Cheekface has returned with “Hard Mode.” The trio includes Greg Katz, bassist Amanda Tannen, and drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards.” The band released their 4th LP, It’s Sorted, last January, and will be touring North America in 2025, with stops in Nashville, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto and more.

Vocalist/guitarist Greg Katz says: “”Hard Mode” is about growth and how fucking awkward it is, and it’s about growth’s younger sibling self-awareness, which is not the same as growth, and twice as awkward. The phrase ‘living life on hard mode’ is something our touring keyboard player AJ likes to say when he does something that makes a routine task needlessly difficult, like reaching for something in a clumsy way when you could just ask someone to hand it to you.

I guess being in a band is a pretty hard-mode activity in general. I think the start of this musical idea was us wanting to do a dance song with a skittering hi-hat beat. Mandy came up with the super syncopated bassline and then I added the chunky guitar riff that became the chorus. It started as a really short song idea, maybe just 2 minutes long. But once the three of us started to learn it, we were having fun with the groove and wanted it to just keep going, so we stretched it out with the instrumental section.”

He continues. “This song also has an outro, which I don’t know if we’ve ever had in a song before––usually they just end. But we were touring this year with Yungatita and their song ‘Pick at Your Face’ has a really nifty outro. After hearing it every night for a month we were duly inspired.”

Cheekface 2025 Tour Dates

1/23/2025 – Winnipeg, MB – The Park Theatre
1/25/2025 – Edmonton, AB – The Starlite Room
4/3/2025 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah
4/4/2025 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
4/5/2025 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
4/7/2025 – Oklahoma City, OK – Resonant Head
4/8/2025 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues Cambridge
4/9/2025 – Austin, TX – The Ballroom Inside
4/11/2025 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall Up
4/12/2025 – New Orleans, LA – Chickie Wah Wah
4/14/2025 – Orlando, FL – The Social
4/15/2025 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar
4/16/2025 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade Purgatory
4/18/2025 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
4/19/2025 – Asheville, NC – Eulogy
4/20/2025 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle Back Room
4/21/2025 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall
4/23/2025 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
4/24/2025 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry
4/25/2025 – New York, NY – Elsewhere Hall
5/3/2025 – Boston, MA – The Sinclair
5/4/2025 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground Showcase
5/6/2025 – Syracuse, NY – The Song & Dance
5/7/2025 – Toronto, ON – The Axis Club
5/9/2025 – Pittsburgh, PA – Bottlerocket
5/10/2025 – Columbus, OH – Rumba Cafe
5/11/2025 – Detroit, MI – El Club
5/13/2025 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
5/14/2025 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
5/15/2025 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
5/17/2025 – St Louis. MO – Blueberry Hill Duck Room
5/19/2025 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
5/21/2025 – Boise, ID – The Shredder
5/23/2025 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
5/24/2025 – Vancouver, BC – Wise Hall
5/25/2025 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
5/27/2025 – San Fransisco, CA – The Independent
5/29/2025 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent

order tickets for Cheekface HERE