FEATURE: Hartford Pop-Punk Outfit Cheem Make Sure “Nothing Is Off The Table” With Dynamic Album ‘Guilty Pleasure’

For Hartford, Connecticut pop punk outfit Cheem, the concept of “influence” or “inspiration” was thrown to the wind for their latest album Guilty Pleasure. Released at the end of July via Lonely Ghost Records, the nine-track collection spans a brief 22 minutes but brings along an array of energetic genres to recalibrate the pop-punk style for modern tastemakers. Four Year Strong, N’SYNC, Animals As Leaders, Fall Out Boy, and plenty more seep into their sound, making for a fun and adventurous listen that feels both new and nostalgic.

Opening with “Virtual Boy”, a sludgy, synthesizer-drenched Korn-esque track, Guilty Pleasure only launches deeper into unpredictable territory. “Snag”, “Clueless”, and “Mango” chip away at ’00s pop-punk a-la Fall Out Boy and Four Year Strong, mixed with prog-rock riffs hidden underneath.

Describing their sound, Cheem say it best: “nothing is off the table”.

That statement truly becomes clear as the hip-hop-tinged “Cheem Szn” sweeps into its hyper-pop successor “Overload”, eventually reaching back into ’90s alt-rock territory for “Pay2Play” and “Worldstar”. Despite its short stature, Guilty Pleasure is a dominating and exciting pop-punk release that is strong evidence the future of music is genre-less. Expanding on their style and the album’s title, the band share, “Make the music you feel is missing in the world, listen to the music that makes you feel good. Enough on judging others what they enjoy listening to.”

Listen to the record below, and get a better sense of Cheem and their sound in the latest Q&A interview just past:

With so many influences and “no constraints”, how did you guys work together to stay on the same page when working on the album? 

We’ve miraculously assembled a band of five people with listening habits that are all extremely eclectic, but similar enough that we have no problems finding common ground when it comes to writing music we like.  If one of us gets into something new, the rest of the band is the first group of people that are going to hear about it. So that definitely helps us all stay on the same musical plane of existence. And because everything we write has to be given the green light by five people, we have a pretty good system of checks and balances for determining what’s tasteful and what’s corny.  

Your band’s sound is so intricate and jam packed. What does the songwriting process look like? 

For Guilty Pleasure, everything started as a demo on my (Skye’s) laptop.  A lot of the time, ideas will kinda float around in my head or as vague descriptions in my phone notes before they get solidified.  I try to make the demos as complete as I can so most of the electronic/auxiliary elements can get carried over to the final track, which saves a lot of time.  After that, Sam and I write and record vocals and bring the demo to the band.  They pretty much always put their own spin on the live parts and suggest production/arrangement changes.  Once all the actual tracks get laid down, we kinda just sit on the mix for a while and see what other crazy stuff we can try out before we finally call it.  It makes sense that the songs end up so layered, because they pass through so many different stages in our process.

Is there something that is a consistent influence or inspiration? 

I always try to approach writing for Cheem like I’m a producer who specializes in hip-hop or electronic music trying to write a rock song with no knowledge of the typical rock tropes. So I would say those two genres specifically are huge for us, and I try to listen to as much as I can in those areas. The songs have to bang live, but I want to make the actual composition as unorthodox as possible.  

Specific acts we take a lot of notes from would be other bands who do the genre-blending thing like Linkin Park, 311, N.E.R.D., or Death Grips. We also love *NSYNC, Fall Out Boy, and George Clanton, but most people can probably tell without us even saying that.

With your live show coming back, is the chaotic energy of your record able to be transferred to the stage? 

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, a lot of the sounds from the album are actually included in the live experience. We have perfected the role of our backing tracks. For some tracks, Skye puts down his guitar and it’s 2 front vocalists rocking out on stage. The rest of the band with the backing track accompaniment really excels at giving the band the maximalist sound it needs

What would be your musical “guilty pleasure”?

The message of our album is to truly destroy any of these ‘guilty pleasures’, you should be proud of the music that inspires you. Make the music you feel is missing in the world, listen to the music that makes you feel good. Enough on judging others what they enjoy listening to.

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