chokecherry Casts a Spell Over the Zebulon

November 15th, 2025 – Los Angeles, CA

chokecherry – comprised of Izzie Clark (guitar/vocals) and E. Scarlett Levinson (bass/vocals) – is a San Francisco band that just dropped their debut album, Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls, via Fearless Records. Across ten tracks, they spotlighted the spectrum of human vulnerability, from tenderness to rage, rendered as powerful femme rock which pulled from their roots in S.F.’s music scene – from dreamy shoegaze to hollering punk rebellion. In L.A., the release weekend had them performing at the Zebulon, the intimate bar and venue nestled away in the neighborhood of Silverlake, which was brisk with wind and rain that night.

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to interview chokecherry, gaining insight into the album before it dropped and getting a feel for the duo’s dynamic. Levinson was bubbling with extroversion whereas Clark was more reserved, yet incredibly eloquent – and they both allowed room for each other’s interpretations, which explained why the pairing worked so well together. They delved into S.F.’s house show scene, album themes and specifics from their artistic vision, some of which I was able to pick up on during their performance.

Though limited, chokecherry still implemented tasteful details across the stage – clumps of red roses, a severed mannequin arm, a bronze analog phone. Red guitars, drums and cables – the color of femininity and the color of rage. Levinson and Clark themselves were adorned in mixed-and-matched outfits with some unique handmade pieces. Levinson was louder, dressed in cheetah-print tights, bold red boots and a pale dress with fishnet and flare, while Clark was more subdued in a lavender slip dress, white boots accented with silver and cherub-printed sleeves.

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

From their outfits, to their album art and music videos (half of which Clark co-directed), chokecherry had a sense of meticulousness to their creativity, making it clear that both members were artists beyond just the music. “I think that [for] a lot of our visuals, we really shoot for the moon and see where we end up – and if you shoot really big, you usually end up somewhere incredible,” Levinson shared about their mixed media cover art which overflowed with details of fruit, flowers, skulls and more. “[…] And I think that with ripe fruit, and the colors and vibrancy that you would see in that – then the idea of something rotting, falling, youth wasted – there are all sorts of visual identities and signifiers there, but there is something kind of gaudy and wasteful and opulent and over-the-top about it.”

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

Onstage, the pair tossed their hair as they played their instruments, with Levinson sometimes leaning back-to-back against touring guitarist Jack Lillian or shooting knowing smiles in Clark’s direction. Against the backdrop of fuzzed-out guitars, Levinson and Clark’s ethereal vocals alternated, then intermingled seamlessly as they led the crowd through Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls, performing singles like the softly yearning “Goldmine” and acerbic “Major Threat,” along with newer tracks like “Porcelain Warrior,” which opened both the set and overall album.

“Porcelain Warrior,” which also dropped as a music video on release night, depicted a symbolic faceoff against a shadowed patriarchal oppressor, with Clark describing its significance against the backdrop of the Trump Administration. “The lyric is, ‘keep dancing in your flames,’ like, I’ll keep my joy amidst this destruction because you’re never going to take that,” she shared. “And I kind of think that is the essence of the album. It is grieving and it is really angry in a lot of moments. But at the end of the day, it’s like, ‘[expletive] you’. We’re gonna have our freedoms anyway. We’re gonna, like, build the New World without you.

“I think music in general has such a powerful way of connecting us […] and I think that community is the number one thing that fascist governments try to dismantle and undermine. And just the more that we can build community – whether it’s through art, through shows, through supporting your local musicians and building networks – the stronger we become and the less susceptible we are to fascism.”

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

As if magnetized by chokecherry’s confidence and causes, the room was packed with young adults – a likely combination of Levinson and Clark’s industry friends, supporters of the local scene and frequenters specific to the Zebulon’s experimental rock shows. After reverently soaking in the title track “Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls,” the room swelled with a riot as the band performed a hardcore take on “Milkshake” by Kelis, then finally “Glass Jaw,” the single that launched them into the spotlight back in 2023. For that track, which drew influences from ‘90s grunge and shoegaze, chokecherry was joined by their friends who danced and sang in a euphoric high.

