Those in attendance at New Jersey’s Chiller Theatre expo were treated to a reunion of Runaways’ members Cherie Currie and Lita Ford with Marky Ramone of The Ramones. Life of Agony’s Alan Robert joined Currie, Ford, and Ramone onstage, and the quartet rocked out to a Runaways’ classic – Cherry Bomb.
The Runaways in 1976. Back Row (L-R): Lita Ford, Sandy West, & Jackie Fox. Front (L-R): Cherie Currie & Joan Jett
This is the second time that Currie and Ford have played together in recent years. They teamed up to play Cherry Bomb in October 2013 at the sixth annual Malibu Music Awards, which marked the first time they’d performed together in thirty-seven years. And last fall, they recorded a holiday single called, “Rock this Christmas Down”. The single was released on iTunes in December 2013, and is significant because it is the first time Currie and Ford have recorded new music together since 1977, according to Blabbermouth.
Fans of the Runaway’s will notice founding two members – who were featured in the 2010 Hollywood bio-pic starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, The Runaways – have been absent from the classic lineup during these mini-reunions over the years. Sandy West, the band’s drummer, passed away on October 21, 2006, following a long battle with lung cancer. And, what about guitarist and vocalist Joan Jett?
In an interview with Metal-Rules.com (via Blabbermouth), Ford addressed the subject of a full Runaway’s reunion saying, “Well, Cherie and I talk all the time. We’re all for it both of us. You know, I’m friends with Vicki [Blue, bass] and I’m friends with Jackie [Fox, the original bass player]. Of course, Sandy [West, drums], unfortunately, is not around, but Joan is the only missing link.”
Jett, Currie, and Ford have reunited offstage – as recently as this past April. The three were photographed together backstage at the Revolver Golden God Awards, where Jett became the first woman to receive the award, according to Blabbermouth.
The punk-meets-hard rock song, “Cherry Bomb” – the band’s first major hit – was originally released as a single in 1976, and later on their self titled debut released that same year. It is also the first song Jett and the band’s manager, Kim Fowley, had written together. “Cherry Bomb” was written specifically as Currie’s audition piece since the band did not like the song she’d originally chosen to sing – Suzie Quatro’s Fever, according to her autobiography Neon Angel.
The video that emerged of Ford and Currie from the Chiller Theatre expo is shot from the audience on Ford’s side of the stage.
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