CHERIE CURRIE // Bombs Away

“Hello Daddy, hello Mom.” Cherie Currie – Queen of Noise, the California Cherry Bomb who became one of the most iconic female rockers of the 1970’s as frontwoman of The Runaways.

While no introduction should be necessary, here’s my attempt at one—I guess not all of us did our time in their Ma’s beat-up Torana singing along to Born To Be Bad.

For those who don’t know about the greatest era in music (non-biased opinion of course), please take a seat at Rock & Roll History 101. The Runaways formed in 1975 in seedy, sunny LA, where legendary producer Kim Fowley introduced founding members Joan Jett and Sandy West. Fowley later discovered Cherie at teen nightclub hotspot The Sugar Shack, and approached her to front the band. Joining Lita Ford and Jackie Fox, The Runaways’ final line-up was cemented and the foundation for rock and roll history set in motion.

The all-girl powerhouse was a hit.

While a gender-bent novelty band seemed to hit first, it wasn’t long before the group proved it had the raw talent and tenacity to snub out any antagonism.

By 1976 they were playing sold out tours all over the United States, opening for the likes of Cheap Trick and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In 1977 the girls infamously toured Japan, where they were the fourth-highest imported musical act behind ABBA, Kiss and Led Zeppelin.

It was a dream. With no parental supervision and no guidance, it was a baptism of fire.

“We were on tour constantly and we didn’t have any parents or anybody looking after us,” Cherie says.

“I wish there could have been somebody that could mediate for us here and there, because we were very young girls that were just coming into our own. There was a lot of jealousy and there was a lot of fear. Otherwise, we really did take care of each other out there. We got to be very tough on the road, because we never stopped. It was usually just us with the roadies who went on tour with us. No-one else.”

While dealing with encroaching womanhood and trying to find some sort of personal and professional stability, one of the hardest battles lost was a financial one.

With legal contracts best described as loose at best, the girls were rinsed for all they were worth by producer and manager Fowley.

“We were taken advantage of financially like nobody’s business,” Cherie begins.

“The Runaways made a huge amount of money and us girl never saw any of it. None. I think that was really the worst part of it. I even had the IRS come after right after I quit the band for $20,000 unpaid taxes, but I never saw any money. I think we got $1200 when we got back from Japan. We were never paid, ever! When we ended up suing Kim Fowley and Polygram Records, we took back some of our power twenty odd years ago.”

The history between The Runaways and producer Kim Fowley is something of legend.

Following the lives of any of the former members, opinion is divided: did Fowley launch a female rock n’ roll revolution, or just take advantage of the girls strictly for his own notoriety and financial gain?

As more harsh truths revealed themselves, the band parted ways with Fowley after their 1977 release Queens of Noise.

But the damage had already been done, with Cherie leaving the group amid financial ruin and a crippling drug addiction – “I made some bad, bad choices.”

After struggling with these memories for decades, Cherie decided the only way to overcome was to reconnect with her former band mates.

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“We did something good for girls in rock and roll – we opened a door… we kicked it open. To me, that’s all worth it.”

[CHERIE]

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“I would still have nightmares about The Runaways,” she says cautiously. “After almost forty years. When we left that band, we were all pretty tired and traumatised. I left and I never looked back. I never talked to the girls again, except for Sandy and Jackie. I didn’t talk to Lita or Joan for maybe twenty years.

I had to be proactive in changing that, or I would have to continue living that way.”

Cherie started with former best friend and founding member of the Runaways, Joan Jett. Following their reunion, Cherie opened for Joan at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Orange County in 2010.

Next was Lita.

“Joan was having dinner with Lita a couple years back, and I asked Joan if she would please tell Lita that I wanted to see her again,” Cherie says.

“So when she came out to Los Angeles we met and had dinner, which was so great. Lita and I became friends and the next thing I knew she called me when I was on tour and asked me to do a duet, a Christmas song that she had written. “I flew in and went straight to the studio and recorded with her and that was fantastic. Then we started doing some shows together, then she sang on my record. You can’t continue to think that a person is the same as they were forty years ago because they’re not.”

Following her performance in Orange County, Cherie was offered another record deal. While that project was put on hold, it was a blessing in disguise – as another opportunity opened up in it’s absence.

Making a new record with Kim Fowley.

“I had seen him at a party,” Cherie says. “His eyes got really big, coz he knew running into me was never a good thing.But this time was different.”

After a long and tumultuous relationship, it was Cherie who extended the olive branch.

“I was so unhappy with him,” Cherie says, “and I had so much resentment that I really realised after a couple decades of that that it was only hurting me. I realised I had to forgive. I had to forgive him, and the only way I could do that was talking about it. So I just told him that I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to find out why a lot of the things that happened happened. He jumped at that chance.”

It was then Fowley reached out to Cherie about making one final record.

“I jumped at that chance as well, because I never quite appreciated his brilliance as a songwriter until now. I was only fifteen when I first started working with him.”

More than a record, the unison gave both parties the opportunity to overcome their personal tribulations, with Cherie becoming a carer for Fowley in the weeks leading up to his passing from cancer in January of 2015.

“He stayed at my house for ten days before he died,” Cherie says quietly. “I took care of him. I took care of him and then he had to go into the hospital, and I never saw him come out of the hospital. I had to change what would have happened had he died without me fixing this. I would have been empty for the rest of my life. It would have just left a hole. Now I just have great memories of Kim – at my house and us recording together. That’s a great thing. I was able to change destiny.”

Now, almost 40 years in the making, Cherie heads to our shores to fulfil a journey The Runaways never got to complete.

What would she change if she had the chance? Not a goddamn thing.

“I would do it all over again because of what we were able to accomplish,” Cherie says with reflection and determination in her voice. “We were chosen to do this. People remember us, and we made a difference in people’s lives.”

“We did something good for girls in rock and roll – we opened a door… we kicked it open. To me, that’s all worth it.”

From those about to rock, we salute you.

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CHERIE CURRIE THE ORIGINAL CHERRY BOMB LIVE ON TOUR

Thursday 26 May, The Triffid, Brisbane QLD

Friday 27 May, Manning Bar, Sydney NSW

Saturday 28 May, Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

Tuesday 31 May, The Gov, Adelaide, SA

Wednesday 1 June, Rosemount Hotel, North Perth WA

Tickets available now from Tombowler Entertainment