Skip to main content

Cheerleader shows off in Philly at Boot & Saddle / Ready for vinyl release of "Perfect Vision"

By
Philly electro-dream-pop band Cheerleader has been bouncing around the world the last few months.  They played Philly's Kung Fu Necktie in March, were off to Austin for SXSW, back to Philly again to play MilkBoy in April, and off across the pond to the U.K. playing shows with the likes of The Hold Steady and Alvvays.  

Like a teenager, the five-piece band comes and goes so frequently, you never really know when you'll see them next at home in Philadelphia.  With all the cool stuff going on for Cheerleader, it's a must see event.

Last Saturday night at Boot & Saddle was their highest profile local show yet, playing a bill with a hodgepodge of area bands Dream Safari and Langor.  Dream Safari was an easy match on the bill with some electro pop sounds.  Langor, while not quite a sonic fit, is like Cheerleader in that you have to see them in person to truly appreciate.

In the headlining slot, could Cheerleader stand up to the studio cuts? With hot singles "Perfect Vision", "Dreamer", and "New Daze", it was hard to imagine how the sounds would really translate to the stage. As a new band, how well would Connecticut transplants Joe Haller (vocals/guitar) and Chris Duran (guitar) gel with their Philly bandmates Joshua Pannepacker (Keys/Guitar), Paul Impellizeri (bass), & Carl Bahner (drums)?

There were a good number of fans ready to find out, and they didn't care how new the band was, who was local or who was a transplant; they came to enjoy the music.  Cheerleader did their part and came to put on a show.  What stood out the most, besides the cheers for "JOSH" was how perfect the performance of "Dreamer" was.  Lead singer Joe Haller comes off a little more shy than the recorded vocals would suggest.  Watching him perform the song, it's easy imagine that he wasn't writing about someone else, but perhaps writing while staring into the mirror and giving himself a little pep talk.  Clearly the pep talk worked as here he was with longtime friend and roommate Chris Duran playing their tunes surrounded by other talented musicians.  The "JOSH" fans were spot on with their admiration; he is the glue behind the live performance as his skills on the keys, etc. really made the translation from studio to the show.




Don't miss out on their new single "Perfect Vision" / "Waiting, Waiting" will be issued on limited edition vinyl on June 16 via Young & Lost / Bright Antenna and is available for digital download (released April 28).  The vinyl will be a limited 300 release run.



For more Cheerleader, check out their "New Daze" video:

Cheerleader - New Daze
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Premier Single : Birds Over Arkansas "Forgotten Lights"

By
Philly/CT band  Birds Over Arkansas ' is currently recording their full length release as a follow up to their 2014  Behind The Lights  EP.  Root Down In The Shadow is proud to debut the first single from this release, "Forgotten Lights." "Forgotten Lights" was first teased in an exclusive release for a RDITS house show in March featuring BOA , Kevin Killen , Chelsea Mitchell , and Max García Conover . Finally ready for the masses, "Forgotten Lights" is helplessly watching a loved one slip away into dementia. The song starts as a mellow Americana groove, and the split at the outro introduces the progressive rock elements to bring in the lyric "the flame blew out again." This was the pivotal point in the lyrics, signifying the change from someone who was slowly losing their faculties who has now seemingly become a different person. The switch from the easy, mellow groove to the frenetic time signature embodies this. Scott Haskitt - ...
1 comment
Read more

Root Down Is A Sometime Thing...

By
From the desk of Root Down: Greetings Friends!  It's been a bit, how've ya been? What's new? I've been gone for some time and I feel that I owe everyone an explanation of where I've been.   Honestly, I haven't gone anywhere. Since I've last posted, I've still been frequenting my favorite record store, been hitting up local shows, hosted a few house shows, traveling for special shows, and making music a large part of my life.  What I haven't been doing is losing countless hours fretting over knowing every new artist, tweeting, and losing sleep editing articles that spend less time getting read than I spent writing.  I can definitively tell you that I'm DONE attempting to make Root Down In The Shadow "a thing" in the music world.   I don't need Twitter followers, a lively blog, or anyone else's validation to share my love for music. It doesn't help my enjoyment of music to follow a shit-ton of bands on eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Release Q&A - Sonja Sofya answers some questions for "Patterns We Know"

By
The buzz has been all about Sonja Sofya and her new album The Patterns We Know .  Tonight Sonja Sofya and band take to the stage at Boot & Saddle in South Philly along with a great line-up featuring Arc Divers and the dove and the wolf. Right off the top we have some great reasons to expect great things from this album, such as produced by Ross Bellenoit at Turtle Studios and excellent musicianship by guitarist/producer Ross Bellenoit, bassist Jonathan Colman , and drummers Matt Scarano and Jonas Oesterle . But we at Root Down In The Shadow wanted to dig further and see what Sonja had to say about the album. Here's 3 questions we had for the songstress Sonja Sofya: RDITS: What was the impetus to make a full length record and why did you pick the people you worked with? At a certain point, playing and writing as much as I was, it felt like the logical next step, but I waited for a while, trying to find the "perfect" time to go into the stud...
1 comment
Read more