True to their word, community was key in both chokecherry’s history and the purpose of their art – why they exist, and what they continue existing for. Something that struck me the most was how confident both members were in the Bay Area music scene that built them up along with countless of their peers. Levinson rattled off specific names – who she didn’t know well, who she was friends with, who just released an amazing project and who she listened to on-repeat while writing her college thesis amidst three sleepless days. 7-11 Jesus. Pork Belly. Clark’s other band, Thank You Come Again. Starzdust and Town Bully and Dim Aura and Swell Foop. Pure Hex, from the East Bay, who was opening just for the California release shows.

“I will say, I think this new scene of Bay Area music, and the rock scene, is being pioneered by women. It’s really sick,” Levinson shared. “Like all of the bands we’re seeing that are doing really well, most of them are femme-led or have women in them, and it’s awesome. What I was gonna say is, like, if you don’t have diversity on your lineup, you’re just [expletive] lazy because clearly it exists.”

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

Even as an opener, it was apparent that Pure Hex was special. Frontwoman Marta Alvarez crouched in a long lace dress and silver shawl, then rose to her feet as the band stirred up atmospheric distortion, her arms drifting through the air. As their most popular track “Still Dark” submerged that dim room in the lull of shoegaze and dream pop, audience members hastily stowed their phones away. Accompanied by the shimmering lead guitar, Alvarez’s captivating vocals shone through the reverb like moonlight glimpsed in darkness. Toward the end of Pure Hex’s set, and in a move so natural, the energy transformed from dreamy to frenzied as Alvarez briefly joined the circle pit that jostled across the floor.

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

Prior to Pure Hex, L.A. local J-MONT, the solo project of Julian Montano, took the stage. Especially for the first performance, there was already a good turnout, with the community easily harboring shared respect for those that chokecherry respected too. J-MONT’s sound leaned heavier with apparent toe-tapping punk influences, and he exhibited remarkable comfort onstage as he danced, briefly contextualized his songs and interacted with the crowd.

Photography by Carissa Leong (IG: @carissalphoto.cr2)

Right before the interview drew to a close, I hit chokecherry with something heavily existential. “A large theme of your album is wrestling with the unattainability of imagined futures. What would the alternate versions of yourselves be up to now, if you weren’t pursuing your music project?”

Both Levinson and Clark were silent for a moment, their minds veering off along different untrodden paths.

Eventually, Clark said, “I feel like I would probably be doing a lot of visual art, because I used to do a lot of painting before I got into music and also maybe acting. I don’t know. I feel like we – Scarlett and I – would definitely both be doing some sort of art, but I don’t know, what would we be doing?”

“That is a really amazing question. That’s one of my favorite questions we’ve ever been asked,” Levinson put in. “I think we would both be doing artistic things – we both have always done it, no matter what, throughout our whole lives. […] From the time we were very young, I danced and you drew. So I think art would still be a really prevalent part of our lives. But, I don’t know. I think I probably would have, like, succumbed to the pressure of going to grad school or tried to run a marathon.”

“I could totally see either you’re on Broadway or the head of Amnesty International.”

“I was supposed to work for the NRC doing anti-human trafficking stuff,” continued Levinson, following Clark’s train of thought. “I was at school, then COVID hit, so I didn’t end up doing that, but I think I would have probably ended up going to law school and dropping out. Quite frankly, I don’t think I would have made it, but I don’t really know. I think that no matter what, we would both still be making art, which is a cool, cool takeaway, but Broadway would be so funny. I would love that.

“Yeah, I morbidly was gonna be like, ‘dead’, and I’m like, ‘no, it also isn’t true,’” Levinson added with a laugh. “You know what I mean? I think that one of the things with the imagined futures question too, is the things that are possible given the state of the world right now, and the things that you think about for yourself can be different. Or what you might have, or could have, or would have done differently if you had other options.”

Regardless of these heavy hypotheticals, Izzie Clark and E. Scarlett Levinson seemed content with this timeline – the one where they live surrounded by art and music, and have just released their devastatingly relatable debut album as chokecherry. This timeline, where they just closed out a successful show at the Zebulon, and will continue to build their community across the U.S. as they tour into December.