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full decade ago, ex-Runaways
frontfox Cherie Currie began work
on Blvds of Splendor with former
Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer
Matt Sorum producing. But a funny thing
happened on the way to the glam-rock
forum. “The plan was to get it done and get
it out there,” she says of the set, which fea-
tures high-caliber cameos from Billy Corgan
(the title track), Slash and Duff McKagan
(“Mr. X”), and — on a rollicking rendition of
her old outfit’s classic “Queens of Noise” —
Juliette Lewis, Brody Dalle, and The
Veronicas. “But life happened — what can I
say?” First, veteran knob-twiddler Thom
Panunzio was recruited to tweak the mixes.
Then, her old Svengali Kim Fowley — who
was dying from cancer — reached out to
her collaborate on one final record, Reverie,
in 2015.
Next, Fanny percussionist Brie Darling
opted to track a duets disc with Currie (last
8 illinoisentertainer.com may 2020
year's "The Motivator"), and somewhere
along the way, she also fell 12 feet from a
chainsaw-carving scaffold, resulting in par-
tial face paralysis that lasted nearly a year.
Now, finally, courtesy of her old bandmate
Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records, “Blvds” is
hitting the street. “It seemed like now was a
good time for it to come out,” she observes.
“Because here we are, in the middle of a
pandemic, with the world shut down, and
there’s new music for people to listen to.
And it’s a great record.”
Cherie Currie
IE: So how are you doing in Southern
California?
CHERIE CURRIE: I’ve got my son Jake
(Hays, with ex-husband, actor Robert Hays)
with me. He lost his house — it burned
05•2020
down in the wildfires, and he ended up
renting a condo about 35 miles away. Then
all of a sudden, he came home while I was
touring, and he said, “You know, mom, I
kind of like this!” And I had wanted him
home so bad. So he moved in, re-did the
back room, put his studio in, and now he’s
got a real home that ain’t going anywhere.
So it’s just great to have him here.
IE: Are you addicted to Netflix yet?
CC: I don’t watch Netflix. Jake has it In his
room, but I don’t have Netflix. I just watch
paranormal, caught-on-camera stuff, ghost
adventures or The Good Doctor — that kind
of fun stuff. But hey — I don’t have any
spare time. I’m a chainsaw artist!
IE: Do you have a barn-sized workshop or
what?
CC: No, I actually don’t I carve at the side of
my house. I’m in a residential neighbor-
hood, but I’ve carved something for just
about everybody around me. But the thing
is, I have always been very thoughtful in
terms of not starting before 10 a.m., and I
never work on Sundays, never, ever. And if
I hear a party or something start, I stop
immediately. But most of the people work,
so it’s never bothered them. I’ve been carv-
ing here at my house since The Runaways
movie went into production in 2009. So I
just walk out my door and I’ve got my little
carving spot, and away I go.
IE: And you have a new film coming, too
— Spirit Riser?
CC: Oh, my God — yeah. It was the very
first time in my life I had a pretty devastat-
ing accident. I broke my tailbone, put on a
lot of weight, and I was tipping back the