In welcome news for fans of classic rock, legendary Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie recently announced a debut five-stop Australian tour in May. Having waited nearly forty years for the opportunity to see the iconic “Cherry Bomb” singer in the flesh, Australian audiences should go wild for the rocker who, as a 15 year-old in 1975, joined Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Jackie Fox and Sandy West in forming the influential band.
Under the watchful eye of manager/rock svengali, Kim Fowley, The Runaways grabbed headlines with their powerful rock shows and punk rock jailbait image, before imploding in 1979. Currie overcame alcohol and drug dependency before The Runaways found a new audiences when a biographical film, inspired by her memoir, was released in 2010 with Dakota Fanning portraying Currie.
This will be your first Australian tour – why has it taken so long?
It’s been so long because I haven’t been in the business, really. I went into acting, got married, had a kid, then became a chainsaw artist. I had always written songs and recorded; a couple are on the new Reverie record, as well as the live record that will be available when I come and see you guys in May. I was doing other things and I think being a chainsaw artist really did fill that void, but every time I get on stage, I realise it is something I was born to do. It’s the place I feel most comfortable, believe it or not.
Did you deliberately stay away from music, or just naturally fall into other things?
The thing is, it wasn’t that I stayed away, it just didn’t happen. After my Capitol record, I did a lot of writing and worked with some great people, but sometimes it’s just not the time and there’s nothing we can do about it. This happens to be the time for me now and it’s a good time, because when you get to be 56 years old, you don’t really care and [you] just want to enjoy life. You want to be the best you can and you’re not fighting for, or [are] insecure about, anything any more. You’ve grown past that.
Plus, you’re not full of yourself, like a lot of people who have a lot of success at a young age and believe all the hype. I’ve been around long enough that I don’t believe any of it! [Laughs] I just like really good people who are down to earth, because that’s the person I am and that’s how I am on stage. With maturity comes a better performer.
What do you play in your sets these days?
I want to give the fans what they want. I want them to reminisce. I get to reminisce when I go to see bands I love; it’s disappointing when you don’t hear the songs you love. I’ll be doing Runaways stuff, new things and a couple of tributes.
How does it feel playing songs you first played as a teenager, when the band image was fairly sexualised?
The only sexualised part of The Runaways, really, was “Cherry Bomb”, which was me putting on a corset for three minutes. [Laughs] Otherwise, we wore jumpsuits and it wasn’t that sexualised. We were much more covered than anything you see today, that’s for sure. I came up with the corset because the band had just come out of the gate and I thought it would be something that would bring attention to the song, and it did. It’s great to be doing songs that I’ve been doing for forty years – it never gets old for me. Never. I have as much fun doing them as the audience does listening to them.
What was the catalyst for making a new album after so much time?
I made a record in 2009 with Matt Sorum from Guns ‘N’ Roses; he produced a record for me. Unfortunately, my management company at the time did not want to put it so, so now I’ve finally negotiated a contract, where they’re finally going to put it out within the year. It’s a great record. Billy Corgan wrote a duet that he and I do together. I’ve got Slash and Duff [McKagan] and of course Matt, Brody Dalle and Juliette Lewis. It’s a real fun record.
Reverie, which I put out on my own, is the one Kim Fowley approached me on when he was very ill. I wanted to take the opportunity to create some memories with this man, instead of living in this place of all my memories of him came from being a child. They’re not good memories and I feel like I needed to fact that and make new memories. So that’s what we did and I’m very grateful we did that before he passed away.
Did you feel the movie was a fair and accurate representation of the band, overall?
I really, really wished that Jackie and Lita had been involved. Unfortunately, Lita never read the contract. I guess her husband read her the first page of the script and they threw it in the trash. Of course, Jackie then went to the Linsons [producers John and Art], demanding four times the amount of money Joan and I were making and demanding to be a producer, so they just wrote her out. She then said they could use her name but they said no; she did make a good impression and that was unfortunate, as Joan and I really wanted her to be a part of it. That meant that we didn’t have hers or Lita’s input and of course, we didn’t have Sandy with us any more, so that was really sad.
I think that visually, it’s phenomenal. [Director] Fiona Sigismondi captured the seventies in a brilliant way and of course, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart and Michael Shannon did a superb job, just superb. I mean, who gets to make a movie made about them? I’m just going to say, “Job well done, thank you very much!” [Laughs]
What are your plans for the rest of the year and beyond?
I’m excited about the live record, as I just came out of the studio after fine tuning some mixes and it sounds great. I’m looking forward to the Suzi Quatro film that I wrote a song for; actually, the production company is there in Australia. I have a of carvings I have to catch up on, but coming to Australia will be a high point of this gal’s life, I’ll tell you that much. I’m just so happy and blessed to have this opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.
CHERIE CURRIE AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
May 26th | The Triffid, BRISBANE
May 27th | Manning Bar, SYDNEY
May 28th | Corner Hotel, MELBOURNE
May 31st | The Gov, ADELAIDE
June 1st | Rosemount Hotel, PERTH
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