From: Kenilworth
Find out more: littlegirlwithcherries@hotmail.com
What we said about them: ''Remove Your Face In The Name Of R.O.C.K.' is the undisputed song title of the month, from Little Girl With Cherries, who are the Midlands' answer to the question 'shall we sound a bit like Shellac?' The answer, by the way, is 'oh, OK then'. LGWC are to be noted for their enthusiasm in sending two demos apparently recorded exactly one year apart to the day, demos that sound to all intents like different bands. The earlier demo spurts along pleasantly enough, but the whole affair is made to sound more like Hole than perhaps it ought, the vocals outdoing the rest of the band's attempts to make something interesting. Sensibly enough, then, LGWC dumped the idea of having vocals as unceremoniously as a drunk ex-girlfriend at a birthday party, and they sound all the better for it. Basslines hurry along like Bob Weston running for a bus, but the real action comes from Katy Brown's excellent and vaguely math rock-style guitar work, all interesting time changes and a sound like every note is being played on a complete set of new strings. Songs stop when they're not supposed to and re-emerge as different songs and scarcely a note goes to waste. Not intended in any patronising way, it's also a great thing to see some women playing this kind of music, more often the preserve of PVC-clad Americans with wireless guitars. What is the female equivalent of an OX, anyway? I guess this is it. Excellent stuff.'

2002: A year in the life of Little Girl With Cherries

Who we talked to:
Katharine Brown: guitars, occasional vocals
Catherine Preston: bass
James Gardiner: drums.

1. What's been the best thing the band has done this year?

We haven't released any records this year - but we have almost completed our three best songs, which with any luck might be released next year (wink wink, nudge nudge). The best things that have happened to the band this year were receiving e-mails from Russian and Philippine zines who asked to feature us.

2. What are your plans for next year, realistically and ideally speaking?

Recording as soon as possible, playing as much as possible - we're playing in Nottingham for the first time in February. It's getting to the point now when we don't really want to have our new songs on a third demo CD-R. So probably sending a lot of demos out with a view to getting a proper release sometime soon.

3. What has been the low point of the year for you?

Not being able to record on the same day that we always have was quite depressing. Another low point might be that if the fire strike persists, we mightn't be able to record this Christmas either.

4. What are your top albums of 2002?

Catherine:
Johnny Dowd - The Pawnbrokers Wife
Deus - No More Loud Music
Willie B Frame - Sessions Vol. 2

Katharine:
Nina Nastasia - The Blackened Air
Tarantula Hawk - Tarantula Hawk, although the note 'D' gets a bit much after a while
Bellini - Snowing Sun.

James:
Scissorfight - Man Trapping Sport and Profit
Bellini - Snowing Sun
High On Fire - Surrounded By Thieves

5. What's the best live band you've seen this year?

Catherine: Tom Barman, Jazz Café, London, February 13.

James: Alice Cooper, Birmingham, November 23

Katharine: Nina Nastasia, Spitz, London, October 1.

6. Who would you tip as your favourite new band(s) for 2003?

Coventry's finest noise slaughterers Sanchez - James wields the guitar, the drummer has got bigger drums than yours and the bass is provided by Coventry's sonic engineer extraordinaire Dan Layton. Because they have a song called 'Krispy Witch'.

7. What are you band's New Year resolutions?

To get together and practice more, to finish more than three songs in a year because that, quite frankly, is shit. To play live more often and to be more assertive in obtaining gigs.

8. What are your views on the plans for cloning a human in the early part of 2003?

Frightening. At what point is the parent going to sit down and say to the child 'OK, the truth is, you were part of a scientific experiment. You're actually a clone'? And like how adopted children want to meet their real parents, will these children ask to meet their clones? And then the truth will out that they are, in fact, the clone of a dead baby. Cheers 'mum'. I'm also quite perturbed by the fact that they can now actually do full face transplants. Where the hell are they going to get spare faces? Can you imagine donating your face to cosmetic surgery? I can see a surge of robberies from pristine celebrities' graves. It'll be like, ok missy, where did you get Marilyn Monroe's face? Michael Jackson putting a huge deposit on Diana Ross's…

9. Sing us a Christmas carol…

'Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road, got to keep on plodding onward with your precious load'… I can't really remember all of it, but I like the word 'donkey' and I especially like the fact that it doesn't rhyme with 'monkey'. Or the Low 'Just Like Christmas' one.

10. If diskant could buy your band one thing for Christmas, what would it be? Go on, we're feeling generous.

If you could buy loads of 7", 10" or 12" records and engrave four of our songs onto them and release them as a littlegirlwithcherries EP and then project them into little record shops throughout the world, that would be quite wonderful.

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