck, and I jokingly suggested we call it Pop Sickle Booking. Then later Adam told me he listed that as their ‘label’ on the record’s streaming release info, so I guess it’s real now! So if you like this style, follow us @pop_sickle_booking. We’ve already got some more parties and releases in the works.”
