The Cherubs have arrived
Sydney duo The Cherubs, have released their new single ‘Nausea’ ‘and while you may not be familiar with The Cherubs, they have been behind the scenes in the industry for many years now as in-demand session musicians for artists like Nicole Millar, Little Sea and Nyxen, but now, they are taking their turn in the spotlight! We caught up with Johnny from The Cherubs to find out about the new single, what direction their music is going to take and if they will be touring soon.
You have just released your latest track 'Nausea', tell us about your new song? What does the song mean to you?
Nausea means the world to us! On the surface, the lyrics speak of that agonising experience we’ve all shared - a friend telling you a pointless story about a nonsensical dream they’ve had and adding ‘and you were in it!’. On a deeper level, ‘no one really cares about the dreams that you had’ refers to our own journey and musical careers. For the last ten years we’ve had roles in many projects, but never as frontment in our own right. Nausea is a reflection of us deciding to finally do it for ourselves, and in an explosive style that marks the start of this new journey in a way that is authentic to us.
Did the song take on any massive changes during the creative process or was the final product the original vision?
Not really! We have a few songs that have seriously changed since we started writing them, but Nausea wasn’t one of those. Nausea was the first song that we truly wrote just the two of us, and since it’s such a guitar and drums based track it honestly came together super quickly.
“It is raw, authentic, fun and explosive - a real reflection of who we both are as artists in our own right.”
What made you decide on 'Nausea' as your debut track to gift to the world?
Choosing Nausea as our debut single was an easy decision. It is raw, authentic, fun and explosive - a real reflection of who we both are as artists in our own right. Our other material is definitely more pop-driven, but we just couldn’t help starting The Cherubs off with a bang in Nausea!
For those that haven’t heard 'Nausea', what genre box do you place The Cherubs into?
Put simply? Indie-rock-dance post-punk-revival with hints of New Wave and 2004 New York energy all in a 2023 cocktail shaker. Or maybe just indie-rock lol.
'Nausea' has an accompanying music video. Who came up with the concept for the film clip? Were there any memorable moments during the making of it?
Brother and close friend, Liam Clark, came up with the concept and directed the video himself. I guess you could say that filming in that enormous white room was symbolic of The Cherubs working from a blank slate. We used our most colourful instruments and outfits, and then juxtaposed those shots with clips taken with Super 8 film, filmed in real time. Liam is an incredibly talented and award-winning film producer who managed to convey the idea of dreams vs reality with these contrasting film styles.
Can we expect an album out in the near future or will you be sticking to single releases for now?
Singles for now.
Are there plans to head out on the road to showcase the new song live for fans?
Absolutely! We are chatting with organisers about putting on a launch show very soon!
“it wasn’t hard to convince each other that we could actually create something really cool together.”
You have both been session musicians and played in other bands so how did you come together to form The Cherubs?
In our experience it’s totally normal for working musicians to get together and just jam for the fun of it! It was actually a mutual friend of ours, Jose, that got us in the room together. I [Johnny] used to play in a jazz group with Jose every weekend so the idea of jamming some indie-rock tunes with him was an idea too good to pass up. Dylan and I hadn’t met at this stage but the moment we did we just clicked - it wasn’t hard to convince each other that we could actually create something really cool together.
Who in your crew or team deserves a shout out but never gets one? And what is it they do that keeps your world turning?
Our beloved friend and producer, Peter Holz. He is patient with our ideas - nothing is too tricky for him. He is extremely generous with his time, and wants to see us succeed. He is like the third member in the band to us.
What's next for The Cherubs? What would you like to seen happen for the band over the next 12 months?
We have quite a bank of songs that we’re super excited to release, and even more that we’re recording right now. We’d love to get on the road and perform our little song, and would be stoked to support other Aussie acts!
