Cheramona
Photo Credit 📷 : @photo._jh_.graphy
Today we’re shining our spotlight on the UK's most innovative alt band Cheramona. Hailing from Glawgow with a truly unique genre bending style of their own that fuse midwest emo with folk punk, pop punk, power pop, and a dash of screamo flair blended into anything else that strikes their mood, which includes the entire kitchen sink and even a quick little classic rock jam (see bridge of “Scattershot Desires” at 2:03) on their 2025 EP Ramona's Lonely.
Inspired by a wide arrange of artists including everything from Jeff Rosenstock to awakebutstillinbed, Weatherday and Weezer, Cheramona is avowed as “self therapy disguised as music”. Cheramona showcase DIY music as more than just a political statement and movement, taking DIY beyond just a community and common collective, Cheramona aims to elevate DIY as an artistic progression that not only challenges but also expands the norms of it’s origins and definitions.
Singer / songwriter Cherry Brennan set out in 2022 with the intent of a solo project for Cheramona and a full length album. The guitarist / singer faced a plethora of challenges both musically and personally from her initial inception of the project and through the trials and tribulations faced, Cherry has ended up with a beautiful full band and a wildly inventive EP that debuted in July of 2025 titled Ramona's Lonely. Being the visionary for not only the visual art of the group, but also the main songwriter, Cherry expanded beyond the solo project by enlisting two of her closest friends with Matthew Duncan as the drummer, and Heather Cook as the bands bassist. “They’re two of my best friends and they’re the perfect rhythm section for the music I’m trying to make”.
So with no real clear way to box in this art, and no ‘one size fits all’ label to slap onto the band name, with no exact genre to define this fusion style, I ask Cherry of her inspirations that shaped the cutting edge style of Cheramona. “Too many bands influenced these songs! It’s an eclectic project for a reason… In terms of overall influences, Bomb The Music Industry/Jeff Rosenstock, early Weezer, awakebutstillinbed, Weatherday and The Brave Little Abacus matter the most to me. To me, they prove that there’s a connection between Power Pop and Midwest Emo that I’m keen to explore as much as possible.”
“These bands also have a really strong narrative element to their music, which I wished emo could do more often. I’m also inspired by a lot of japanese rock music, especially Number Girl and The Pillows, Inspiration Pending and Scattershot Desires are my attempts to replicate both bands styles respectively. The impact that the Scottish emo scene has had on me though can’t be understated, Hey Lonely Planet and My Rushmore convinced me that I could actually do an emo project in this style and have it work, and I’d be remiss to mention Knives Chau Fan Club, who have gotten me though some tough days. I wouldn’t have gotten this far if it wasn’t for my friends.”
“It’s been such a long time coming for this EP and I’m just glad it's out and we can move onto something new. I love it, it represents a hard time in my life and one of the ways that it got easier overtime. I had started writing most of these songs in 2022, just after I had left high school, and was given some autonomy I thought I would never get. Ramona’s Lonely is an EP about having your humanity taken away from you by the school system, but being able to find yourself again through art and creation. It's quite literally DIY or DIE I suppose.”
“I HOPE PEOPLE TAKE AWAY THAT IT’S OK TO MAKE DIY MUSIC THAT’S INFLUNECED BY MORE THAN JUST DIY BAND, THAT TAKE INFLUENCED FROM FILM, WRITING, VISUAL ART AND MORE”.
“I WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST AND SKEPTIC AND WE’RE ABLE TO ENGAGE WITH WORKS AS DEEPLY AND SINCERELY AS WE CAN, AND I JUST HOPE MY EP CAN ENCOURAGE A FEW PEOPLE TO VIEW DIY AS NOT JUST AN ANTI-CAPITALIST MOVEMENT, BUT A PRO-ART MOVEMENT AS WELL”.
- CHERRY BRENNAN, @CHERAMONA_DIY
Cherry gives us a track by track breakdown of the EP and tell us that self loathing, and the many ways that manifests, is a consistent subject throughout the project. “Amps at 11 is about internalising that self loathing, that the school system teaches us that we are the problems, and that we need to be fixed. Inspiration Pending hits on some religious & moral fears along with a strong artistic doubt that anything I do will come off as trite, which is what Do you get the reference is also about. Glass Shatter is about the malaise after coming home from school, feeling so tired you can’t do anything you love and feeling powerless to stop it”.
“Scattershot is the pickup, the song where I realize that my multiple disciplines might actually contribute to something cool. I talk about the ways that my art, music and writing intercept to make something cool on that song. Lastly, Hey C-Ko is kind of a mission statement for me, about finding yourself in art no matter how challenging or obscure it is. C-Ko is a character from the 1986 Anime OVA Project A-Ko, and she and A-Ko have some pretty explicit queer subtext regarding each other, which is where the chorus came about on that song.”
Keeping things as DIY as possible Cherry tells us they keep almost every detail of the release as hands on as possible. “I mixed it all in my bedroom, which I’d never done before. It was really fun! I felt like I learned a new skill or two while doing it, although I also learned I hate mastering, so I asked Nathaniel to do it and he basically saved this project.”
“I was kinda at my wits end when it came to mastering, so I’m really glad Nathaniel stepped in and helped fully realize this project. He did an amazing job”. With the EP now finally out the future of the band is hopeful and bright and the creative process for new music has already begun Cherry tells us, “I want to release an album and have it be analyzed and critically discussed. I like the kind of reach that awakebutstillinbed and The Brave Little Abacus have for that reason, small enough to keep it DIY but large enough that enough people can find their music and discuss it as art. I’ve started writing some new songs and we’ve played a few live, and everyone always says how much they love the new songs, so I’m pretty optimistic about our future.”
Cherry leaves our interview with some closing words for the readers with a message that again goes beyond the music. “If you’re a trans woman, please keep coming to shows and start bands. Fascism is here in the UK, and it's a scary time to say the least. I don’t have the solutions to save the world but I know that community will be the thing that gets us through it, and if there's anything us as trans women need more than anything it's human connection.”
Ramona's Lonely EP is coming out on cassette through Hunk Of Plastic Records on (????). In the meantime waiting for that drop be sure to catch them live at The Audio Lounge this December 5th with some excellent shoegaze bands and catch the Cheramona acoustic set this upcoming November 24th in Glasgow at the Beech Avenue Social Club. Be sure to also follow their bandcamp linked below to check their tunes and stay locked in for the bands upcoming release in 2026!
Cheramona is Cherry Brennan on guitar and vocals, Heather Cook on bass, and Matthew Duncan on the drums.
Follow them on bandcamp here : Cheramona
Writer : @just_reidz
Editor : @garevthistle
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