Cheekface isn’t kidding on ‘If I Catch on Fire Please Put Me Out’

If you caught on fire, what would you want someone to do? Maybe…help out a bit?

That’s the baseline sentiment of “If I Catch on Fire Please Put Me Out,” the wacky and uber-catchy new song from L.A. indie-rock trio Cheekface.

Formed in 2017, Cheekface is guitarist and lead singer Greg Katz, bassist and singer Amanda Tannen, and drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards. Calling themselves “America’s local band,” a self-depracating dig at their less-than-mainstream status, they’ve nonetheless managed to build a solid reputation for themselves, including releasing a handful of acclaimed indie albums, among them 2022’s Too Much to Ask.

That year proved to be a busy one for the band, though, as they quickly followed that with a live album as well as an EP of B-sides they call Don’t Ask. And it’s on the latter that we find the band’s new single that we’ve been spinning, “If I Catch on Fire Please Put Me Out.”

“If I Catch on Fire” is playful, good-natured, and upbeat, centered around a driving punk-rock rhythm and Katz’s deadpan speak-sing vocals – a sound and style that brings to mind artists like Stephen Malkmus, the Fall, the Minutemen, and the Dead Milkmen.

“I got a soul made of whole-grain mustard/I’m not normal, I’m unflustered”

The lyrics are goofy, smart-alecky, and come at you from all angles – but they’re also weirdly sing-along-able.

If I catch on fire, please put mе out

If I get wet, pleasе dry me off

If I have a heart attack, please give me CPR

And continue the compressions ’til the ambulance arrives

what if cheekface had a perfume and it was called why do i smell so weird

— america's local band cheekface (@cheekfaceREAL) January 9, 2023

Cheekface may have a sassypants attitude, but as Katz explains, the bandmembers are more often than not making fun of themselves. “No one else is the punchline of these lyrics, even if you recognize some of the characters in the songs,” he says. “If me and Mandy are poking fun at anyone, it’s us.”

Cheekface is on tour this spring across the U.S., and they play Denver’s Globe Hall on April 8.

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