NEW CROSS DOLLS : BIOG

The Cherry Reds play old-skool brit-sounding punk rock, and are currently : dan (vox & guitar, Crystal Palace), marcus (drums, Peterborough), neil (guitar & vox, Norwich City) & nick (bass, Palace)... and have also been mario, paul and barry.

The Cherries have played with bands such as the Parkinsons, W.O.R.M., Ed Tudorpole, TV Smith, Goober Patrol, Capdown, Sick on the Bus, Foamers, Restarts, Southport, One Car Pile-Up, Menace, Peter & the Test-tube Babies, and from the USA, the Kowalskis, the Casualties, Molotov Cocktail, the Undead (ex-Misfits) .. and most bizarrely, Princess Superstar. Mostly, though, we have played endless shows with the Morons, the Phobics and the Pissed Resistance!

The Cherry Reds were formed about 15yrs. ago by four mates at school. The name was decided in science class and the first set of lyrics written in R.E. The music was written later that day at Dan's house on an acoustic guitar and some sauce-pans. During the spring/ summer of 1995, amidst terrorizing the local populaces of Beckenham, Downham and New Cross, The Cherries developed their music 'ability' and finally got some equipment.

During this time they got banned from school for swearing on stage during a talent contest (subsequently coming third to a belly dancer); made their first recording at Escapade Music Studio; made life hell for a few people at the Lewisham Academy of Music and played their first gig at the White Swan, Deptford (their form tutor was in the audience and the promoter said they were 'terrible')

Since those early days their have been a Tap-esque amount of line-up changes, a few more recordings at Escapade .... and lots & lots of gigs at the much-missed GMT!

Memorable events have included : a gig in the middle of Brixton High Street during the '98 Reclaim The Streets party; recording an in-house demo at Island Music publishing; great gigs at the Garage and Norwich Arts Centre; plus many many many gigs in many venues ranging from good (the Hopeless Wanker, Islington), to bad (Sound), to big (ULU, the LA2), absolute shite (Fat Paulies), supporting the Selecter when they didn't turn up, and supporting Princess Superstar when she turned up in a rhinestone jumpsuit.

Our first single was released in early 1998 after neil joined the band - an 8-track split with the now sadly-defunct Egon Spengler from Luton. This generated lots of rejection forms, a few nice reviews & a letter from the Reverend Norb. Thankfully, it also led to a spate of compilation tracks in the UK and abroad (thanx Andy! thanx Steve!) and as one of the bands featured on High Society's British Punk Invasion series in Germany (thanx Thorsten!). We have self-released a number of new 3-track singles in recent years, and a 'proper' album on Positive Impact Records in 2006.

We continue to play every few weeks in and around London, and with new drummer Marcus Moron on-board have recorded a new 5-track EP in late-2009.