JEANNINE ST. CLAIR--CLEVELAND'S CHERRY BOMB...ready to meet the original Cherry Bomb...Cherie Currie
Night of Runaways inspired Rock & Roll...
Rock and roll has a funny way of creating stories and if there was ever a show that has a good story behind it then August 7th at the Foundry Concert Club is it. Cherie Currie makes her first return to Cleveland since performing with the Runaways in 1977 at the Agora.
Cherie Currie who then fronted the Runaways as the starlet blonde from Hollywood will perform with a local musical artist who was inspired by her when Jeannine St. Clair opens for her long time idol. Jeannine also was in an all-female band that had to take excessive criticism and slander from the local music scene when she was the vocalist for Cherry Bomb—who took their name from the Runaways most notable single. Cherry Bomb played locally from 1992-95 playing original music and drawing a large fan base as one of the few all-female bands from the region.
Wednesday night at the Foundry, St. Clair will have a rock and roll dream come to light with a performance with Currie. “You know, this is the one Runaways member that I actually never got to meet, to talk to and she would always be the one that I would want to talk to and I just couldn’t turn it down and I have a lot of anxiety about this show but it is in a good way. I want people to show up for me and I want people to show up for Cherie and hang out with her for a drink and sit and talk to her."
"I am so excited. It means the world to me. She is one of my idols. Other than getting the Runaways and Cherry Bomb to do a show together if you could get all of those people back together you couldn’t have a better show, you know? It fits so well together and I think it is going to be great and I just hope people will show up and support it and yes, she is a total inspiration and she has such a great voice and I have gone farther than just the Runaways and I am into things she has done solo wise and with her sister.”
For St. Clair, she has gone on to form her own band with male musicians from the Cleveland area and released an album, “Get to You” and sang locally since the breakup of Cherry Bomb in 1995. She has sung the National Anthem at Cleveland Indians and Cavaliers games in front of thousands of people. St. Clair went back to Nursing School and serves as a nurse so her time as a rock and roll musician has been limited.
"I have some of the best musicians in Cleveland with Billy Morris on lead guitar and he has played with various artists including Warrant and just opened up for Tesla and has been a lot of cool stuff and he is my lead guitar player and Tim Burris on drms, and Craig Martini on bass and he is a great bass player, so , I have the cream of the crop coming together to help me do this because they all want to support me in doing this for Cherie. Billy is one of those few musicians who has made a successful career in music and staying in Cleveland. He lives the rock and roll life. He is out there, he knows everybody, and I am so glad that he and I are still good friends and get past all of our things and remain business partners so that is good."
St. Clair can relate with Currie having both gotten their start in all-female band. Currie with the Runaways in 1975 and St. Clair in Cherry Bomb in 1991. St. Clair said that her band shared a common bond with the Runaways—playing determined rock and roll and giving their all on stage to make believers out of all the nay-sayers.
"Cherry Bomb is that we had our own agenda, they had in mind what they were going to do and had other people who were trying to come in and influence them and change things but we butted heads with a lot of that, and we weren’t going to be that trendy little all girl band wearing dresses and high heels. We were that rock band that came out and wore our LA Guns t-shirts and Cowboy boots and we were rocking, you know? We were there to make music and not there to stand there and look pretty. Yes, it was like you are into your own thing and wanted to develop your own style and not be just a bunch of girls up there trying to play music. We were up there and knew our instruments whether it was the bass guitar, guitar or drums, we knew what we were doing and learning as we went along and improving every day but I think we blew a lot of guys off the stage. It wasn’t just because we were a bunch of girls up there. We practiced and we worked hard and we wrote songs and we had creativity, but we had that chemistry and it was so important. I think what people overlooked about us until they came and saw us was that we could actually play. We didn’t just write a bunch of stuff or had people writing for us and do what people told us to do, we were very independent and were creative and were talented and good players."
"The one thing you have to know about Cherry Bomb is that we were actually one of those bands that cared a lot about other people. I don’t know if you remember but we did a lot of things that were kind of on the side for a lot of people that people didn’t know about like Cancer Benefits and to that girl that Amy ,Rose and I wrote with for that young girl that was dying of cancer and I just think what people need to remember or know about us."
Get ready for an exciting night of rock and roll as St. Clair performs with Currie. The Gluttons and Global Warning are also on the bill to provide a full night of energized rock and roll. Welcome Cherie back to Cleveland and give her the respect she deserves and be sure to support local music with St. Clair and the other acts on the bill.
