Think Pat Benetar backed up by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble, and you get the flavor of the new release by Cherri & the Violators. This nine-track self released collection is titled Processed American Blues Product. Cheryl Bendig fronts this group on vocals, rhythm guitar, and she wrote most of the lyrics. Cherri (as she is known on stage) skillfully weaves stories of good times and bad. The group was obviously influenced by others but clearly moved on to develop their own style.
Guitar slinger Tone Burke must feel the blues blowin’ in from Texas as he rips through his leads. At the same time he knows when the lay back and offer up some tastefully cool backup to Cheryl’s moodier songs. Drummer Hank Cupp keeps the group firmly in the groove. Paul Bendig lays down the bass lines to compliment the passion of the drums. The right notes at the right time, that’s what makes for a solid bass man. No getting carried away here, just what’s needed when it is needed. Cheryl Bendig blends everything together with her rhythm guitar. All the outstanding guitar groups need a great vocalist to be out front. Without a firm rhythm section however all is lost. This group has the foundation and the front personnel and that’s what makes them exceptional.
The set begins with a thumpin’ song titled Jenny Said followed by Butterfly Effect, a rocker spy theme kicking it off. Next, a heavy metal backed song Traveling Shoes. Just to get your heart rate back to normal, Cherri melts into a moodier song, Bottles Break. Too Much, as the title implies laments the dangers of too much strain and the need for relief. Every track is a winner although the Same Twelve Bars stands out to this writer. Burke’s slide guitar and Cherri’s hard hitting lyrics of life on the road match up perfectly on this one. 25th Century Blues and True Love (another highlight for this writer) lead up to the last track, I’d Rather Have the Blues.
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-- Detroit Metro Airport News, July 07
Processed American Blues Product
Cherri & the Violators have a winner in their self-produced Processed American Blues Product:, a disc that will appeal to fans of rock and blues alike. As Cherri says, there are a few blues tunes, a few rock tunes, and a few cheesy pop tunes. This is decidedly a step up from the last disc. Cherri's vocals are more confident and Tone Burke's guitar work is a secret weapon that most bands would love to have in their arsenal. Rounded out by bassist Paul Bendig and drummer Hank Cupp, the band comes to win fans with this disc. Traveling Shoes showcases Burke's guitar work to superb effect, and the band's version of John Gorkas Bottles Break has a folk blues feel on which Cherri and the fellas all show their gentler side. This qualifies as one of the pop tunes, but it's a well structured and executed tune that does what a good pop tune does best, it has a killer hook that grabs the listener and doesn't let go. Too Much ("too much sorrow make your heart break/ too much work make your body ache") has a CCR intro that evolves into something more pop oriented. The Same Twelve Bars, all about "playing the sae twelve bars in the same twelve bars", is a tune that most blues players can get next to. The band does a fine bluesy version of Pat Benatar's True Love before closing it out with a superb I'd Rather Have the Blues.
-- Mark Gallo, Detroit Blues Society
Processed American Blues Product>
“Cherri and the Violators are one of the few blues bands in the region that takes pains to bend the limits of what tends to be a rather formulaic musical genre. The blues is built around a “one, four, five” position on the guitar, and while there is infinite room for variation, if you can play an E, A and B7 chord, then you’ve got half the music licked. But, as noted in a review of their last CD, “Empty Pockets,” C&V make an effort to push the blues to new places with an emphasis on melody and lyrics that punch through to rock’s more thoughtful side. The Brethren-based band includes Cheryl Bendig on vocals with a fine pop lilt, Paul Bendig on bass and vocals, Tone Burke on a nimble, sinuous lead guitar and Hank Cupp on percussion. Cheryl has a great ear for songwriting; her “Traveling Shoes” song has a Hendrix-style guitar backing, but it could perhaps be even better as an acoustic number -- an indicator that her writing has the flexible strength of a good tune. Also impressive is the band’s cover of John Gorka’s “Where the Bottles Break” -- you don’t expect to hear such thought-provoking material from a band who’s turf is local blues bars.
