Cheekface Return with “The Fringe”: Watch the Lyric Video

Cheekface found plenty of critical acclaim since forming in 2017—at least as far as this publication is concerned. Paste named their 2021 album Emphatically No one of the best rock albums of that year, and their follow-up Too Much To Ask was one of our Best Albums of 2022.

Now the Los Angeles band returns with a new single, “The Fringe,” that questions, in that tongue-in-Cheekface way, what success really means. “Success is cringe,” Greg Katz sings, “I want to be on the fringe.”

The frontman for a trio that calls itself “America’s Local Band” goes on to talk-sing about “carving massive nudes out of cold mayonnaise” and an art gallery showing of the “personal history of my runny nose,” skewering the more ridiculous elements of avant garde and the band’s own striving for success, all while he and his bandmates Amanda Tannen (bass) and Mark Edwards (drums) play catchy power-pop-punk that begs for repeat listens.

“Even if you don’t think you’re knowingly capitulating to the demands of later capitalism, success in your career or field kind of feels like selling out,” Katz says in the song’s press release. “Like, work, or art, or whatever feels somehow more authentic, or just better, if other people don’t like it, or if you’re failing. And maybe it feels like a badge of honor to just reject success altogether, and because of that, there’s maybe an impulse to self-sabotage, like, to do things on purpose that you know will not succeed. Also, this song has a nice guitar solo in my opinion, although I am biased, because I played it.”

Cheekface tour dates:
3/12 Tucson, AZ @ Groundworks
3/15 Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/16 Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/17 Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/18 Ft. Worth, TX @ Southside Spillover
3/20 Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5
3/21 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Back Room
3/22 Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
3/24 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
3/25 Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
3/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club
3/29 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
3/31 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB
4/1 Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
4/2 Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary Detroit
4/4 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
4/5 Indianapolis, IN @ The Hi-Fi
4/6 St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
4/8 Denver, CO @ Globe Hall