Meet Alicia Dove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Dove.

Alicia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I cheered for the Atlanta Falcons from 2010 to 2013. When I retired my pom-poms, I decided that I wanted to continue to perform, but in my own unique way, and to the music I have a passion for: rocknroll. Most of my friends thought I was crazy for this idea: a rocknroll sort of Pussycat Dolls and Cirque du Soleil troupe? Okay, Alicia. It was a tough road in the beginning, and it still sort of is, but since I began, word spread fast about a daredevil group of empowering women that weren’t afraid to push their limits physically and in their performances. We branched out and are starting to make our mark on the live music industry, having completed two national tours (Buckcherry and Black Stone Cherry, Stone Sour and Steel Panther) and continue to tour on our own nationally today. We went from a small group that was known in Atlanta, to expanding to Las Vegas, NV while still continuing to perform nationwide and hopefully worldwide. I am very lucky to have a coast-to-coast roster, with performers that still reside in Atlanta – who I utilize when we perform on the east coast, and now ladies on the west coast! It’s been a wild ride, indeed.

Has it been a smooth road?
In my personal opinion, I don’t think there are ANY smooth roads when it comes to progress and building a brand worth having. In the beginning, the hardest thing was convincing people to take a chance on me and my idea. Getting members to trust that what I had for a vision was going to be worth their time, energy, and dedication, and getting clients to book us and trust that we would deliver a show as they had never seen before. Once word of mouth started gaining traction, it got easier in that regard. Today, being a woman in the “man’s world” of the music industry is definitely my greatest obstacle. Proving ourselves to earn the respect we want as we carve our own path in an industry that doesn’t typically work with dancers or performers of our kind is another. But a challenge never scared me, it only fuels my fire for wanting to break boundaries and conquer them to progress my brand. I welcome it!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Cherry Bombs – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Cherry Bombs is rocknroll visual experience that features dance, cirque arts like fire arts, aerial arts, pole dancing, singing, stunts, and so so much more. Our shows are constantly changing with the skills of our performers and is unlike anything most audiences have ever seen before. We take pride in pushing the limit when it comes to our specialty acts and stunts, namely the fire arts and aerial arts! There are many other “rock burlesque” troupes, but no other dance group like ours has broken the barrier into the national touring and rock music industry as we have. We are continuously thinking of new ways to wow our audiences and new skills to achieve, to give a truly unique experience at our shows. We love having our crowds on the edge of their seats wondering what will come next: maybe it’s two giant bullwhips that are set on fire, or maybe it’s suspending one of the ladies from over 30ft in the air before she drops? Maybe we set one of our aerial apparatuses on fire while it’s in the air? My pride is in the show and the limitless possibilities that my wonderful performers allow me to conjure up. I couldn’t do half the things in my head if they didn’t trust me, and I’m forever grateful for that. I’d like to think the thing that sets us apart from the others groups is our philosophy of the “Girl Gang,” where we, as a team and as individuals, thoroughly believe in uplifting one another and supporting everyone around us in the pursuit of their own happiness, dreams, and goals. Too often, we are surrounded by negativity and excluding behavior, and us forming a positive Girl Gang is our answer to battling that. So not only are the ladies complete badasses in their own right, but I’d say they’re pretty nice, too.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Atlanta gave me a shot to create this crazy idea, and I’m not sure if it would have worked anywhere else. While the rock music market isn’t incredibly strong there, there are pockets that we thrived in, namely the Harley-Davidson dealerships around the state. I can’t help but to think because what we do is so “different” for that area, it caught on quick and increased in demand with each passing year. Unfortunately, after a while, our popularity grew larger outside of the city (and state), and I had a tough time finding the level of talent that I was looking for, coupled with performers who had a passion for rock music, and so it was time to head to Las Vegas. Atlanta was good to me while I was there, and I’ll forever be grateful for that, but the conservative attitudes that seem to dominate the area weren’t really cohesive with what I was trying to build. Other than that, the traffic was absolutely atrocious.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cherrybombs.co
• Email: booking@cherrybombs.co
• Instagram: @cherrybombsofficial
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cherrybombsofficial
• Twitter: @cherrybombsrock

Image Credit:
Danny Virchow, Lisa Bohm, Axel Iron Photography, Lacerta Photo, New Music Inferno, Courtney Ware Photography, Matthew Hurley Photography

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