Cheekface is a rock combo from Los Angeles made up of guitarist and singing person Greg Katz, bassist and other singing person Amanda Tannen (formerly of stellastarr*), and drummer Mark Echo Edwards.
The group's songs, characterized by Katz's talk-singing, are typically short and lyrics-driven with a dry sense of… Read moreShow less
Cheekface is a rock combo from Los Angeles made up of guitarist and singing person Greg Katz, bassist and other singing person Amanda Tannen (formerly of stellastarr*), and drummer Mark Echo Edwards.
The group's songs, characterized by Katz's talk-singing, are typically short and lyrics-driven with a dry sense of humor and tend to share a thematic interest in anxiety and sociopolitical unease. Inspired by the great American talk-singers like Jonathan Richman, Stephen Malkmus and Lou Reed, and British indie rock bands like Wire and The Fall, Cheekface released their first single "Glendale" in 2018. Indie Shuffle lauded the song as "an art-pop gem."
Katz and Tannen then wrote what would become the group's breakout single, "Dry Heat/Nice Town", based on their experience attending the 2017 Women's March. After releasing several more singles on Bandcamp over the course of 2018, including "Sexy National Anthem" and "I Only Say I'm Sorry When I'm Wrong Now", the band released their first album, Therapy Island, in March 2019.
In January 2021, the band released its second album, Emphatically No., followed by an EP of B-sides from that record, titled Emphatically Mo'. Emphatically No. was listed as one of Paste's 40 best rock albums of 2021. In August 2022, after teasing the album to fans via postcards, the band released their third album Too Much to Ask. Following it up three months later with another EP of B-sides entitled Don't Ask.
The band continued to release singles in 2023, beginning in January with "The Fringe". In December of that year, Cheekface announced a 2024 tour of the US and Canada, and followed this up with the surprise release of their fourth album, It's Sorted, in January 2024. A B-Sides EP for It's Sorted, titled Sort Of, was released later that year. After releasing three more singles in the latter half of 2024 and beginning of 2025, their fifth album, Middle Spoon, was released on February 25th, 2025.
Cheekface fashions itself as "America's Local Band" in reference to obscure music projects that are locally beloved but do not reach listeners outside of their music scenes. The band's music is released on Katz's New Professor Music label, with album artwork by Tannen. Cheekface's fans call themselves Cheek Freaks, analogous to Deadheads, fans of the Grateful Dead.
