News Releases

Immigrant Union launch ‘New Win’ single and video

December 4, 2018
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IMMIGRANT UNION launch ‘New Win’ single and video

Australian alt/country/psych collective Immigrant Union have announced the release of their forthcoming single ‘New Win’ and companion Video, set to be released through Cheersquad Records & Tapes on Friday December 7.

Not a band to sit on one particular sound for more than an album, Immigrant Union’s self-titled first record was very much cemented in Americana music, while their second album Anyway’ continued to contain similar elements but featured a large shift in song-writing style and instrumentation.

Australian alt/country/psych collective Immigrant Union

The band’s yet to be released third album ‘Judas’ is arguably their most ‘different’ album to date.  It still has slight tinges of Americana but generally the band describe it as ‘some weird ass rock album’.  It’s also the first record that includes Ben Street and Paddy McGrath-Lester who joined founding members Brent DeBoer from The Dandy Warhols, Melbourne musician Bob Harrow and vocalist Peter Lubulwa after Courtney Barnett and co had to split due to Courtney blowing up in a huge globally massive way!

‘New Win’ is the first taste from the forthcoming ‘Judas’ album due for release in early 2019, and ‘is a song about the best times in life being squandered by not realising at the time how great they were and regrettably letting them slip away. Looking back, you feel you must have been insane to have not recognised how good you had it and vow to never make those same mistakes again.’

With that in mind, the band decided to make a video about Bob converting to Mormonism. Makes sense right?


Part one of the video shows the monotony of preparing for a good time. Grab some friends, grab some beers, order some pizza and settle in for an evening of weapons grade gum flapping.

Part two features some unexpected guests, and later, Bob’s reckoning. With a bit of a buzz on, Bob’s not only looking for some light-hearted philosophical nonsense, he’s looking for an epiphany. Just when he thinks he’s got it all figured out, he’s reminded that his new direction in life requires a few sacrifices. Is Bob willing and able to make those sacrifices? Will he turn his back on his hard-partying ways and take on a life of meditation, sobriety, and self-reflection? Or are there some sacrifices too near and dear to his very identity that he is unwilling to give up? Only Bob knows the answers to these hard questions.

Watch the clip for Immigrant Union’s brand new, smash hit single, ‘New Win’, and you too will know what Bob becomes. And what may become of Bob….

Buy track here
Immigrant Union on Facebook
Immigrant Union website

News Releases

Nick Craft – ‘No Silver Lining’

November 2, 2018
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Cheersquad is excited to announce the release of Australian singer songwriter Nick Craft’s debut solo album ‘Minerva’ on Friday 23 November.

Perhaps best known as songwriter, musician and front man for the psychedelic rock band Sidewinder, Nick recorded ‘Minerva’ with his brother and former band mate, Martin. The brothers formed Sidewinder as teenagers in the 90s, before releasing several acclaimed albums, and constantly touring the Hume Highway live circuit and as a fixture on festival line-ups including The Big Day Out and Homebake.

Nick Craft

This record marks the first time they have worked together since Sidewinder, this time in very different capacities. Martin took on the roles of producer and arranger, taking Nick’s lyrically-driven songs performed on an estate sale nylon strong guitar into a new realm with his understated and sophisticated string arrangements. These arrangements were recorded with a crack squad of musicians in Los Angeles, using players who are more used to working on film soundtracks or with high profile artists such as Father John Misty, Quincy Jones or Brian Wilson.

The first single from the release is ‘No Silver Lining’, which Nick suggests is: ‘a song that does its best to argue that we should maintain our optimism, even in the face of a world that suggests optimism never pays off. It’s somewhere between a love song from an optimist to a pessimist, and a work of self-help, depending on what time of day I listen to it…’

For this song and the remainder of the album Nick has drawn on a diverse and disparate array of influences.  Of his musical influences, he says: ‘While I don’t think I’ve been a slave to any one example, I’ve certainly drawn on the canonic examples of Leonard Cohen or Nick Drake, trying to drive a deep and reflective channel with my lyrics, and move them as close to poetry as I’m able to do… which is perhaps odd, given that I started off in music wanting to work in the My Bloody Valentine tradition of wanting to obliterate the lyric…’

‘I’ve also been inspired by the quiet examples of singers who’ve laboured in obscurity and quiet domesticity–like Sibylle Baier singing into a tape recorder after work just for herself, or Anne Briggs who chose to live a life away from the microphone…’

Tracks from ‘Minerva’ will be accompanied by videos edited from old films that have lapsed out of copyright: ‘In the case of No Silver Lining, it’s shows a woman waking up, removing a skull from a cupboard and throwing it out of the window, only to find it’s returned to the same place. Which is pretty much a good analogy of the circuit this song is trying to break…’ 

‘Minerva’, the 9-track debut album from Nick Craft will be released on Friday 23 November, and is available for pre-order from 2 November from Bandcamp and online retailers.

Nick’s website
Nick on Instagram

Gigs News

XMAS EVEN 2018 – BY REQUEST!

November 2, 2018
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As we hurtle rapidly towards the end of another lap around the sun, Melbourne’s favourite three piece is preparing to deliver the time-honoured, and traditional, XMAS EVEN shows. This year there’ll be two. The Melbourne show is at the Night Cat in Fitzroy on Saturday 22 December and the Sydney show is at the Lansdowne Hotel on Sunday 23 December.

