Cutting Edge

CUTTING EDGE is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, CA and Tucson, AZ. As of 2011, they are still recording and making concert appearances. THE BEGINNING: D.C.SHUFFLE Cutting Edge was formed by Liza Pesnell "Leli", William Zimmerman and David Pesnell in 1997 for the sole purpose of recording a funny song about the politicians doing a dance step called the "D.C. Shuffle". Upon completion of the song and having dance re-mixes completed, the song was distributed to 500 various people in the music business and friends as Christmas presents.

THE BEGINNING: D.C.SHUFFLE

Cutting Edge was formed by Liza Pesnell "Leli", William Zimmerman and David Pesnell in 1997 for the sole purpose of recording a funny song about the politicians doing a dance step called the "D.C. Shuffle". Upon completion of the song and having dance re-mixes completed, the song was distributed to 500 various people in the music business and friends as Christmas presents. Unintended by the three members of Cutting Edge, the song exploded on the dance charts across the United States, college radio stations requested the song, which they were happy to supply and before anyone new, the song was a hit at college radio stations and hit several dance charts at Number 1.

THE ALBUM: HUMONGOUSLY YOURS

The success of the song, "D.C. Shuffle" caught everyone by surprise and after a couple of months of discussions, while the song was still charting, they decided to do an album to see what would happen. William Zimmerman and Liza Pesnell started writing songs for the band while David Pesnell formed a record label called Thunder Quest Records and they lined up their own publishing company called Magenta Rose Publishing. The success of the album, called "Humongously Yours" stunned everyone with the project. The first release, "Without You" soared up the R&R AC and POP charts to number 16, while songs like "It's Time", "Judas of D.C." and "Abuse of Power scored on the rock charts. The biggest surprise was a song called "Love Police" that hit number 20 in the U.S. and charted for over a year, a feat that only Cutting Edge as an indie band has every accomplished. Another success of the album was that college radio stations seemed to embrace the band's "in your face protest songs" as the band received college radio play for over a year. Cutting Edge did a limited concert tour that year.

THE ALBUM: THE BIG 14 N' MORE

The Big 14 N' More continued the success of the band and exposed them to international markets. The biggest success for the band was the song "Every Time I Try" that hit Number 1 in the international commercial radio (Europe, Asia and Australia), but also the song hit Number 6 in the U.S. commercial radio market, while the album did well at college radio. The Big 14 N' More also featured the songs "Goliath" and "D.C., Why Can't You See" carrying over the protest songs of the band, while at the same time the band broke into other veins with the ballads "Your Love Is My Oxygen", "Losing You" and "Every Time I Try". Other songs included "Venomous Love Affair", "Our Life Is Like A Motion Picture" and "Humongously Yours".

THE ALBUM: CENSORED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

Censored By The U.S Government took the band in a different direction. The album was designed for the college radio market and consisted of songs that could be described as "in your face rock" with the band going towards a harder edge to their music. While songs like "F - - - The IRS", "Puppet of The Beast" and "She Wore Red" gave a fun paced rock sound with heavy guitar emphasis, the album also had a ballad called "Will Work For Food", a ballad about the hunger problem in the United States. Another interest aspect of the album is that they included a dance remix of the song "F - - - The IRS" by remixer, Ricky Ric. The album did well at college radio stations.

THE ALBUM: CUTTING EDGE RELEASED....ALIVE!

Cutting Edge Released....Alive! is a new album of live recordings from Cutting Edge concert dates and is being released to college radio stations in the fall of 2011 and the band is also releasing new material to commercial radio stations at the same time. The album consist of songs "Love Police", "It's Time", "Judas of D.C.", "If The Walls Could Talk", "Our Life Is Like A Motion Picture", "Without You" and others. Cutting Edge has also released some of these songs on videos with some doing extremely well. In mid January, the band put new songs on their myspace site and averaged over 9,000 hits a day. The band's fan base is consistent and strong.

AWARDS

Cutting Edge has received several awards over the past ten years including having "Every Time I Try" being nominated for Song of the Year. The IRBI named "Without You" song of the year and Zimmerman and Liza Pesnell were IRBI songwriters of the year in 1999. "Love Police" was nominated for Song of the Year in 2001 with it's dance remix nominated as The Best Dance Remix of 2001.

CONFUSION OVER CUTTING EDGE:

One of the major problems fans of Cutting Edge have faced is at one time there were two or more bands and/or individuals calling their band or themselves Cutting Edge. The only albums at this time that this Cutting Edge has recorded are listed above and should not be confused with any other Cutting Edge band. The band of this particular article features David Pesnell, William Zimmerman and Liza Pesnell. If your looking for the Cutting Edge that has recorded the above listed albums and songs, make sure you are buying the right music from the right Cutting Edge. Several retail sites have confused some of the albums and songs of Cutting Edge with other bands and individuals that call themselves Cutting Edge. Whether you are a fan of the Cutting Edge of this article or another Cutting Edge, take a minute and make sure you are buying the right music from the band you support.