Derry pop-punks CHERYM have released their third single this year, 'We're Just Friends', and announced their new EP Hey Tori, which is set to be released on September 30th.

The new single comes with a vibrant, retro-style animated video, the work of AJ Mawhinney, drummer for fellow Northern Irish punks Gender Chores. Watch it below.

Drummer Alannagh says the song started as a joke between her and her girlfriend; "My girlfriend would always be like 'when are you gonna write a song about me?' And I just was like, 'right, you want a song about you? I'll give you a song!'"

"There is a wee bit of irony in the title because in most wlw (woman-loving-woman) relationships—or any non-heteronormative relationships—people will always presume you’re ‘just friends’ so that’s where the idea came from."

The song also touches on relationships from the other band members Hannah and Nyree as well, as the trio started writing their songs more collaboratively over lockdown.

"Normally Hannah would've took the main lead," explains Nyree. "But whenever Covid hit, we had all the spare time and we were like, what if we try something different. So because we couldn't come together a lot with Covid, we just started writing by ourselves, and then bringing it to the table, to see how everybody was feeling, like could we add anything to this and make it Cherym? And that's how all the songs on the EP have worked out. You can see the difference between Hannah's songs and Alannagh's and they're all fuckin great. It's just class to see our style coming through."

Cherym have also recently announced dates for their first ever UK tour in October 2021 with cheerbleederz, with tickets on sale now.

Starting out as a kick-back against the local music scene boys club, the trio's relentless enthusiasm and boundless energy are the perfect antidote to the drudgery of life under lockdown—a very, very bright shining light for 2021 at the end of what’s been a long tunnel.

Hey Tori is released 30th September 2021 on Alcopop! Records. Watch the video for 'We're Just Friends' below.