Cherym

"There is nothing more natural than talent tearing through your speakers... CHERYM have it!" - Jack Saunders, BBC R1
"A unique album fuelled by honesty and bravery...sure to bring comfort to those who have faced similar" - Soundsphere
“Laden with ’90s riot grrrl energy...nostalgic as all hell while simultaneously giving us hope for the future” - ALT PRESS
“Effervescent pop punk...expect everyone to know their name before too long” - Kerrang! Magazine
“A perfect pop song dressed up in a worn leather jacket...an absolute belter” - NME
"This is so much fun" - Gemma Bradley, BBC R1
“A fizzy, razor edged delight” - DORK Magazine
"A bit of a tune" - John Kennedy, Radio X

Emphatically confirming their arrival in style, NI-based pop punks Cherym kick off a huge 2024 with the reveal of scintillating new single ‘Alpha Beta Sigma’ set for release on 1st February 2024.

The opening track from their long-awaited debut album Take It Or Leave It, set for release on 16th February 2024 via Alcopop! Records, the track is a vitriolic statement on the gender inequality and violence against women which still permeate Irish culture.

Alongside the new single, the band are also delighted to announce that they have been hand-picked by bassist Mickey Bradley to support ‘Teenage Kicks’ legends The Undertones on their autumn 2024 German tour dates later this year.

Riding high in Irish tastemakers Hot Press Magazine’s Hot For 2024 list this month, Cherym will commence their own UK and Netherlands headline dates this Feb/Mar 2024, ahead of their support slots with Enter Shikari on their 2024 Irish tour dates (see below for listings).

Commenting on the single, drummer Alannagh Doherty says: “We are amidst an ongoing epidemic here in Ireland. Despite modern day Ireland having made some progress in terms of women’s rights, such as the closure of mother and baby homes in the late 1990s and the legalisation of abortion in 2018 (south of Ireland) and 2019 (north of Ireland), what remains is a deeply embedded culture of violence against women.”

“In the last 5 years we have seen a huge rise in gender based crimes against women and girls in this country. We have witnessed the trivialisation of violence and victim-blaming attitudes from the police, the government and the media. ‘Alpha Beta Sigma’ is about how gender inequality permeates every single aspect of our society. It is about the threat that men and patriarchy pose to women in this country. It is about the reclamation of our autonomy and our rights. It’s about freedom from fear and freedom to physical integrity, and overall it’s about having the freedom to just BE a woman.”

The band recorded their forthcoming debut album Take It Or Leave It in 2023 with long-term producer and friend George Perks at Vada Studios in Alcester, just outside Birmingham. Not only is Take It Or Leave It chock full of pop-punk hooks and melodies, it’s also bravely and lucidly political—much more so than anything the band have written previously.

“We wanted this record to be our testimony as a band on topics like abortion rights in the North of Ireland, the fall of the church, being trans, being gay,” explains Doherty. “We were well prepared for the haters whenever we wrote it, hence the album title, but I also think it’s important to note that this is probably the most honest we have ever been in our music and as a band.”

The single is the latest in a slew of successful releases from the album, and follows on from ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’ which picked up multiple spins across BBC R1.

Roaring pop punk ADHD anthem lead single ‘Do It Another Day’ was released in autumn 2023, picking up a BBC R1 Future Artists play from Jack Saunders and landing on Spotify’s The Punk List.

Lead single ‘Taking Up Sports’ dropped last summer to coincide with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The official music video saw the band take on the Derry FC football team at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, with a guest appearance from Tramp vocalist Sianna Lafferty as love interest.

Cherym’s debut album Take It Or Leave It is released 16th February 2023 via Alcopop! Records

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For those yet to join the bandwagon, Cherym are a two-piece from Derry in Northern Ireland with some seriously infectious songwriting credentials. Taking influence from The Smashing Pumpkins, Bikini Kill, American Football, PUP and Pixies, the duo formed after meeting in college over a joint love of garage rock, pop punk and a desire to be the biggest band in the world.

Starting out as a kick-back against the local music scene boys club back in 2018, the band finally found mainland success in 2021 when they signed to Alcopop! Records for the release of their critically-acclaimed Hey Tori EP, showcasing their zingy, fearless new recipe for pop punk rock that centres the lived experiences of Gen Z queer women and non-binary people.

The EP’s success led to sizeable tours alongside The Beths, cheerbleederz, Arxx and more, with the band jetting out to the US for the first time at SXSW 2023 in Austin earlier this year, and the trio also tipped for big things in Kerrang! Magazine’s Sound of 2023 feature, landing them a bumper summer of festival appearances at TRUCK, Rebellion, High Tide, Badlands and Omagh Pride.

Cherym’s self-released 2018 debut EP Mouthbreatherz garnered them fans all over Ireland, earning them slots at a number of prominent festivals and support roles for notable bands such as local legends And So I Watch You From Afar... and Fangclub.

They went on to win the ‘Oh Yeah Contender’ award at the NI Music Prize in 2019, which was sponsored by BBC Introducing, and Irish music bible Hot Press tipped them as one of their Hot For 2020 artists in their annual list.

The band released their latest singles ‘Abigail’ and ‘Weird Ones’ in May 2020, with support from both Spotify editorial playlists (New Punk Tracks, Punk Unleashed, Hot New Bands, Alt-Rocked) and national radio (BBC R1, BBC 6music, RTE 2FM, BBC Radio Ulster and more) with ‘Abigail’ debuted by Huw Stephens at BBC Introducing. 

In February 2020, the band embarked on a series of dates with Yonaka, including sold-out shows in Dublin and Belfast, ending the year with ‘Abigail’ nominated for best single at the NI Music Prize in August 2020.

The pair signed to Alcopop! Records in 2021 and released their latest EP Hey Tori later that year, making their biggest mark yet and setting themselves up firmly as ones to watch.

Singles ‘Kisses On My Cards’ and ‘Listening To My Head’ caused a storm among new music enthusiasts across UK media, with a host of press coverage from NME, Alt Press, UPSET, DORK, DSCVRD, HARD BEAT, VISIONS, Track 7, Get In Her Ears, Punktastic, Hot Press, Nialler9, The Irish News, The Daily Mirror NI, The Thin Air and many more.

The tracks also landed on Spotify’s New Punk Tracks and The Punk List, and picked up over 100 radio plays, with enthusiastic support rolling in from Jack Saunders and Gemma Bradley at BBC R1, Tom Robinson at BBC 6music, John Kennedy at Radio X, Dan Hegarty at RTÉ 2fm, BBC Ulster and more.
 

Derry-based, LGBTQ+, 3-piece pop-punk band Cherym unveil their long awaited debut album 'Take It Or Leave It'. A spring '24 UK and EU album headline tour is already announced, as well as supporting Enter Shikari in Ireland in March 2024. With previous sold out support shows with Nova Twins & The Beths, as well as performances at SXSW & Truck Festival, the band have received stacks of support from BBC Radio 1 (5 plays of the latest single in one week), Kerrang, 6 Music, & Dork. 2024 is the year of CHERYM.