The Cherry Valence

The Cherry Valence first appeared in 1998, when guitarists Cheetie Kumar and Jamie Williams, bassist Paul Siller, and tag team drummers/vocalists (yep, you heard right) Brian Quast and Nick Whitley started playing out in their native Raleigh, NC. Their unforgiving strut mostly resembled 1970s hard rock but had elements of everything from Little Richard to Mötley Crüe floating around in its backwash. Besides sharing vocal (and drumming) duties with Whitley, Quast also helped out on organ/keys. The Cherry Valence soon took the show on the road and didn't return to roost until the end of 1999, when they finally issued their first recording, the "Two Headed Woman" 7". A self-titled LP dropped from Estrus in 2001 and was followed by the album Riffin' a year later. Naturally, the band toured incessantly throughout this period. TCV was on the road so much, in fact, that many rock fans reported thinking the outfit was from their town, since the Cherry Valence moniker appeared on marquees so often. In the spring of 2004 the band fragmented with Siler and Kumar leaving to start the Birds of Avalon and the remaining three members spending time on solo projects before deciding to move ahead with the Cherry Valence. They recruited guitarist Erik Sugg and bassist Charles Story, signed with Bifocal Media and released their third album, TCV3, in the summer of 2005. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide