The Cheap City Cultural Ambassadors (CCCA) are a group of musicians tasked by Mayor Amanda Thompson with expanding the globe’s cultural understanding of Cheap City. CCCA is primarily led by Brendan Blendell, Cody Gagen, Greg Nahabedian, and Paul Schmelz, but have been joined or aided by James Ikeda, Katherine Parker (credited at Katherine Fuller), Tori Stowell (credited as Tori Caruso), Tony Batey, June Violet Aino, Shannon Williams, Jeff Bartell, Boy Nirvana, Blue Wallick, Julia Scalera, Jarryd Conz, Jill Ross, James J. Dormer Schneider, and Dan Thorn.
HISTORY
2018
In the summer of 2018 the band Dérive was on tour when their van broke down on the outskirts of Cheap City. After spending three days at The Garbage Head Inn, the four members (Greg Nahabedian, Brendan Blendell, Paul DeGrandpre, and Paul Schmelz) decided to leave their lives in New England and live in Cheap City. The Cheap City Department of Labor assisted in Dérive finding jobs. Nahabedian was assigned, to public health, Blendell to city planning, and Schmelz to public safety. DeGrandpre was given a job as a long haul fisherman, but he was lost at sea.
Simultaneously, Mayor Amanda Thompson developed a program to raise awareness of Cheap City around the globe. Citing the world’s general refusal to acknowledge Cheap City as an independent city-state within the USA, as well as its lack of knowledge of the city’s diverse selection of both candy stores, junk yards, and dance halls, Thompson initiated a city wide search for musicians to create “audio documentaries for public consumption.” Schmelz was hired first, when a city employee heard him practicing guitar solos in an alleyway. Schmelz recommended Cody Gagen, who he had met at Cheap City Records, to join the project. Schmelz quickly brought on Nahabedian and Blendell. Despite the four members initial requests for more performers, Thompson required the group to produce their first album by the end of the year.
The four settled on creating a work that explored the folk-terrorist Nervous Ashers and the downfall of the Cheap City Clock Corporation, and released an eight song album in September called Clocktower Broke. The release of Clocktower Broke was followed by performances in New England, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Montreal.
2019
In the early months of 2019 the CCCA began recording Rats And Rascals, the first of what Nahabedian described as an anthology album. Speaking to the Cheap City Gazette, “Cheap City will release an album every 18 months, and an EP every 9 months in between. We will also release one single per month. Albums will alternate between straight narrative and anthology albums - as in collections of different stories from Cheap City.” Nahabedian began to refer to this as the CCCA Doctrine, a decree that the ambassadors have yet to stay on schedule with.
Rats And Rascals was released in April of 2019 as a precursor to an extended tour of the American mid-west and east coast. Rats And Rascals was followed by a remix of the single The Pierre Boulez Memorial Discotheque. Not long after, the CCCA documented Cheap City’s latest dance craze, “The Pitchfork,” with the single Do The Pitchfork.
In August of 2019 the CCCA recorded Tanked For Jupiter along with the single Welcome To Lizardville. Tanked For Jupiter told the story of Cheap City’s space race to Jupiter, specifically from the point of view of one of the first long haul truckers to travel from Earth to Jupiter. Welcome to Lizardville is an audio documentary about the Lizardville neighborhood of Cheap City.
Tanked For Jupiter was released in December, following a two week tour including performances in Toronto and Ottawa. For the live event the CCCA was joined by Tori Stowell, Boy Nirvana, James Ikeda, Jarryd Conz, Tony Batey, and June Violet Aino.
2020
The CCCA started 2020 by releasing Tanked For Jupiter - Live, a video and live album from the Tanked For Jupiter release show. As the COVID-19 pandemic began, the CCCA released Junkluggers, a single about Cheap City’s trash pick up system, intended as a PSA for new residents unfamiliar with trash pick up dates. Junkluggers was followed by Stompin’ At The Swamp, a single recorded remotely during Cheap City’s quarantine protocols. In wake of canceled tours and recording dates, the CCCA recorded From The Diary of Raymond Wessex Pt. 1 for the 7x7” compilation.