The importance of friendship can’t be overstated, but as the members of cheerbleederz found out in the run up to the release of their forthcoming new EP (prove me wrong), the quality, not quantity, of friendships becomes the important metric with age.

Suffering the slings and arrows of life as a young adult in an increasingly hostile feeling modern world, the London indie punk trio haven’t had the easiest ride since the release of their acclaimed 2022 debut album even in jest, but at the heart of everything, their enduring love for each other and the band has carried them through.

“Releasing that album was one of our biggest achievements,” says guitarist Kathryn Woods. “Full stop. We’re so proud of it. I think we’ve grown up a lot since then. We’ve moved cities and started different jobs, new relationships, and travelled to a lot of different places.”

Navigating a collective coming of age as they transitioned from late twenties to early thirties, the EP writing process started with the trio crying together in a practice space, “which was quite cathartic,” says Woods.

“Our personal lives have had pretty extreme periods of loss and grief, but through all this, you also get extreme feelings of hope and love, acceptance and new found appreciation,” drummer Phoebe Cross continues. “I think we’ve had a tough realisation that sometimes things don’t work out how you thought they would, or things happen that you never even anticipated. But you keep going anyway, because what choice do you have? We are at the mercy of cosmic forces and there’s nothing you can really control. I’m sure our sadness informed the record in many ways we might not even be aware of. It certainly made us give less of a fuck!”

An open challenge to their detractors and the oppressive systems that often conspire against them, the EP’s title is all about “writing music together for ourselves, and pushing back against expectations other people have of us as a band of three people who aren’t cis men,” says Woods. “There’s also the fact that recording and releasing music together feels like we’ve already beat the odds. We’ve managed to come together and create despite what’s going on in our personal lives.”

A collection of songs about taking control of your own life and letting go of friendships that don’t serve you anymore, musically prove me wrong feels like a more assured and confident iteration of the cheerbleederz formula. Whilst some of the familiar hallmarks of their songwriting remain, every time the band write together, “we learn more about ourselves and our dynamic as a group,” says Woods. “We get more confident and it becomes easier to try something risky or be a bit more vulnerable.”

“There have definitely been individual experiences in the last year with friendships that have been harmful, where a difficult change was needed,” says Phoebe of the themes on the EP. “I think there’s also the sense of things getting more serious. Everything—friendships, relationships, our relationship to our health and our bodies, work and other passions—has accelerated so quickly and we wanted to write songs that captured that kind of urgency. “

Lead single ‘i deserved better’ carries all the zippy familiarity of cheerbleederz of old, but plays with a lyric-free chorus that opts instead for melodic emotional expression to capture a moment.

“I don’t like to force lyrics if they don’t feel right,” says Woods. “When I  wrote the demo those chorus sounds came to me, and I think they work well against the word-vomit verses. I like that we harmonise on them, too. It elevates it and says a lot without using language. “Boasting a varied array of musical tastes and influences between members, cheerbleederz weave those disparate threads with inspiration from artists they’ve shared stages and scenes with—notably for the new record they cite the punk ethos and sound of the likes of Martha, Gladie, and Shit Present as having a direct effect on their writing as well as their other projects and people they surround themselves with.

Working once more with long-term collaborator and Phoebe’s Happy Accidents bandmate Rich Mandell (FRESH, Supermilk) on production duties, the EP was recorded in the live room at The Bookhouse Studio and Mandell’s new studio space in the same building in Bermondsey, London.

“He understands our ethos and what we’re about as a band,” says Woods of their working relationship. “We want to uplift ourselves and whoever listens to our music by writing songs and playing shows. Our songs are about depression, anxiety, alienation—basically all these hopeless, difficult feelings, but we want to push our friendship to the forefront and make something that’s ultimately hopeful.”

“We all have such strong personalities and distinctive playing styles, but somehow it works really well as a band. Rich knows all of this and is really sensitive to small things that can push the song in the right direction. He’ll often have a sudden idea for a melody or a technique like playing something backwards or doubling vocals at key moments. He knows when to bring the harmonies in or when to let one vocal stand alone. He’s got great instinct and so much technical skill and experience. It’s a dream. We’re very lucky.”

Filled with euphoric moments of shared togetherness in those recording sessions, the band admit to being shocked at quite how easily the new material seemed to come together.

“Songwriting and recording is always a challenge but it felt like there was such joy in this process, and moments where we pushed ourselves and kind of played in the space,” says Woods. “Plus, there’s something infinitely funny about screaming ‘BEEP BEEP’ into a mic.”

Whilst they may have been taking some time out from cheerbleederz, the trio are individually never far away from a creative project, variously appearing in the line ups of Fresh, ME REX, Felicette, and Happy Accidents, to name but a few of their endeavours, it’s the closeness of cheerbleederz, though, that seems to nourish them most.

“I think cheerbleederz is more collaborative than any of our other products,” muses Woods on the band’s enduring appeal for the three, amidst all of life’s other distractions. “Every part of our band is thought over together, there is no one person making the majority of the creative decisions. I think we feel less defined by our own sound than we do in our other bands, which leads to more risk-tasking.”

Aside from the tight-knit interpersonal relationships within the band, the wider DIY community that cheerbleederz are deeply embedded in has been just as much a salve for the trio—indeed, that indefatigable ethos of mutual respect and a rising tide lifting all ships has carried more than one or two bright young groups of musicians through dark times.

Woods elucidates: “It’s hugely important. Playing with like-minded bands and helping each other out with shows, driving around, crashing on sofas overnight, and sharing gear means that we can actually play all over the UK and abroad. With the rising wave of fascism in the UK, there’s less compassion for difference in the media. There’s less tolerance for art as a valid form of self expression. We want queer people and artists to feel like they have a home with us.”

To celebrate their return to the embrace of the community they hold so dear, the band have already announced a short run of UK headline dates for September 2025 at some of the country’s finest DIY venues to showcase the new material, as well as a November support with scene pals LAKES.