The Unamused Kraken

Minimum half hour setup time and half hour teardown time. I carry setlists with me to take requests from, or I can play from a subset of my list. I also have original music.

Over the past five years, The Unamused Kraken has grown from a simple singer-songwriter solo act to a foot-stomping, harp-blowing, guitar-slapping song machine. Sole member Cherylyn Geers has spent nearly a decade honing her songwriting skills, and keeps adding to her musical arsenal: she now plays not only guitar and harmonica, but also percussion (cajon and tambourine) operated by foot pedals. All these instruments can be heard in their simultaneous glory on her upcoming second independently released album, "Songs for Roaming Vagabonds".

In addition, The Unamused Kraken is easily recognized by her signature style: she is often told that she was born 40 years too late, and one look at the instantly recognizable singer-songwriter will take you back to the heyday of hippies. Her songs transcend time, generally focusing on peace, love, and spirals of existential thoughts pondering the meaning of life.

Her first album, "Starlight & Cicadas", is available on Bandcamp, both digitally and on CDs with hand-crafted packaging. Since its release, The Unamused Kraken has performed as an opening act for several touring artists, which inspired her to set up her own short tour: so in the fall of 2014, she traveled to Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis to busk and play shows and open mics. In 2015, she spent six weeks on the road, with a route that included fourteen cities; among them were New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Nashville, along with her increasingly frequent stops of Indianapolis and Chicago.

Back at home, The Unamused Kraken has taken her solo act to local and regional venues including the Flying Pig Marathon, Taffy's of Eaton, and the Southgate House Revival, filled in as host of a local open mic at Trailside Cafe, and performed in the Day & Night Music Festival in Cleveland. She also spent a year and a half appearing five to six nights per week at open mics throughout the area: Wunderbar, Crow's Nest, Sam Ash, HD Beans and Brews, and Taffy’s. The local musicians at these events constantly influence her technique and lyrics, and build on her initial patchwork of inspirations ranging from alternative and classic rock to folk singer-songwriters of the 60s and 70s.

The Unamused Kraken's original music draws comparisons to artists like Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, and lyrics are often the first part of her compositional process. This literary approach is evident in the name she chose, which originates from a sentence in the novel "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: "The kraken is not amused." The moniker arose shortly after she began writing full songs, though her lifelong love of words led to composing occasional fragments of songs before dedicating herself to the art in 2008

A year and a half later, she started teaching herself guitar in order to accompany her lyrics as she sang. Now, after six years with the instrument, her latest inspiration comes from fingerstyle guitarists like Andy McKee and Jon Gomm. She also started experimenting with banjo three years ago, and has now been playing harmonica for over two years. But it was the most recent addition of foot-operated percussion, consisting of a cajon and tambourine, that completed her act. After spending the majority her life thus far dreaming of becoming a musician, The Unamused Kraken is now diving headfirst into that reality.

I have my own PA system, so all I need is an outlet and space to set up!