Cherub is an electro-indie band from Nashville, Tennessee formed in 2010 consisting of Jordan Kelley and Jason Huber. They have earned a big following courtesy of such unadulterated hits like “Doses & Mimosas,” “XOXO,” “Freaky Me, Freaky You.” Obviously, Cherub strays on the side of a good party, but that’s not to say their music itself is completely indulgent/
After almost a two year hiatus, Cherub has returned to the tour and music scene and have released four singles so far in 2018. The duo recently had the time talk to about their recent releases “Want That,” “All In,” “Dancin’ Shoes,” upcoming releases and some other fun random stuff as well.
So let’s start off, I saw you guys earlier this year at the Headwaters Beercade in Chicago for Valentines Day and you guys had a DJ set. You guys have a good time?
Jordan: Yeah, that was a blast! Those brunch parties are always super fun. Because we tale all of our shows very seriously. We try to be as professional as possible. But, those brunch parties are an excuse for us to get a little “loose.” And we just like to have a great time with everybody.
Jason: I want to take a second to acknowledge something you started the interview with – yeah we took a minute just to write a bunch of music, and now we’re getting back out on tour. This is the first time we’re going out on an actual tour in a while, and to have so many people coming up after the shows and letting us know how long they’ve been rocking with us, letting us know that they’ve been listening since college, it’s super enduring to us. Thanks man, thanks for rocking with us.
A friend of mine introduced me to you guys back in like 2013. I heard your album MoM & Dad then I heard “Doses & Mimosas,” in a club and I knew I was a fan. So, I know you guys are from Nashville, but how exactly was the group formed?
Jordan: Well, we both went to school together right outside Nashville and then we met in college. I started working on projects while I had been making music with a bunch of different rappers. I still hadn’t figured out that I wanted to sing yet, but I had always played guitar. I started to write and I always had melody ideas when I had singers come in. I started trying to feel comfortable in my own shoes and I wrote our first album Man Of The Hour. But, I didn’t know how to properly set up a live show to perform. So, that was when I sent it to Jason and from there on we’ve just been building.
Let’s talk about some of the behind the scenes of the writing and recording process. What is going through your mind when your working on a new song?
Whatever feels like it’s getting to get us going. The vibe that it’s giving us in the studio when we’re recording… it is kind of what we feed off of. And if it feels right we’ll put it out. We never really try to pigeonhole ourselves with our sounds or a certain tempo, we just try to make music that feels right at the time and put it out. The process behind it is just doing what we feel.
I’ve heard people say you guys are electro-indie or even alternative. What genre would you guys say you are?
Jordan: Me and Jason both say just pop. I know when most people think of pop music they think it doesn’t sound like us, because they think of what you may hear on the radio. But, in the traditional sense of pop music you know we like the structure of having verses that lead up to a catchy hook.
So let’s talk about some of the new music. This year is the first I’ve heard since your 2016 album, Bleed Gold, Piss Excellence. But, now you guys are back in the groove. Let’s talk about one of your recent singles, “All In.” Great song and well produced video. I have to ask where was the video shot at?
Jason: That was at a good friend of mine from high school actually. We all grew up together and everybody went their separate ways and started doing creative projects. It’s really cool that everyone is out doing their own thing and we had the opportunity to come back together as friends and work on projects like this. That whole thing was shot in North Carolina and it was shot in one continuous take at altered speed. The whole thing was kind of crazy that Jordan was singing at double time and then to slow the whole down and have it sync up perfectly with the song. It was pretty cool concept and I think we all did a great job on it.
I know you guys have worked a lot with DJ Paul from Three Six Mafia. Do you guys have anything in the pipeline with him?
Jordan: He linked up with us on social media. We just happened to be going through LA like a week after he hit us up. So, It was kind of an immediate like hey what’s up let’s hit the studio and then we made it happen. And, we were going through LA on our way to Bangkok, so while we were in studio with him, we were like yeah you should come to Bangkok with us like (laughs). But, he actually bought a ticket to Bangkok. We shot a video while we were there for a song that we cut in LA. We don’t have like a secure release date, but it’s coming out very soon. I literally just yesterday approved a final edit for the video we shot. So, that’s coming out really, really soon. And we also have him featured on a song that we (Cherub) produced that will be coming out as well and that doesn’t have a release date either. But, definitely keep on the lookout for that.
Any plans to release an album soon?
Jordan: We’re just trying to consistently put out music man the way I feel how things are going right now. I still love albums the way they play through, but it’s been really cool to just put out singles to see how well they stick. With the way that releases go with Spotify, Apple Music and all that stuff is set it’s really doing us a favor by letting people really soak in the one or two songs that we release at a time rather than letting six songs get lost on a 12-track album. So, it’s been cool releasing one or two songs at a time with a video. We’ve been really into it.
Jason: We’ve got solid albums worth of material if not more. So we’re just slowly but surely releasing to the world and allowing us to really focus each piece of music. So far we’ve released four songs in the past couple of months. It’s really been cool going out on tour and to see the genuine reaction from the crowd to that new music. To the point where we’ll start playing one of the new songs and we’ll get that initial “WOO!” It’s really flattering to hear people doing that to our new music. It’s the feeling that we don’t get until we get to see until we’re out on tour in a room with a bunch of people that are ready to party.
How’s the Free Form tour been going so far?
Jason: Things have been good. This is the first time we’ve been out in like six years! We have an entire new crew, new lighting director, new stage manager, new tour manager. It’s been really cool to bring a whole bunch of friends out with us. We’ve almost had a big family affair on the bus. And to be able to expand that tour thing that much further. It’s something that’s really special for us. To be able to chill on a bus with some of your closest friends and traveling the country and throw parties with people. This is a really cool phenomenon. To be able to share it with our friends has been fun.
If you either of you guys could work with one person in the music industry who would it be?
Jordan: I want to do a song with Devin The Dude. I think that would be cool. Where he would do a verse and I would do a verse. That would be pretty cool.
