CHERRY GLAZERR

writer / Jordan Blakeman

photographer / Robiee Ziegler

stylist / Wilford Lenov

makeup / Sonia Reshetnikova

hair / Sarah Dougherty

Clementine Creevy, 18, Hannah Uribe,17 and Sean Redman, 23, of the LA garage band Cherry Glazerr, can be a little intimidating at first meeting. At such young ages they have garnered fans all over the world with their hypnotic  high energy live shows, released their Burger Records debut album, Haxel Princess, soundtracked the runway for Saint Laurent and have become one of the poster children for a new wave of effortlessly cool bands. They present musicianship with ease and capture the attention of almost anyone when placed in front of a camera or on stage. It’s not something most can do. I remember as I think back to speech classes in high school and shudder. This is something one of the girls might have had to endure earlier the same week. All those thoughts instantly melted when I crossed paths with the band at a record studio’s closing party that was BYOB and packed to the brim with all ages and walks of life to celebrate a toast to the end of its tenancy. Clem recognized me in passing, quickly grabbed me into a hug, and even bummed me a cigarette while we swapped stories on life at eighteen. Later in the night, were shoulder to shoulder in the mosh pit after a two-part Trojan Horse surfed above the crowd, its rider passing out cheap beers from within. Despite a tumble amidst the chaos, she still held that grace from before at the front of the crowd by keeping the band’s singer’s mic stand upright. That’s some skill. Later, during calmer moments, I got to discover more about the buzz band while chatting over drinks and music.

What was your first show like?

Clem: Our first show we got kind of lucky cause we got to open for Hunx And His Punx in Santa Ana which was a great show. Good opportunity for us as an opening band and it was really fun. We were really quiet and we played a skate park and I remember the skaters were just louder than we were because we had tiny little amps and didn’t really know how to find our sound yet and it was like… we were pretty quiet up there. We’ve gotten a lot louder.

Cherry Glazerr got its early roots in Clem’s bedroom where she’d write songs. With a few uploads to Soundcloud and an introduction to Paige of Tashaki Miyaki by her mom via a chance encounter at a coffee shop, she joined the Burger Records family and eventually went on to form Cherry Glazerr.

What was your craziest show since you’ve gotten a lot louder?

Hannah: Our craziest show, for me probably, was… Burgerama was really crazy but the first time we played in Chicago we played in like a basement where the ceilings were like 7 feet tall.

C: Asbestos falling from the ceiling!

H: It was awesome.

C: Sweat, like condensation on the fucking ceiling.

H: It was just like a bunch of kids packed into that small basement. Yeah, that was the craziest show we’ve ever played.

The momentum picked up quickly. They released their first tape Papa Cremp
under the name Cherry Glazerr at the beginning of 2013. Drummer Hannah Uribe was recruited from Clem’s school and later bassist Sean Redman from a summer
music program she attended. Its first song, “Trick or Treat Dancefloor,” caught the
attention of Saint Laurent head Hedi Slimane who asked the band to record a longer version for their Fall/Winter 2013 Paris Fashion Week show. Later in the year, they released their first album and made the trek to the promised land of upcoming musical talent, South by Southwest.

Who would be your dream person to collaborate with?

C: That’s a good question.

S: Hmm…

H: It’d be awesome to collaborate with St. Vincent.

C: Fucking crazy!

H: It’d be amazing.

C: That would be fantastic. And David Byrne which is funny because
St. Vincent collaborated with David Byrne but yeah we all are obsessed with her. Zach Hill is a fantastic drummer. How amazing would it be to collaborate? Death Grips! What if we brought Death Grips back together?! It would never happen.

H: Just wouldn’t happen.

C: They’re way on a whole ‘nother level. They’re fantastic though. Their
drummer, Zach Hill, is awesome. Maybe Tobacco? Tom Vek.

They’ve played the stage at festivals such as Echo Park Rising, the more dance-centric Pacific Festival, and the Odd Future-curated Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, showing their sound far surpasses the rock flavor they’re known for. They’ve spent school breaks crawling into vans with fellow bands like
Together Pangea and Sunflower Bean and sleeping on couches along the way. In an age where many artists get their first hit online before ever hitting the stage, Cherry Glazerr is doing things the old-fashioned way, fashioning themselves as part of the music community from within. According to blog Oh My Rockness, they were the second hardest working band in L.A. racking up a total 22 shows in 2014. Oh, and that’s on top of a loaded school schedule, press interviews,
recording, and more.

If you were to have a secondary career on top of music, what would
you pursue?

C: I’m not technically pursuing it but I’m in the show Transparent that’s an
Amazon Prime show and it’s doing really well. I’m a very minor character but it’s fun. I like acting. Acting it fun. I want to create. I love all artistic mediums and
I hope to excel in multiple. I can’t draw for shit though. I can’t paint for shit but I would love to be a painter. I’m way too ambitious! I want to do everything.
I want to surf, I want to like skateboard and have a sketchbook and have awesome
drawings. None of it will ever materialize. I feel like I’m only good at guitar.

Sean: If I quit music I’d probably get a job at a greenhouse or a nursery and just be around plants all day or a job at the forestry department.

C: Yeah, that’d be rad. I might just grow a bunch of shit, y’know?

S: Start my own garden.

C: Yeah, that’d be awesome.

H: If I wasn’t doing music I’d probably leave this country, get the fuck out of here. I’d go to Costa Rica, build my own house, have my own garden, and just not have a TV or anything and just live the way humans used to live long ago.

C: Long ago! Before the digital age!

H: Yeah. Yeah, I’d have seven dogs. It’s whatever.

C: You’d have so many dogs.

With high school about to be behind two of the three, the trio are set off the conquer their first European dates and, soon after, the world.