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"Pyrotechnic riff dealers from London who sound like some gasoline-swilling supergroup made up of a couple of Backyard Babies, half of UFO and Angus Young's penis. Between the name, the rock star looks and the searing arena-glam guitars, we figure Drugdealer Cheerleader are six months away from superstardom, so start pretending you've been into them forever now."
Classic Rock Magazine (May 2006)
In an increasingly over-polished, contrived and self-referential British music scene, it seems everyone is chasing their tails to find the Next Big Thing.
How about a band that are unashamedly flying the flag for joyful, pogotastic, balls-out rock and roll? One with the soul of Guns N Roses, the spirit of Motley Crue with the glam of The New York Dolls? But all rolled into a new kind of good-time rock for the 21st Century? Yes? Look no further then and welcome, in a very real sense, to Drugdealer Cheerleader.
This London-based four piece have already been built up a strong fan base through hard gigging with an incendiary live show have been showered with praise from the likes of Classic Rock, as you can see above from their May 2006 issue, as well as Xfm, Heat and Kerrang!.
Flamboyant Yorkshire frontman Hilda and hard-hitting West Midlands sticksman Ringo first met at university and went on to form Waterbratz and Glitterbug respectively. Both bands sank without much of a trace, and Hilda and Ringo ended up selling their souls but paying the bills playing in a covers band.
It was then that they stumbled across genius guitar player Jay. As Hilda explains: "I was scared of him at first. He seemed really cool and unapproachable. That probably explains his lack of luck with women actually."
After Spinal Tap drummer-type problems with a never-ending stream of vanishing bassists, the trio finally found their match in Londoner Hudson who emailed them out of the blue and told them he was the man for the job.
So at the start of this year and with a brand new plank-spanker, the furious four set about defining exactly what their band should be about.
Over to Ringo: "We wanted to take the influence from music that we'd always liked and without sounding corny, to give it our own sound, a sound of today rather than a retro thing. And we wanted to be a gang. We're tight knit as a unit. If you have a go at my mate, you're going to have another four of us having a go back at you."
More importantly, the band just want to play music they love. They don't want to be a part of any current trends and don't give a flying Fender about being fashionable. As a result, they can be a bit of a Marmite band, but live, it's hard to ignore their mix of melody, energy and maximum power, as Hilda testifies: "I defy any other band to play a live show that's as entertaining as us. Anyone who comes to see us, whether they're into pop music, metal, jazz whatever, they'll enjoy our show. But again, if they give the music a chance, they might like that too."
The bands influences range from the likes of The Stooges, T-Rex, the hair-metal pop riffs of the Eighties, through to U2 and the more unlikely Manic Street Preachers or the grunge bands of the Nineties. As Hilda elaborates: "We take something from each era of music and add all the ingredients together and make some kind of smashing pie."
The fans - The Cheerleaders - certainly agree, as Hilda explains: "They do tend to throw themselves at us at every opportunity which is a real handicap. We can't get to the bar."
Their debut single I Don't Wanna Go To School is a great introduction to the band, musically as well as taken as a mission statement. This is high-octane good-time rock with a grin on its face, a pair of ridiculous trousers and a bottle of Jack Daniels in its hand. It sure as hell ain't The Arctic Monkeys or The Kaiser Chiefs.
As Hilda explains: "I don't want to grow up, that's why I want to be a rock star. 'School' here can mean your job, a workplace, it doesn't have to be your teacher telling you off, your fucking boss tells you off. School and work are exactly the same. You're going to listen to this song and you're going to jump up and down and go crazy at it."
With a European tour in the pipeline and a clutch of festival appearances coming up, it looks like you'll soon get your chance to get your own hit of Drugdealer Cheerleader.
The party starts here, as Ringo and Hilda explain. Ringo: "It's just the start of a crazy rollercoaster ride. Or maybe a waltzer."
Hilda: "Or maybe the Pirate Ship! We're just a huge fairground attraction. Come to our show, and we'll give you every ride available. But the fishing for ducks, we'll leave that to Coldplay."
Jody Thompson
What other people have said about Drugdealer Cheerleader:
"Sticky Glam Punk and Roll Bubblegum Is Back"
Paul Travers, Kerrang!
"...they rock like absolute bastards...."
4K live review, Kerrang! Sept 2007
"Slick, glam, metallic sackfuls of energy and a real sense of rock 'n' roll. The singer reminds me a bit of Paul Draper from Mansun. No bad thing."
Eddie Temple-Morris, XFM
"Drugdealer Cheerleader are the cream of Britain's Sleaze-rock crop; a swirling compendium of glammy pop hooks, gritty hard rock guitars, reckless sloganeering, and enough flash to blind the front row."
Classic Rock, Nov 2007
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CHEERLEADERS!
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If you think you've got what it takes then contact head Cheerleader to apply.
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