Cherokee Red celebrate new EP
Cherokee Red isn’t about to take the time to label their own sound. The Luzerne County-based quintet is too busy trying to bust out of any box that they may find themselves being pushed into. Through that sonic journey and experimentation comes the band’s latest EP titled 432. Cherokee Red will celebrate the arrival of 432 with a special pre- release party this Friday, Oct. 25, at The Other Side (adjacent to Bart n Urby’s)119 S. Main St., Wilkes- Barre, at 9 p.m. The night will feature a performance by Cherokee Red along with the music of DJ Big Nate. The band will be selling advanced copies of the 432 in cassette, CD, download and flashdrive formats before it drops on Oct. 29.
In 2011, Charles Davis and Christiana Bartolini were both searching for a new music project to pursue. After working on some songs and honing in on the band’s sound, the duo found new members — Dirk Dekker (bass/guitar/drums), Andrew Sgarlat (drums/guitar/bass) and Brittany Thomas (guitar/bass/background vocals) and the group soon formed Cherokee Red. The band began playing shows in the summer of September 2011, securing a following of fans and drawing comparisons to artists such as of Rilo Kiley, Mazzy Star and Beach House. After rounding up the line-up with the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Matt Rattigan, the band is looking to repeat the success of their self-produced, self-titled debut album.
The band formed when its mutual admiration turned into something a little bit more. “In an area as small as Luzerne County and out of the thousands of people here to pick from, we all knew one another and really liked what each other were doing,” Davis said in a recent phone interview. “Everybody gets their creative input. It’s not necessarily a focused thing, but, if anything, the focus is to try to break ourselves out of whatever box people might create. We try to do textural things, melodies that break out of standard convention; something unique outside of the standard framework of things.”
Cherokee Red took that unconventional approach to the recording of the EP by straying from the standard 440hz tuning and switching gears to 432hz. Most tuners or tunings are tuned to the standard reference point 440hz.
“I feel the record is pretty amazing,” Davis added. “As far as things that I’ve been a part of or listened to over the last number of years, I haven’t heard anything as unique, yet approachable in quite some time. The vibrations that are sent through 432 tuning are supposed to be more conducive to pleasurable listening. Everyone in the band is a music enthusiast and this ideas was something that we gathered ourselves around and tried it out.”
Cherokee Red want its music to be heard and hopes to continue forging ahead and escaping musical boundaries. “It’s a pure, creative outlet,” Davis said. “It’s not any kind of marketing concept. We’re not trying to make a couple bucks on the weekend. We’re in it purely for the music.”
— tom graham
Catch the Cherokee Red pre-release party, Friday, Oct. 25 at The Other Side (adjacent to Bart n Urby’s) 119 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, at 9 p.m.