Illinois Entertainer July 2019 | Page 8

Cheri i e e & Br immediately to drummer/vocalist Brie Darling (nee Howard) who had been run- ning a profitable cake-making business on the side. Quickly realizing how well their voices complemented each other, the pair not only became fast friends but resolved to track a duets album together. Out gonna stop me from recording with this gal because I was truly finished with this business. And it took her to bring me back.” IE: Brie, were you at all creeped out by Cherie’s overwhelming adulation? BRIE DARLING: You know what? I was not creeped out. But it was different. There’s not a lot of people in this business who are that openly appreciative of what you do, you know? And that’s what Cherie does. It’s uncommon to meet someone so open about how much she loved my voice on our (Fanny) record. And that’s what I love about her — she’s really supportive and unique, and that’s an interesting way to work. Now we get to talk about how cool each other is instead of just talking about ourselves, Killing Joke 07•2019 August 2, it’s dubbed The Motivator, after the funky T Rex classic they perform, alongside eight other covers, like “Get Together,” and three originals, “Too Bruised,” “This is Our Time,” and “I’m Too Good, That’s Just Too Bad.” Plans are already in the works for a followup, lean- ing heavily on their own compositions this time. Currie almost followed through on her twin-cabin plot, but she swears that Darling’s voice was so majestic, it stopped her in her tracks. “And to actually work with Brie? I mean, how could I not?” She adds. “So there was nothing that was 8 illinoisentertainer.com july 2019 and that’s a great thing. It was hard to get used to, but we got used to it. And now I love it, and I get to tell her how much I love what she does. She just has a special quality that’s hard to describe, and she brings something to the table, to the recordings, that no one else can do. You know when she’s singing, and that’s a very important quality. You can’t learn it, and you can’t create that if you don’t have it to start with. And she’s got it in spades. So we’re just each other’s biggest fans. IE: Cherie, you had no real plans to make another album, right? Photo: Cory Parks CHERIE CURRIE: No, I was finished. Like I said, I was heading to the moun- tains to build my cabins and do my chain- saw carving. And I wanted to buy what- ever I needed outright after selling my house and be done with it all. And that’s the beauty of this record that Brie and I made. And not only the record, but the journey that we went on. Because I had no hope. No hope before I met her ever to make music again. I did not want to tour again, and I was sick and tired of being asked if there was going to be a Runaways reunion, because I always had to turn