The shows are part of a New York City mini-vacation for the popular Canadian band and their fans. They'll be spending a total of four days and three nights in the area. Everybody will be travelling on a chartered coach bus with three nights hotel lodging and tickets to the shows included in the deal. It's a great way for a band to experience playing in new areas as they'll be playing both in front of their own fans and guaranteeing the club owner a good draw. More bands should consider doing things like this!
For the founding members of Cherry Suede (Randy Young and Randy Scott), the idea of playing in Asbury Park was not merely due to its proximity to New York City. Both musicians are fans of Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen and looking forward to seeing where those artists got their start.
Cherry Suede's music leans a bit more on the Bon Jovi 80s vibe than the Springsteen side, but fans of 80s music in general will definitely enjoy this band and Cherry Suede makes no apologies for their love of the 80s.
"I still think that it (80s music) eclipses a lot of the stuff that's coming out now," said Randy Young. "I can count the bands on probably one hand that came out of the 90s that will be truly legacy acts. I don't really see people looking back in ten years and saying "remember that hit from the 90s? It's a classic" the same way you have something like "Livin' On A Prayer." If you look back at the early 80s, every second record was moving 10-15 million units. Things like Joshua Tree, Slippery When Wet, Born In The U.S.A., Purple Rain - that's all in a matter of a few years and every single song on those records is fantastic!"
Cherry Suede has been plugging away and building their audience in Canada for the last 8 years. Their debut record was released last year with the followup scheduled for 2008. They took a long time to get to this point but it's all gone pretty much to plan.
"We didn't want to cut any corners," said Young. "At the end of the day when this is all said and done songwriting is really our focus. We want to write the best songs we possibly can and we wanted to take the time to develop our craft together and then work with the people we wanted to work with in the places we wanted to work. That's why we did some recording in Los Angeles, some in New York, and mixed in New Jersey. We wanted to source out to people who we thought would add to what we're trying to achieve and that took time."
Some of the musicians on the record include several artists they met during their time in Los Angeles including bassist Eric Holden (Josh Groban, Bodeans, Five for Fighting), drummer Craig MacIntyre (Josh Groban, Vertical Horizon), and pianist Zachary Provost (Josh Groban).
Ironically, the band's name actually came from when they moved to California. Randy Young and Randy Scott had done a few demos and wanted to build a live band so they moved out to Los Angeles for about a year, but the move was anything but eventful.
"We ended up down there and all of our equipment and everything was delayed several weeks," said Young. "We literally were living in an empty room apartment. We started talking to some of the neighbors and ended up getting pieces of stuff donated to us. One was a somewhat ratty pillow. It was made of a suede-like material and it was red. We figured it was a little symbolic of the way the band was starting."
On the band's website, they describe their music as "capturing the fun and optimism of the 80s without the spandex and hair" and that's a pretty good way of putting it. Their music has been compared to that of Eddie Money, which I would agree with. It's a very melodic, pop/rock kind of sound and definitely upbeat.
"I like a bit of the escapism," says Young. "You put on something like 'Jessie's Girl' and you don't take it very seriously, but it's just really fun. I would hope that that comes across in our stuff. That's what we're really trying to go for.
"I mean when you listen to someone like Journey, the song writing was fantastic; the playing for the most part was fantastic. I guess you have to cut through a bit of the image which dated it."
Cherry Suede started out in Montreal but moved to Ottawa after realizing they weren't fitting in too well with the Montreal scene. Arcade Fire thrusted Montreal on to the national spotlight, and spawned numerous Arcade Fire clone bands while doing so.
"It's a beautiful city, it's just not my music," said Young. "It's a little too eclectic for us. Us being what has traditionally been mainstream, we don't tend to be welcomed with open arms there."
Ottawa, meanwhile, has taken to the band. According to Young, Ottawa not only has a healthy music scene but is crawling with live music every night of the week through a rather large concentration of clubs for a city of its size (roughly one million people or so).
Now that the Looney is worth as much or more than the U.S. dollar, the band hopes to both enjoy their stay in the States and also have this be the first of many such trips.
For more information visit http://www.cherrysuede.com
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
