Alicia Dove is a professional dancer and is a member of the all-girl dance group, Cherry Bombs, created in 2013.

Dove, a former cheerleader for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, ditched dancing to pop music for metal. Along with the six other “Darlings of Rock & Roll,” have started to make a big name for themselves, touring with artists like Yelawolf, Buckcherry, and Saving Abel, and appearing at the 73rd annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD, in 2014.

According to a press release, Cherry Bombs “are a pack of strong, sexy, rebellious women who don’t have a problem giving their fans the middle finger and telling them they’ll like it. Daredevil aerial stunts, fire arts, acrobatics, and intricate dance choreography make their show something never to forget, and their strategy of ‘breaking the rules’ has proven to grab attention and keep it.”

The group embarks on their biggest tour yet opening for Stone Sour and Steel Panther later this fall. The tour will have a stop in Niagara Falls, New York, at the Rapids Theatre on Wednesday, October 4.

While on tour, the group will be accepting nonperishable food items for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Those who donate will get 10 percent off merchandise. Cherry Bombs plan on delivering all donations to the local food banks of Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, when they reach those locations on their tour.

Dove recently interviewed with The Record and talked about the unique path she took from a cheerleader in the NFL to a rock and roll dancer.

Q is questions asked or response, A is Alicia Dove’s answer

Q: This is a big upcoming tour you have. What do you think about it?

A: I think it’s phenomenal, I’m excited. It’s certainly the biggest tour I’ve ever done. Stone Sour is absolutely killing it with their new album, number one everywhere, and Steel Panther is a stand alone act on their own, they’re definitely something to see and watch. It’s entirely a fun show as it is, so so excited to be a part of this, extremely grateful. It’s just the coolest package I’ve ever seen. I’m ready for it.

Q: I’m stoked about this tour, too. I heard you were a former NFL cheerleader. You don’t mind me asking which team did you used to cheer for?

A: I used to cheer for the Atlanta Falcons. I don’t want to talk about the Super Bowl.

Q: What’s it like being a cheerleader in the NFL?

A: What’s it like? It’s great, fun, it’s cool. It gives you a lot of opportunities to do things that you otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to do. For instance, I was able to travel to Kuwait and perform for the troops out there, and in Djibouti as well, and then Curaçao, and do really cool things like visit hospitals and try to put smiles on all the children’s’ faces there and reach out to underprivileged children in the schools and just really make in impact in the community. I think it was probably the coolest part of being a cheerleader for an organization like [the NFL.] And you know, dancing in a football stadium filled with 80,000 screaming fans ain’t so bad either.

Q: So what made you make the switch from cheerleader to Cherry Bombs?

A: I did not want to dance to another Katy Perry song ever again.

Q: *laughs* Understandable.

A: So I was like if I do this one more time, I’m gonna lose my f*****g mind. That’s the big part of it, but really that’s kinda just saying that I wanted to keep performing professionally. I just wanted to do it my way. I’m really passionate about rock music and metal music and I wanted to create a group that was like the Pussycat Dolls meets Cirque du Soleil but rock and roll all the way because to me, rock and metal is the coolest music out there, you know? Also, I wanted to do what I thought was cool and that’s why I started the Cherry Bombs.

Q: What’s your greatest touring memory so far?

A: *laughs* Gosh there’s so many of them. That’s a loaded question, too! You know, the greatest touring memory I’ve had so far was we were out with Buckcherry and Blackstone Cherry last year, and that was our very first national tour. We’re just a bunch of chicks from Atlanta, GA. We didn’t think anybody knew who the hell we were or what we did. Most of the time we showed up somewhere people think we’re go-go dancers. No disrespect to them, they just don’t get it. We were on the run with Buckcherry and Blackstone Cherry last year and we’re doing a show at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA, and before [Cherry Bombs] hit the stage, first and foremost, it’s really cool when people come to a venue and [the audience] are packed in, like, right outdoors, that’s just the most awesome thing ever. So we were going up before Buckcherry who was the headliner, and before we hit the stage, the whole crowd was chanting “Cherry Bombs! Cherry Bombs!” And we’re like, “these people know who we are?” Like how do these people know who we are? We’re in Pennsylvania. That just sent chills up and down my spine. It seems so small to someone else, but to me, that was the coolest thing ever, and that crowd was just ready to rock. They brought it the whole freaking night, man. It was so cool.

Q: That is amazing! Not to be a weird question but what is the worst touring memory you have?

A: That’s a tough one, too. Getting to tour and do what you love is really a cool, good thing. I really don’t have anything super bad. I’ve had situations where maybe I was frustrated. Everyone has a bad show once in a while, and this isn’t anything bad, it’s more embarrassing. I wear clip-in weaves, and if you don’t know what that is it’s hair extensions that clip into your hair, right? I was performing on stage and I was doing something on the floor, and my hair got caught underneath my knee and I yanked up, and my hair just completely yanked out of my head.

Q: That’s gotta hurt.

A: I don’t know if it was the adrenaline or something, I just didn’t feel it. I was more like mortified, but I had to do the whole rest of the show with a piece of, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen me but I have really bright red hair, and I had to go the rest of the show with a giant piece of red hair just in the middle of the stage for the whole rest of the night. I’m like these poor people think there’s some weird animal on this stage. I don’t know, but it’s just like “Yup!” The worst part is having to go back on the stage and pick it up and just casually walk off the stage.

Q: Is this your first time performing in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area?

A: Yes.

Q: Well I gotta tell you it’s gonna be a fantastic place. The Rapids is amazing. It’s also haunted.

A: Really?

Q: Yeah, there’s been like Ghost Adventures or Ghost Hunters that have been there, like really haunted, apparitions and such.

A: I love it! Yes! I need to find an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) machine and run around with it. That would be awesome.

Q: Who is your major influence?

A: I really really really really love Joan Jett. It’s no mistake that we’re called the Cherry Bombs, that was kind of a play off The Runaways. To me, Joan Jett just encompasses everything about rock and roll that rock and roll should be. Just unapologetic, do what I want, I don’t care what anybody thinks. If I think this is cool then I’m gonna do it and just do whatever it is you wanna do and do it organically and authentically. She’s always embodied that to me. It’s cool that she’s a really strong female. I think that rock and roll needs strong females in it, and it has many in it. But I want to be like that. Even though I’m not a musician, I want to contribute to rock and roll in my own special way and I hope to do it in a way that somebody like Joan Jett would do it. You know, just doing it her way, no questions asked, no f***s given, just go for it.