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The Cherry Bombs, a production combining metal and elements of Broadway, is set to perform at Launchpad tomorrow night. Founded by Alicia Taylor, who performs and serves as the group’s director, Cherry Bombs is a testament to what metal can be.
In an interview with The Paper, Taylor described Cherry Bombs as “if you would take the Pussy Cat Dolls and combine [them with] Cirque Du Soleil.” Shows by Cherry Bombs are hard to describe and even harder to predict. Boasting a storyline, hard-hitting metal, daring cinematography and, naturally, fire, a Cherry Bombs show has just about everything.
“It’s sort of like a metal Broadway. It’s told through the music, the lighting, and the dialogue. It’s primarily musically driven,” Taylor said about their upcoming shows. “When you come to a Cherry Bombs show, you expect the unexpected it: Hard-hitting choreography, with incredibly dangerous skills, a lot of fire, and women swinging from incredible heights.”
As for the narrative of their show, Taylor described it as “A blend between Dante’s Inferno and From Dusk Till Dawn.”
Taylor’s love of metal and rock, along with her passion for dance, inspired the former cheerleader to leave the light-pop-inspired routines of the NFL to pursue her own creative ambitions. This eventually led Taylor to start an all-female metal troupe that celebrates freedom of expression and femininity while also adhering to quintessential rock and roll.
Taylor grew up in Western Washington during the height of grunge in the late ’90s and early 2000s and noted that early exposure to such a rock-heavy culture has stayed with her. “Growing up in the Seattle area, I grew up around grunge and that pushed me towards heavier music.” Taylor cited Alice in Chains, The Prodigy, Nine-inch Nails, and Rob Zombie as a few of her early influences. It should also be mentioned that Taylor is also married to the lead singer of Slipknot and metal-royalty Corey Taylor.
So what should one expect from a former NFL cheerleader and metalhead, now at the helm of an all-female metal troupe? In short: a lot.
The Cherry Bombs four-day tour will land in Albuquerque, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. This will be the second time that the Cherry Bombs have performed in Albuquerque–only this time they’ll be allowed to use fire in their show. Doors open at 8pm and tickets can be found on their website. Tickets start at $15.
For anyone interested in learning more about Cherry Bombs’ choreography, Taylor will be in Albuquerque on March 5 to lead a two-hour dance workshop at Maple Street Dance Space. The class will be a two-hour session from 2pm to 4pm. Information and availability about the workshop can be found on their website.