Cherrybomb: The Band That Never Was

Some people don’t see a connection between truth and fiction. I get that. But the truth is, the only reality a fictional character’s got going for herself is integrity.

I got the idea of putting together a virtual band a couple of years ago. A cross between the Archies and Gorillaz. I enlisted a couple of avatars from my friend Mick Brady, set up a scene and shot some test video. It looked great. It felt good.

I wrote a song, recorded a basic track and found a female vocalist to sing Botgirl’s part. We cut a demo and it sounded pretty good. It felt really bad. There was something about putting a singing voice into Botgirl’s mouth that felt wrong. I’m not sure why.

I put speaking voices in her mouth all the time with no problem. But there was something about feigning an ability to sing that was jarring. Not in a “shake up one’s sensibilities through art” way, but in the sense of feeling shamefully inauthentic.

I’m still puzzled by the reaction. But that’s okay. It’s the mystery of life. Fictional life.