New York Rock Band Cell Reunites With Long-Awaited Single And Video For “Free People”

New York-based rock band Cell is excited to announce the release of a brand-new single, “Free People.” This long-awaited track has origins tracking back over 30 years. Written in the 1990s during the band’s heyday, “Free People” was played live a few times, but it was never recorded until now. The band-created music video has one foot in the 1990s and one in the present day, pairing up decades-old tour footage with the new recording. “Free People” is streaming now on YouTube, Bandcamp and all digital platforms.

To celebrate the release, Cell will be performing two special shows in New York. The band will be playing at DromFest in the Catskills from August 30 to September 1 and will follow up with a performance at The Mercury Lounge on September 3.

Formed in 1990, Cell was a prominent fixture in the New York rock scene, releasing two acclaimed full-length LPs and several singles and EPs on the DGC subsidiary of Geffen Records, as well as a single on Ecstatic Peace. Despite a debut LP that sold over 70,000 copies and a tour history with notable acts like Pavement and Sonic Youth, the band’s journey came to an abrupt end in 1995, a casualty of the music industry’s shifting dynamics.

Cell’s lineup includes singer-guitarists Ian James and Jerry DiRienzo, drummer Keith Nealy—formerly a guitar tech for Sonic Youth—and bassist David Motamed (ex-Das Damen). Known for their densely textured guitar layers and post-punk influences, Cell’s sound has often drawn comparisons to Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. Their 1992 debut, Slo-Blo, was followed by the more Living Room in 1994, produced by John Agnello (Buffalo Tom, Jay Farrar, Steve Wynn). Living Room displayed more nuances than its predecessor did; the dense blare of the preceding album was sculpted into more supple arrangements this time around, with the guitars landing somewhere in Crazy Horse territor Following Cell’s dissolution, DiRienzo formed Ugly Beauty, which released Sweetness in 1997.