Cher Strauberry Releases Debut Solo Album ‘Chering Is Caring’

Skateboarding Trailblazer’s New Album Showcases A Life of Hard-Fought Success, Self-Actualization & Hangtime With Bikini Kill

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LISTEN TO CHER’S RECENT INTERVIEW ON NPR WEEKEND EDITION HERE

Today, modern punk’s rebel-rousing rising star, and undeniable skateboarding trailblazer Cher Strauberry releases ‘Chering Is Caring’, an audio experience that defies easy categorization. Out on Silver Arrow Records, the record plays out like an immersive alt zine meets a DIY punk show meets an audio diary (recorded nearly entirely on a microcassette player & walkman). 

The album release follows a recent five-page print spotlight in Alternative Press which said that “Strauberry tears down the expectations that have been built within what can be a toxic scene”, the debut of a short film on Cher via Vans Skateboarding, and profiles in Billboard and Inked Magazine. She also recently spoke with NPR Weekend Edition about the creation of the record and her journey of self-discovery. Listen to the interview HERE.

Chering Is Caring’ brings together recordings from the past two years of Cher’s life, including major losses and heartaches, explosive moments of joy and love, and no-holds-barred punk ruminations on where life has brought her to this point. It bridges together her adolescent obsession with “zine culture” (her favorites include “Cometbus”, “SCAM”, and “Doris”, and she is the curator of her own collection of zines as well), her deep connection with the 90s Riot Grrrl movement, and her own journey of self-discovery, to create an experience that is enlightening, enveloping and more than a little charming.

The heart of the record lies in an adventure documented on the album, where Cher and her friend Zits drove three days to attend two back-to-back Bikini Kill shows in early May 2019. Sleeping in Zit’s car, painting graffiti en-route, eating in diners, and going backstage at the shows, the journey is chronicled on the album with a peppering of guest appearances and vocal notes from Kathleen Hanna, Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile, Seth Bogart from Hunx and His Punx, and the iconic KROQ DJ Rodney Biggenheimer.

Check out the music video for “Down n Out”, self-shot in her bedroom.

“I am unexpectedly proud of this record haha," said Cher. "It’s all the songs I was never gonna release but I'm happy I did. It’s a mixtape of my life from the past two years and when I listen to it I could cry or giggle and everything in between. <3”

At 14, Cher was gifted the hand-me-down microcassette player she largely recorded ‘Chering Is Caring’ on from her older sister who used it to record college lectures. With no computer, Cher carried the device around with her for years while she was a teenage runaway in the Bay Area, recording songs, interviews, personal thoughts and creative notes that compelled her. From learning to play Beatles covers on her grandmother’s old acoustic guitar, to mastering the pro-skateboarding world (she is the first trans female pro-skateboarder, has a partnership with Vans, her own skateboarding company, has been featured in Thrasher, and has a board in the Smithsonian), to now with her triumphant, joyous and explosive debut solo record, Cher has always played by her own rules, earning a legion of fans inspired by her fun-loving nature and perseverance including the famous likes of Chris Robinson and Stephan Jenkins.

‘Chering Is Caring’ Tracklist

1) Keyboard Cringe

2) Swish and Spit

3) Instrumental

4) Rodney Biggenheimer Club

5) I'll Be Waiting

6) Down n Out

7) I Think I Like U

8) Don't Miss Yew

9) Put Me Down

10) Cute Mosh Pit

11) I'm Hurting, You're Hurting

12) Kathleen Hanna

13) I'm Confused (The Muffs Cover)

14) Erika Lyle Plug

15) Winter 94

16) Balloons

17) Pressure 

18) Seth Graffiti Interview

19) Interlude Pt. 1

20) Will This Go Bad

21) Coffee

22) Summertime Geminis

23) Interlude Pt. 2

24) Lunch

25) Boy

26) Unreleasable Demo

27) One Minute Song

28) Bikini Kill

29) Failure to Send

30) Voicemail

31) Stop