The Cherry Bluestorms

Fans of the halcyon Britpop days of Blur, Oasis and Pulp as well as of those groovy psychedelic ‘60s will be pleased to meet likeminded trio The Cherry Bluestorms. The brainchild of Glen Laughlin, former longtime guitarist with bubblegum-punkers The Dickies, the group is working on its third album, following critical hosannas invoking ‘60s-era Who and Kinks for its 2013 song cycle Bad Penny Opera. Pliable vocals by Deborah Gee and inventive drumming by Mark Francis White give the band instant cred, while covers of acts like the Beatles and Donovan provide easy entry into the group’s trancelike playground. - SESAC Magazine

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW Rocks The Cavern Club In Liverpool

International Pop Overthrow, the planet’s ultimate pop/rock music festival, rocked the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool for the sixth year in a row, with a total of 175 bands from 16 countries performing in the hallowed venue where The Beatles first met Brian Epstein and ultimately played 292 shows. The massive turnout of live performances made this IPO’s most successful showing in Liverpool to date.

Reflective of the festival’s ongoing triumph in the historic room, IPO is prominently featured in the just released book “The Cavern: The Most Famous Club In The World” by noted historian and BBC Merseyside host Spencer Leigh.

Attendees were ecstatic throughout the weeklong event, which ran from May 20-26. Richard Stephenson of the Leeds-based band The Avenues, which played the festival, called it the “best weekend of my life!” Will of Comporto Sound added, “Having sound engineered for 45 bands over three days, I am absolutely flabbergasted that 44 of them were mindblowingly shit-hot!”

These artists included a handful of exciting up and coming groups from Los Angeles:
The Cherry Bluestorms, a psychedelic pop band featuring guitarist Glen Laughlin, also of The Dickies; Blackout101, an explosive teen trio comprised of two 13 year olds and a 16 year old that has been touted as next Green Day or Blink 182; Ari Shine, an artist The Los Angeles Times has described as a “songwriter-to-watch in the L.A. power-pop underground”; and Norman Kelsey, the former frontman of power-poppers Bat Country, who has totally re-invented himself as a soul man, and will appeal to fans of Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Other breakthrough artists who appeared at IPO Liverpool 2008 include Nigel Clark, the lead singer/songwriter of Dodgy, who scored several hits in the UK during the 90s and who have recently reformed; Hamfatter, a band from Cambridge, whose first single “Sziget” from their critically acclaimed third album What Part of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand? reached #54 in the UK singles chart and #13 in the indie singles chart in July 2007; Daisy, a band from Turku, Finland, whose recently released album It’s About Time, hit #22 on the Finnish Top 40 charts (their single “Go” will be featured on this year’s IPO Compilation CD); and Detlef Zoo, a Latvian band whose single “Four Walls” spent five weeks at the #1 spot on Latvia’s radio SWH charts.

Fans across the world that couldn’t make it out to the Cavern Club have other options thanks to all the new cities on IPO’s burgeoning schedule. In February, the event took over Atlanta (February 13-16) and Chapel Hill, North Carolina (21-24). Its first stops in Detroit (April 9-12) and Milwaukee (May 1-4) sandwiched a marathon run in Chicago April 15-27. Before overthrowing the pop scene in Portland, Oregon for the first time from August 20-23, IPO will return to its roots in Los Angeles (July 25-August 9) and then head up to San Francisco (August 12-16).

The lineup and venues for IPO’s run in L.A. will be announced shortly.

IPO is also scheduled for Vancouver August 26-30, with dates to be announced for November shows in Boston, New York and Toronto. Festival creator and promoter David Bash now has his eyes set on expanding the event’s global reach and in coming years hopes to “set up shop” in cities like Stockholm, Madrid, Tokyo and Sydney.

Each IPO event features between 100-180 of the best pop bands from around the world. Expanding on Bash’s founding vision to unite a worldwide pop scene under one umbrella, the fest has quickly grown beyond its roots as a showcase for melodic pop bands and now invites artists from a wide variety of subgenres: indie pop, folk pop, garage pop, punk pop, psychedelic pop, modern rock.

June 09, 2008 by Chris Dahlberg - Chris Dahlberg/comosgaming.com

“It's worth tracking down the Cherry Bluestorms' 2007 CD, Transit of Venus (Roundhouse Recording), starting with a glittery makeover of the Beatles' "Baby, You're a Rich Man," which is blown up by ex-Dickies guitarist Glen Laughlin's crunchy, hard-bubblegum production and frosted with Deborah Gee's sweetly reproachful vocals. The tune sounds fresh again and would probably already be in television commercials everywhere if the duo had any connections. In their best original songs, such as "Fear of Gravity," Laughlin surrounds Gee's desperately yearning vocals with swirling arpeggios and doomy, dramatic descending chords. On "Daisy Chain," they get away with chanting giddy lyrics like "The moon and all the stars watch Venus dancing home to Mars" because there is real power in their power pop…”
Falling James, L.A. Weekly

- L.A. Weekly

Reviewer: Steve Winnall
The Cherry Bluestorms are a Los Angeles band and this is an excellent debut album. They are led by multi-instrumentalist and producer Glen Laughlin. Glen was formerly in those Killer Klowns of punk, The Dickies. He has also been a member of Buffalo Spingfielsd Again, who featured original members of that legendary West Coast band who are an influence on The Cherry Bluestorms. Taking main vocal duties and sharing the songwriting is Glen's wife, Deborah Gee, who has a critically acclaimed solo album to her credit. Tapping into the magic and vibes of a wealth of sixties' sounds, The Cherry Bluestorms produce a contemporary recipe of their own. And Laughlin has the finesse of a master chef. Nothing is overdone, with keyboards and other instruments and devices expertly utilized, arranged and sprinkled in the blend. This sensitivity maximises the show-casing of Laughlin's diverse guitar skills, perhaps the greatest treat of the album. The playing is superb, from the sublime licks of 'Just A Kiss Away' to the ominous grind of 'Fear Of Gravity' and covering many delicious points in between. Together with the latitude and lovely lilts of Deborah's vocals comparisons with Richard and Linda Thompson would not be unfounded. The lyrics are intelligent, with a partial theme of the passing of time and transience, with the heavens evoked both as metaphor and awesome reminder that the clock is ticking. And then there are the melodies. Strong and memorable, they repay repeated listening and take it in turns to ghost into your head and take up residence. 'Violent Heart', 'Awaken' and Departure' are simply gorgeous. Other tracks such as 'Daisy Chain' and 'While You Were Away' are irresistibles of the toe-tapping variety. To single out just one song that exemplifies the thought put into and class of this album, take 'Departure', the final track. It is so hauntingly divine that it is painful as it draws to a close, you find yourself just wanting it and the album to go on. But this very (relative) brevity is completely effective in stoking up the pathos by amplifying the message that 'it's time to go' and life is fleeting. Genius. I seriously recommend this album, this is wonderful stuff. - Dreamsville

LA based The Cherry Bluestorms (TCB) are a psychedelic 60s Manchester pop influenced four-piece that will undoubtedly delight any fans of the far-out. Stirring flashbacks of Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable days, could TCB be what all the worlds’ dry and high freaky folk have been waiting for?

Baby, you’re a Rich Man: Urgently kicks in resounding The Carrie Nations (Russ Meyer's fantastic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls movie)and numerous other bands of that ilk with an unmistakably modern sounding edge that surely comes from its sharp mix/production quality. “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?” EVERYBODY SING... Okay, you could argue that it’s too repetitive and lacks any lyrical imagination... but you’d lose! Its repetitive construct simply and thankfully enables the listener to dig the track deeper and deeper with every (there will be more than one) listen!

Daisy Chain: Secret Machines fans sorrowfully awaiting their suitable replacement will stand still in amazement with a slack jaw swinging low when they here this. It's epic and it’s not just accessible, it’s enticing and by gad it ROCKS!

Just a Kiss Away: A ‘Voice of the Beehive’ sounding track sneakily and delightfully approaches Jefferson Airplane territory with some kick-ass guitar and voluptuous vocals that all serve to show yet another dimension to the incredible TCB sound.

Departure: A brief 70s slasher-flick intro engulfs the somewhat contrived ticking of a clock that yes, does illustrate the song's point of life ever passing us by perfectly, but does come across as being a little too schematic perhaps. Aside from that we’re all good though! Onward then into a more pessimistic, tempered track that boasts the same construct and composition as its predecessors, but it does seem to lack some of the vitality and vibrancy that, until now, had remained the secret key aspect of the TCB sound that makes it so effective. There’s no harm done and the track is still stands up in its own right, it just doesn’t stand so loud and proud is all.

Well what do you know; it is what we’ve been waiting for! And to enjoy it thoroughly I have to recommend that you forget your neighbours and crank up the volume! Deborah Gee, Glen Laughlin,
Ryan Brown and Steve Giles have produced something special here and I’m made grateful once more for my oh so precious, fully functioning ears! And to TCB too of course!

http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/index.php?db=national&page=reviews,review&id=6090
- Glasswerk.co.uk