MELBOURNE | SAT 22 DEC 2018 | NIGHT CAT | 8:00PM – 11:30PM | Buy tix here
SYDNEY | SUN 23 DEC 2018 | LANSDOWNE | 6:00PM – 9:00PM | Buy tix here

EVEN: Wally Kempton, Ashley Naylor, Matthew Cotter

This year’s approach will be a little different, as you get to choose the setlist! Yes, it’s XMAS EVEN – BY REQUEST! The band will play anything from their extensive back catalogue, from debut EP ‘In Stereo’ to current LP ‘Satin Returns’. Head over to the EVEN website and vote for the EVEN songs that you’d most like to hear at XMAS EVEN. EVEN will be playing the whole concert over a couple of sets with special guest DJs in between. In Melbourne we have 3RRR’s FEE B-SQUARED and in Sydney DJ KAT MEZKO. Tickets are available now via Eventbrite for the Melbourne show and via the Lansdowne website for Sydney.

See you all at XMAS EVEN 2018!

Facebook event Melbourne
Facebook event Sydney

Gigs News

Stompin’ RiffRaffs Aussie Tour

October 22, 2018
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CHEERSQUAD presents Japanese 4 piece garage rock ’n roll band STOMPIN’ RIFFRAFFS who head to Australia for the first time ever with a whirlwind visit early November. Inspired by an invitation to perform at this year’s Viva La Gong Festival in Wollongong, the band said yes!!, a few more shows were booked and the band took a week off work!
Come and hear classics from the STOMPIN’ RIFFRAFFS album ‘A Man & Three Chicks’ and the singles Phantom Rock, Mondo Topless and Horror Show. Renowned for their wild live shows, some wild guests have also been booked to ensure these four shows are unforgettable.
You can catch the STOMPIN’ RIFFSRAFFS at:

THURSDAY 8th
Night Cat, Fitzroy (VIC)
w/ INTOXICA + Mesa Cosa
Tickets here
Facebook event

FRIDAY 9th
Vic On The Park, Marrickville (NSW)
+ Los Tones + Bone Graft
Facebook event

SATURDAY 10th
Viva La Gong Festival, Wollongong (NSW)
www.vivalagongfestival.org

SUNDAY 11th
Special Surprise End of Tour Party!!

Stompin’ RiffRaffs

In their words…. STOMPIN’ RIFFRAFFS, formed in Tokyo in 2006, are comprised of three chicks—Rie (bass), Miku (keyboard and theremin), and Saori (drums)—and fronted by their man Nao (guitar and vocals). They have been regular fixtures of the Tokyo underground since their inception and regularly tour around their native Japan while still finding time to play internationally with regular frequency.
STOMPIN’ RIFFRAFFS combine all the elements of the golden age of ferocious rock and roll without sounding simply derivative, providing irrefutable proof that despite their homeland being known for propriety, orderliness, and manners, these Nipponese can still hit as hard and fast as anyone else.

Gigs News Releases

Minibikes New Single!

October 17, 2018
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Minibikes return with the bumper sticker inspired single ‘Magic Happens’ due for release on Cheersquad Records & Tapes on Friday 26 October.

Listen and buy ‘Magic Happens’ here.

Who are they? Minibikes are a one-man band with 8 arms and 8 legs. Marcel Borrack calls the shots and his band pulls out the stops. What? Who cares! Marcel went on a mystical pilgrimage communing with wizards and learning the art of the silken song. Mixing up a cocktail of dolphin disco, the new single is a journey of love and redemption that’s ‘magical, physical AND spiritual’. With co-producer Tim Harvey (Jade Imagine), Minibikes serve up tidal synth textures layered with yearning guitars and a pinch of the Steely Dan’s.

Minibikes – Marcel Borrack

At this time of year, it’s not unusual to read about songs that “ooze summer vibes” but this single comes with a serious warning…Slip Slop Slap! And watch out for falling coconuts.

Minibikes will be launching ‘Magic Happens’ on Saturday 3 November at The Merri Creek Tavern in Northcote. Free entry.

Facebook event

News Releases

Jasmin Kaset & QuicheNight’s new album ‘Tuxedo’

October 16, 2018
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Cheersquad Records & Tapes are pleased to announce the release of Nashville songwriter Jasmin Kaset & QuicheNight‘s new album ‘Tuxedo’ on Friday November 2. Coming out on two continents: on vinyl on Cheersquad (AU) and on cassette on Yewknee Records (US). The album is available to pre-order now.

Jasmin Kaset is the daughter of acclaimed Nashville songwriter Angela Kaset and is also a member of synth-pop outfit You Drive, and Birdcloud, the unabashedly raunchy, pointedly provocative country duo currently touring Australia performing a handful of headline shows and also appearing at Out On The Weekend.

Jasmin Kaset

Jasmin Kaset’s new album ‘Tuxedo’ was written and tracked in 2017 and 2018 as a collaboration with prolific rock and roll musician, Brett Rosenberg of Quichenight. ‘Tuxedo’ is to be released as a fully visual record.

Buy here

The first single of Tuxedo: