Frankie Bennett – Guitars Ryan Harris - Guitars Jason Levis – Drums Dave Saltzman – Bass Matt Toka – Vocals/Guitars
There's the Monroe Doctrine and then there's Cherry Monroe's doctrine. While the first was conceived back in the day by a bunch of old guys wearing white wigs and petticoats (whatever the hell those are), the latter was invented by five young guys from Youngstown, Ohio and Pittsburgh, PA, who specialize in glammed-up riffs, memorable choruses and eye-catching good looks. Their Rust/Universal Records debut, "the good, the bad and the beautiful," is a tuneful collection of soon-to-be-anthems that gleefully reminds the listener how much fun rock ‘n' roll is supposed to be.
For such a mature sounding debut, it will come as a surprise to most that Cherry Monroe have only been together since the spring of 2004. Singer Matt Toka had been writing songs and recording demos for two years with local producer Brian Campbell, but had been doing it all alone. One night when they were relaxing after a long recording session, Campbell introduced Toka to the guys in an area band called Outbound, which included bassist Dave Saltzman, guitarist Ryan Harris and drummer Jason Levis. "At first we weren't even thinking about doing anything together," Levis admits. "We had our thing going, but then a few months went by and our singer wasn't writing any songs, so we got sick of that and contacted Matt. He came over a few days later and we just started clicking."
The final piece to the puzzle was guitarist Frankie Bennett, who they all knew by reputation for his work in a number of area bands over the years. Though each of the band members came to the table with their own musical tastes, they all share a love of classic rock, huge stage theatrics, and the over the top production of Butch Walker and the live-fast-before-dying attitude and unforgettable hooks of hard-edged glam bands like Guns ‘n' Roses and Hanoi Rocks. They knew they had to have a sexy moniker to match their attitude, so they melded Cherry – an homage to good girl Cherry Valence from The Outsiders – to the name of the sexiest pop culture icon of all time and Cherry Monroe was born.
The newly-minted fivesome were writing songs instantaneously and walked out of their first practice together with the punchy rocker "Satellites" finished, the song that would become the first single off of "the good, the bad and the beautiful."
"It was crazy," Toka recollects. "I had just met these guys, so I pulled out this riff and lyric I had been working on and asked them ‘What do you think of this?' And ‘Bam!' it was done. It's about my appreciation for women in general," he chuckles. "Women to me are intriguing – they're beautiful and everything about a woman drives me crazy. ‘Satellites' is my ode to them." Other songs quickly followed, like the unapologetically hooky "This Town," the anthemnic stomper "Bandages" and the slow-burning ballad "Anything."
"Most of these songs I wrote when I was 18 or 19, which was a really weird time for me in my personal life," explains Toka. "Some of these songs are about the girls I've known. Sure, maybe I'll over-exaggerate the situations or pull from other people's situations, but there's always a grain of truth."
When the band had assembled 11 tight tunes, they turned to their old friend Brian Campbell to helm the project. He was in the midst of building his own studio, Big Audio, in an old auto glass factory in Pittsburgh, so the band offered to help with the work in exchange for recording time. "The studio's nothing elaborate, but the sounds we got were amazing," Levis declares. "It was even cooler, because we helped paint, put up foam boarding and put down the carpeting, so it was like our home, too."
Pulling 12 to 16 hour days in July of 2004, the band quickly assembled what would become "the good, the bad and the beautiful." "Brian was really good at seeing the big picture," declares Harris. "There would be times when you'd be doing a part and you wouldn't quite get it, but then when you'd hear the whole thing you'd understand where he was coming from."
The fledgling act were also gigging incessantly locally, quickly building a fanbase, who were connecting with the band's balls-to-the-wall, over-the-top rock ‘n' roll shows. "We're all from the school of thought that if we go see a band live, we want to see them do something new," declares Saltzman. "If we just wanted to hear the songs, we'd just put the CD in." Bennett concurs, "When you come to our shows, you're going to be entertained. And you're not going to forget Cherry Monroe after you've gone home."
The band soon signed with local indie label, Rust Records, and their self-titled debut was released in October of 2004, a little more than six months after the band had formed. The response was astounding, with the album shooting into the Top Ten in Youngstown, Pittsburgh and Cleveland and selling 5,000 copies in less than two months. "Satellites" was released to local radio, where it lit up the phones and became one of the most requested songs at several stations, giving the band a radio hit without the support of a major label, something that almost never happens.
Between selling out their disc and getting heavy airplay, the band attracted the interest of Universal Records, who signed them at the end of 2004. The band's Universal debut, "the good, the bad and the beautiful," will incorporate a few remixes and touch-ups from their Rust Records release, along with several new tracks that give the band an even glossier edge. But for the most part, the songs that the band laid down for the independent release in a refurbished auto glass factory remain untouched, testimony to their prowess as songwriters and musicians.
There's no doubt that Cherry Monroe are on to something. Call it neo-glam, call it pop rock, call it down ‘n' dirty rock ‘n' roll, the fact of the matter is that Cherry Monroe delivers a fresh and exciting new sound.