-- Robert Downes, Northern Express Magazine
The Blues, Reinvented:
Empty Pockets
Blues, as rendered by Midwestern white people, tends to be a rote exercise of following down the same footpaths of chord structures hollowed out by generations of performers. And lyrically, present-day blues tends to be leaden with its lack of authenticity, which has been replaced with a fake cheer. It's impossible for today's performers to have the authentic experiences which gave birth to the blues: They weren't raised in sharecroppers' cabins, for instance; nor are they likely to be living on the South Side of Chicago as in Muddy Waters' hey-day, snapping pistols in a rival's face or knife-fighting over a woman. The cultural soil that made the blues great has all been plowed down to sterile ground and eroded away down the long Mississippi. So the challenge for a band like Cherri and the Violators is to reinvent the blues and bring something fresh to the table. Happily, even triumphantly, the band has done just that on an album that manages to be both experimental in its reach while saying something new. The Benzie/Manistee County-based band labels their music "contemporary blues," and you have to hand it to them: they have succeeded in slapping the paddles on the old zombie blues and reviving it as their own personal creation with songwriting that is exceptionally strong. Vocalist Cheryl Bendig is nothing less than superb; her voice has an addictive flower child quality that recalls the great pop singers of the '60s: Linda Rondstat, Judy Collins, Petula Clark. She has a knack for vocal phrasing that takes a song on a gliding, twisting thrust to a wafting, higher level, transforming the music in a way that is inspiring -- even magical. This is especially true on "Time (Wait For Me)," which again, has the feel of something by the '60s Mamas & Papas or Spanky and Our Gang that transcends the blues in a way that might make the music popularly viable again. "Mirror Mirror" is another song where Bendig weaves some of that black magic woman spell. Then there's the surprisingly fresh "Bartender," which takes an old blues clichè and gives it a gentle kick to new heights. Not every song is a success: "Musta Been Fun" is your standard yadda-yadda blues guitar riff dressed with some Jonny Lang attitude. But no one can deny that Cherri and the Violators aren't violating the envelope here, creating their own vision of the blues that is pleasantly pop-oriented and unexpectedly romantic. Bandmates Tony Burke on lead/rhythm guitars, Paul Bendig on vocals/bass, and Pat Eickenroth on drums/percussion serve up a powerful backdrop for Bendig's vocals, never overplaying their hand. With "Empty Pockets," they've managed to take the blues to higher ground. If nothing else, this CD will certainly make you want to catch the band live.
-- Robert Downes, Northern Express
EMPTY POCKETS
On their second disc, Northern Michigan based Cherri and the Violators explore the glory days of the mid 70's where songs that rocked were informed by the blues but were well removed from the Delta. That's not to say that blues fans won't find familiar sounds here. They will, but they aren't the standard boogies and shuffles that fill all too many regional blues discs. Instead, the blues creeps in by way of the band's self penned lyrics and the terrific guitar work of Tony Burke who sounds like he has spent equal amounts of time listening to Jimmy Thackery, Robin Trower and Johnny Winter. Stand out tracks include Bartender which features a "two ships passing in the night" style conversation between a bartender and a patron over a wah wah fueled guitar groove, Fretting for Nothing which is a rocking exploration of the jealousy/suspicion worm at work, Time (Wait for Me) which is a majestic, atmospheric number that could fit on a Clannad disc, Don't Call Me Baby, which has a rockabilly groove, Mirror, Mirror, which sounds a bit like Ann Wilson of Heart taking on House of the Rising Sun and Up For Me, which is a rocking tune with clever lyrics about things not being quite what they appear. Also worthy of note is the irresistible, slinky acoustic reprise of the title cut. Lead vocalist Cheryl Bendig delivers the songs in a voice that has the raw power of Janis Joplin but the finesse of Ann Wilson. Overall, a solid effort that is worthy of a listen the next time you want to hear something beyond straight blues.
-- Mark Gallo
First Offense
This hard rocking release by northern Michigan based Cherri and the Violators recalls the glory days of blues rock as practiced by the likes of Foghat or more recently Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers. Like those bands the Violators rock hard but have a bluesy edge that keeps blues fans interested. Leading the sonic assault is guitarist Tony Burke who clearly spent as many hours soaking up classic 70's rock riffs as he spent with the bedrock blues of Albert Collins, Albert King and Buddy Guy. Equally adept at scorching leads as he is with rocking fills, Burke will have jaws dropping every time this disc finds its way into the cd changer. While Burke's guitar is certainly a focal point you can't overlook the vocals of Cherri Bendig who recalls everyone from Lou Ann Barton to Janis Joplin with the ferocious power of her voice. While she isn't always pitch perfect she is always just right for the rocking material. Bendig is also a fearless songwriter with topics covering everything from the monthly bouts that send men into hiding, PMS Blues, to her grudging admiration of a woman who manages to be the center of attention despite being "a cold hearted ball breaking bitch", Ice Queen, to her stern warning to a potentially wandering mate, Can't Have Two, to her homage to the hard partying weekend warriors, The Weekend Song. Those that like their blues served on the rocks will find much to like here.
-- Mark Smith
Click here for a review of our six-song demo by Mark Smith.
