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Cheer Up Charlie Daniels played an action packed set at the Mercy Lounge last Thursday. Think really badass power pop a-la-jellyfish but with a southern twist...yeah, it's kind of like that.
I had heard a lot about Cheer Up Charlie Daniels from a friend with great taste...but I had to give a listen myself...and I am so glad I did. The songs were absurdly infectious and the delivery was stellar. It is so great to hear a band that sounds just as together on stage as they do in recording.
Joining the band on stage was the very talented performance artist Rachel Kice.
I definitely recommend you check out the bands most excellent and humorous MySpace page...make sure you watch the video clips of Neil Anderson's field trip to see Charlie Daniels at Borders. Neil Anderson, Ed Willams, Ben Holton and Luke Skidmore delivered a set that truly was refreshing to my ears. Be sure to check them out June 4, 2007 at 3rd and Lindsley (it's a ways off, so surely you can put it on your calendar).
- Nashville Feed
Discography
In the Sutdio Recording Debut Record, "Ed-jew-meh-cated Cun-tree Folks" due out spring 2008
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Bio
Cheer up, Charlie (Daniels!) Cu, C(D!)
Who are you guys?! The legend and folk lore behind Cheer up, Charlie (Daniels!) is nothing short of extraordinary. Like most of such tales, this one began on a peculiar day in Arkansas when Neil Anderson, front-man and wild child, was conceived. Though he was immediately put up for adoption and taken in by a friendly farm in Chicago, he would eventually find out that he was actually the illegitimate child of a very famous, and quite eccentric country musician.
His route to Nashville was a matter of fate. Moving here with nothing more then a red thong, and a blue turban, he sat alone on a street corner playing 'The Long Haired Country Boy', an old Charlie Daniels standard. Walking by, a god sent, was Luke Skidmore -a man of the cloth with clothing made of cloth. A conversation and jam later, Skidmore and Anderson realized a similar passion for the music of Charlie Daniels -Skidmore's stemmed from the fact that he was born out of Charlie Daniels' sperm. Luke's father, Charlie Daniels had abandoned him in the backstage of the Grand Ole Opry at the tender age of three. Daniels didn't actually mean to leave Luke behind, but after digesting a quart of cough syrup he hallucinated and forgot about his child permanently. The two moved in together where electric avenue met the avenue of the stars and started a band called, 'Cheer'.
One evening, with a craving for pizza, the two ordered delivery. Showing up at their door was musical duo, 'UP'. Miles Kramer and Adam Selzer (juggling duo, polk/trip hop duo, pizza delivery duo, and dance partners) handed the pizza over and noticed inside a Charlie Daniels shrine -laden with a dead chicken, incense, and snakes blood. The fellows quickly piped up that they were both children born of the sperm of fiddle master and country legend Charlie Daniels. Imagine that...the devil came down in georgia (into 3 different women), spawning a troupe of illegitimate offspring. Despite the apartment being only big enough for a mouse, the 4 moved in together starting a band called, 'Up Cheer'. They shared many undergarments.
'Up Cheer' began playing out in Nashville. Their own breed of bizzarro alt. indie alternative obscure music, a following was soon born. Women feared them, Men adored them, and old men REALLY adored them. Really. Seriously. At one show, featuring 'Up Cheer' opening for Megadeath at the Ryman, the spirit of Charlie Daniels was stirring. From the crowd a holler of the word, 'Brother?!' appeared. Musician and 'illegitimate Charlie Daniels son'/mega death fan Chris Volpe Daniels, with a nascar locket bearing a photo of his long lost brothers- he had found what he'd been yearning for. Brotherhood, of the Charlie Daniels variety. Four brothers, plus Neil had been united. Chris moved in as well, and started sharing the undergarments.
Now Neil was no believer in fate or destiny, but it seemed a strange coincidence that he was now sharing an apartment with 4 illegitimate children of the natural wonder, Charlie Daniels. Stranger still was the fact that he had no knowledge of his own biological father -it wasn't possible, was it, that he TOO was birthed of Charlie Daniels seed? Anderson, wearing nothing but a camouflage tube sock stormed into a book signing, kissing his possible father and grabbing several locks from Charlie Daniels' gorgeous mane. A $90 application fee and near brush with jail, and proof was waiting in the mail box. Neil Anderson Daniels had a second family. Damn Charlie, you pimp! Chris had found a bass lying around the house, and after 2 hours of practice had joined the ultimate family band -not the Jackson 5, but 'Up Cheer'. Something had to be done about their name. Cheer Daniel's? Up charlie? Charlie Daniels (taken)? Cheer up Charlie? closer. American Whang, whang, whang? Funny, but no.
Then it hit, like a baseball bat from you aunt into your groin. The epidermal epic legendary legend was here: Cheer up, Charlie (Daniels!).
Repeat after us:
We pledge allegiance to PBR, to whom without which Charlie Daniels would not have spread his semen, and to the republic in which he bore progeny for one band, under god (Charlie Daniels), with liberty and rock and roll for all. Show your patriotism and if by any chance, you believe yourself to be of the Charlie Daniels brethren...join our band.
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