CHERRY CHEEKS –  D.O. & The Bytes – New LP

Oh shit, if this band and their spring-loaded synth-heavy noodle punk wasn’t already complete bulldookie, now they went and made a concept album, songs and stories…I tried to turn the pages at the beeps but the beeps keep beeping and I can’t keep up, shut the bleep up, a rock opera that might be inspired by a movie based on a video game, not a specific one, but just in general…maybe…who knows…I never understand what these jackasses are doing…but whatever they are doing, they need to keep doing it because they are the best are doing it, and their albums always make my heart happy, and my toes and feet and legs get jolly too…a concept album you can tap your toes to too!  It’s got lyrics you can read along to too, a lyric sheet with every album.  Dance to it once, and read along twice.  Go back and forth depending on your moods and abilities.  It’s timely and timeless, with timeless conflicts and themes, and timely with AI.  Love and marriage, the fuzz hot on your trail, I kid you not, datasets and all kinds of fun.  It’s actually terrifying because it’s a true story, or based on a true story.  The best way to get to the truth is to make shit up.  You can’t make this shit up, but Cherry Cheeks can.  And it’s scary too, when the reaper shows up.  The reaper is a jump scare, or atmospherically scary.  It’s quite cinematic, and I mean that in a nice way, if you can believe that.  That’s the amazing thing about punk rock.  The best way to get into something really scary is to make you dance and laugh to it.  It makes you want to forget about the reality of nowadays, and go back to the safety of floppy discs.  Remember when the world wide web was fun!?  I guess I don’t either.  It used to be so scary to me.  Now it’s not, and that’s the scary thing–it is!  But at least we got this.  This is fun.  Now we are talking, scary and fun, stories and sounds, the best of both worlds, eat your cake and frosting too.  While you still can!  Before they swipe the frosting from your cake, and tell you it’s still there.  (Have they done that already, and we just don’t know it?!)

(What’s really weird is I typed this and it wouldn’t save.  Then all the text disappeared.  I wanted it back so I asked the little robot head, and he said it doesn’t exist.  It never existed so you can’t get it back.  But it said you could try COMMAND/Z.  I tried, and it worked.  I told the robot head, and the robot said to switch to code to see if it’s really there.  So I did, and nothing showed.  The robot said that it doesn’t show because it doesn’t exist and never did.  I think someone (via a robot) didn’t like what I was typing so wouldn’t let it exist.  Which means Cheery Cheeks have probably discovered the truth.  So if you are reading this, know you are lucky to have seen it before it disappears again, maybe forever!)

 

Cherry Cheeks are back with their third album, and it’s a concept album! A concept album is a bold statement and The Cheeks manage to pull it off and then some.. Over the course of 14 tracks we follow our digital hero D.O as he is pursued by the evil Reapers. Their goal: to wipe his memory, but in service of who? It's a rock opera by way of a really awesome Saturday morning cartoon! Kyle Harms' song writing chops have leveled up, and this thing is nothing but hits top to bottom. It drills its way into your head! Tough when it needs to be but also oozing with pop hooks. Kyle handled everything from playing all the instruments and production, which is incredible, to the impeccable art. It’s a testament to his talent that he can pull this off without delving into the world of the hokey. The lyrics and story telling are really astounding. Nice to see a hometown kid knock it so far out the park. Grab your cereal and tune in to the world of D.O. & The Bytes. It will most likely seem very familiar. 100% TOTAL PUNK!!!!!! credits
released June 12, 2026