Welcome to the backstage series, a new blog feature that highlights some of the best local bands, how they started, what music they’re digging, dream gigs and what’s cooking on the horizon.
How long has the band been together & what made you get started?
Like most things these Cheeky Leash formed through the internet in late 2022. I posted onto a facebook page called musicians of wollongong looking for people to jam with and Chris reached out. It took some time for us to link up as Chris kept ghosting me. Finally after some time we organised to jam in my bedroom however in traditional Chris fashion he forgot his guitar. The friendship developed from there and then we met Brad and Brody along the way and were brought on as the band developed into what it is now. (Jayden)
What’s bands are currently filling up your playlist?
We all listen to a lot of music and have our own go to artists. As a whole band have recently been drawn to the new Hockey Dad record though, that is amazing!We do a weekly playlist called cheeky weekly which is on Spotify that you could check out to see more of what we listen to.
What’s your dream venue or festival you’d love to play?
We dream to one day headline Splendour in the Grass at the amphitheatre if it returns. If we dare to dream big we would lose it if we played Madison Square Garden in New York. (Cheeky)
Photos | @tiarnastahmer.photos and @eliseaphotography
Any other bands or artists you guys are keen to work with?
I’m sure we would all agree Billie Eilish would be up there on this list. We all are big fans of Billie and her music. The impact Billie has made on a generation at such a young age is incredible. I know for a fact Billie’s voice has brought myself to tears in the past and when first listening to ‘Birds of a Feather’ I felt emotions I didn't even know I had.
Any exciting gigs or tour plans coming up?
We are working really hard to release new music so that by the end of the year when we play live everyone will know the songs we are performing. We can’t say too much yet but we will be having a busy end of the year! (Brody)
How long has the band been together & what made you get started?
We’ve been a band for a little over 4 years now, since the start of covid!
All of us were all in previous bands before (Resist The Thought, Our Anchored Hearts, My Kind of Memory) and all met each other through playing shows together. All of those bands were coming to an end and all of us decided we wanted to start something in the realm of our favourite era of 90’s nu metal.
What’s bands are currently filling up your playlist?
We all have a diverse taste in music! Kublai Khan, Limp Bizkit, Metallica are pretty much staples but recently the new Speed and new Eminem album have been on high rotation!
What’s your dream venue or festival you’d love to play?
A dream venue for us in Australia would definitely be the Hordern pavilion or qudos bank arena here in Sydney. Internationally, it’d be a dream to do the European/american festival circuits like download in the UK or sound and fury in the US.
Photos | @adrianne.armida
Any other bands or artists you guys are keen to work with?
We all admire Kublai Khan & Limp Bizkit so Matt Honeycutt or Fred Durst as a feature on one of our tracks would be a dream come true!
Any exciting gigs or tour plans coming up?
We’ve got an Aussie tour coming up in October with local mates Diamond Construct & Prompts from Japan. This will be our biggest tour to date which we absolutely can't wait to get cracking on!
We’re also dropping a new single around the time of the tour and hopefully a new EP sometime next year! The train keeps a rollin’ in our camp always so we love to keep busy.
How long has the band been together & what made you get started?
We've been playing together for about 5 years now, we first got together just outta high school. We all connected for a love of music and live music, I (Kaden) was the kid with the empty house alotta’ the time so we ended up playing and writing songs in my garage heaps. Post-Covid was where the band really started to shift, and we started to take things seriously.
What’s bands are currently filling up your playlist?
We all tend to rotate a lotta of different and new stuff from a range of genres. Big offenders lately are Teenage wrist, Modern Color, Thrown, Heart to Gold, Webbed Wing & Kublai Khan.
What’s your dream venue or festival you’d love to play?
Being pretty local to the brissy music scene a pretty real venue dream for us is to one day headline the fortitude music hall. We've made so many memories at that venue that we'd love to create ourselves! As for a dream festival, Good Things is pretty high on the list!
Photos | @seanpuxtyphoto
Any other bands or artists you guys are keen to work with?
We love supporting local bands and working with our mates! We'd love to collab with bands like Pvcker UP, Deadshows, Semantics, Bad Neighbour & Talk Heavy.
Any exciting gigs or tour plans coming up?
We're just about to announce an EP with a tour to follow along the east coast coming up in October. We've gonna being playing with some awesome bands and get to work with a lotta mates on this one so we're pretty stoked. We're currently planning a few shows in Melbourne later in the year too!
