After being the frontman for the pop-jazz-alt-rock band Honeyboys for five years, Ari Eisenberg faced a crossroad. While his three bandmates prepared to pursue engineering careers after graduating from Cal Poly, Eisenberg, who had already stayed in San Luis Obispo longer than planned to keep the group going, felt it was time to focus on new music and make the move to Los Angeles.
That transition marked the beginning of Cherry Blonde, Eisenberg’s solo project that he sees as a dedication to the former band. “I knew I didn’t want to keep Honeyboys going without them,” he says. “Cherry Blonde is just my continuation of the music.” He describes Cherry Blonde as channeling “boundless energy and raw emotion into genre-defying sound, fusing indie, folk, R&B, and electronic textures with a nostalgic 2000’s pop heart and a bold 2020’s edge.”
Eisenberg has been connected to music since his childhood. Originally from Napa, he began playing violin at age three and later started writing songs and performing around the Bay Area as a teenager. That’s where he met guitarist Anthony Capetto, and the two formed a duo before joining forces with Capetto’s alt-rock band, Secure the Sun, and performing all around Oakland.
By the time Eisenberg began attending Cal Poly, he shifted to music production, and experimented with a hip-hop solo project. Even after that project led to opening for rapper Blueface at the Fremont, Eisenberg realized he missed being part of a band.
“It was a really fun show. But I also remember after that show I was like, I really want a band again,” he says. “The hip-hop scene is not really the world for me.”
After joining the Music Production Union in his sophomore year at Cal Poly, he was introduced to another student from Boston who would become the guitarist for Honeyboys.
“I invited him over to my place, we recorded a song and wrote it, and then we started a band, pretty much,” Eisenberg says.
Honeyboys released its first song just weeks into the COVID pandemic, spending those early years as what Eisenberg calls an “internet band.” Once things started opening up again, the band performed at the Downtown SLO Farmer’s Market once a month, at house shows, and at almost every venue in SLO.
The transition to house shows was a learning process for the band, one that prepared Eisenberg as an individual artist.
“We were the ones who started just throwing house shows,” he says. “I have all the gear now, and I know the process of how to run a house show successfully through lots of trial and error.”
Toward the end of Honeyboys, momentum was building. The band began working with a booking agent and manager and was offered several support tours. However, the long-term commitment required to pursue those opportunities didn’t align with where everyone was in their lives.
“The boys just, like, didn’t want to take them,” Eisenberg says. “They wanted to get real jobs, which is super fair, but all I’ve ever wanted to do is music.”
Ready to fully commit to music, Eisenberg turned to a project he had already been developing in LA with Capetto. What began as making new music during Eisenberg’s monthly trips eventually became Cherry Blonde once he made the move full-time.
Eisenberg went live with his new project using connections he made during his time with Honeyboys. Even after the group stopped performing, he continued managing the band’s social media, redirecting show inquiries to Cherry Blonde.
“I ended up kind of getting a little jump start with a couple of really cool shows from that,” Eisenberg says.
With Cherry Blonde’s first release, Eisenberg included his own twist, describing his first extended play, “Freak Funk,” as a mix of “raunchy” and “light-hearted,” specifically within the lyrics. “It was a little weird, and probably made some people feel uncomfortable, but I think other people really loved it,” Eisenberg says.
After years of writing and performing songs about love and heartbreak, he felt it was time to “do something a little different to stand out amongst all these indie artists.”
Since bringing Cherry Blonde to LA, Eisenberg has shifted his focus toward recording and collaborating with a range of local producers, while expanding the project through music videos and more live performances.
“I was excited about the new music that I was creating,” Eisenberg says. “I really just wanted to play them live with public shows on the horizon. I think that’s really what keeps me going.”
Still, Eisenberg finds himself returning to the scene that shaped him as an artist: San Luis Obispo. Through connections built during his time with Honeyboys, Cherry Blonde has returned numerous times for performances.
Moving from SLO to LA was not an easy transition for the singer, so much so that this experience inspired his recent debut album, “Picnic.” Released on November 7, it reflects his post-graduate life and the emotions around ending a relationship.
“Just like the feelings of moving from SLO to LA . . . There’s not a ton of structure for me, and just struggling with that,” Eisenberg says. “I had this relationship in SLO, and I was still kind of dealing with a lot of those emotions, and I feel like ‘Picnic’ kind of put a wrap on that. I kind of want to tell people that love is worth it.”
Eisenberg describes his album as bringing in a variety of songs and genres centered on rock alternative, while mixing in some funk and soul.
Since the album’s release, listeners have connected to the album in their own unique ways. Eisenberg has received messages and calls from fans, sharing which songs resonated with them the most. “I love that everyone has a different favorite, which is cool,” Eisenberg says. “That means a lot to me that it’s not just like one song.”
There are clear signals that Cherry Blonde has a growing and devoted audience. Eisenberg says he has amassed 20,000 Instagram followers, more than 290,000 streams, and 80,000 listeners over the last year.
For the new year, Cherry Blonde is focused on collaborating with other artists, being featured on new tracks, and potentially opening for other musicians. “That’s what I’m hoping to do,” Eisenberg says. “I’m really excited for the future.”