Youthful Los Angeles-based band Cherri Bomb ready for the spotlight

TORONTO – In only four years, the L.A.-based all-girl rock band Cherri Bomb released their debut album, toured the world and opened shows for rock-star idols including the Smashing Pumpkins and Foo Fighters in front of thousands of people.

The youngest member of the group is 14 years old. The oldest is 16.

Don’t mistake their young ages for a group of wannabe rock stars. They’re serious about their musical future.

“We’ve pretty much grown up with music,” says Miranda Miller, 16. “We were born with music.”

The band started in 2008 when lead guitarist, Julia Pierce, decided she wanted to start an all-girl rock band but needed people to do it with.

“I put up ads and flyers throughout L.A., in music stores and online,” said Pierce, 15, in a recent interview in Toronto.

After putting up flyers and holding try-outs, the first band member to join the group was Nia Lovelis, 15, who’s on drums. Miller, who plays guitar and rhythm, followed shortly afterward. The last missing piece was a bassist, so the girls turned to Lovelis’s younger sister, Rena, now 14. She quickly learned to play bass and snagged a spot in the band.

The Lovelis sisters, much like Miller and Pierce, came from musical backgrounds. Their mother is a singer/songwriter and their father is a musician, but they didn’t expect their daughters would follow in their footsteps.

“For Rena and I, our parents didn’t intend for us to get involved in the music business, but we did anyway,” Nia said. “We all wanted to be in a band.”

Once the band formed, the ambitious group needed a name and they turned to a book called “Cherry Bomb: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Flirt, a Tougher Chick, and a Hotter Girlfriend — and to Living Life Like a Rock Star.”

“It just tells rad stories about being a cool, confident girl in rock and roll,” Miller said. “We thought it was awesome so we named our band after that.”

Cherri Bomb released their first few songs in October 2011 before releasing their first full-length album, “This is the End of Control,” in May. The songs are written and sung by all four members, who draw on personal experiences for their lyrics.

“It was full of creativity,” Nia said. “It was always writing songs, writing riffs, ongoing artistry and everything. It was just a great experience.”

As for the music, each band member is inspired by different rock bands but collectively, their musical inspiration comes from the Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, Muse and Paramore.

Cherri Bomb went on tour with the Foo Fighters in Germany last August and performed in front of 15,000 people, but that wasn’t the only exciting thing that happened on tour.

“We had dinner with them, we all talked,” Miller said. “They make you feel like you’re part of the family. It humbles you.”

Cherri Bomb visited Canada for the first time to perform at Warped Tour in Toronto and Montreal over the weekend, which they described as a crazy and interesting experience.

The band will perform in the U.S. next month before heading to the U.K. in November, after which the band will begin work on their second album.

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