Interview with Charlie Drown
WTFCO would like to thank Charlie Drown for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to whenthefreakscomeout.com.
WTFCO asks: What attracted you to this style of music? Did you like this style when you were younger and if so, who did you listen to?
Charlie Drown: When I was younger I was actually really into punk and electronic stuff. The exploited, DRI, Iggy Pop, Bowie, Black Flag, Sex Pistols, etc. And then I got into a lot of the electronic rock stuff like Gary Numan, Nina Hagen, Lori Anderson, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, NIN, etc. I really did not listen to a lot of metal and in fact because of the influence of my father I tended to listen to a lot of classic rock. My musical ideas just sort of come out metal or what I like to call aggressive, for whatever reason. As well, most of the guitar players I have worked with are very metal, I actually prefer them that way as they can play all those tight little grooves that I hear when I am writing. The good ones anyway.
WTFCO asks: How did you come up with your name?
Charlie Drown: It is simply a derivative of the name which I ended up with in life. It is quite metaphorical though. I used to read a lot and whenever I would get to a passage where "charlie" was drowning to save someone else, It was always impacting. I honestly feel that whenever I am around water I may drown in it.
WTFCO asks: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Charlie Drown: Reigning myself in so that I stay within a certain sound. I have very eclectic taste so I tend to always be coming in and out of different genres, but I have learned how I can still manage to play around with many things and still retain myself within different ideas and perhaps genres completely, it is hard at times though.
WTFCO asks: What advice would you give to new musicians just starting out?
Charlie Drown: Personally, I would hate to be just starting in this world. But then again, I always feel like I am. Every year, things change but I am always still under the radar and I suppose I have become fine with that. I would not wish the plight of "getting famous" in this day and age on my worse enemy! Well, maybe my worse enemy...
But as for advice, do music because it does something for YOU! Fuck everyone else. If you are fortunate to pick up a few diehard adoring fans along the way, be happy with that. And I am not saying, do not shoot for the stars! I am merely suggesting a safe and sane way to enjoy what you do by doing it for yourself.
WTFCO asks: How long have you been performing live?
Charlie Drown: I have been playing shows now for a long while, in many different projects. When I started playing live with this Charlie thing it was after I had already finished my first album. 2001
WTFCO asks: My favorite song is Painkiller Lullaby, how did this song come about?
Charlie Drown: It came about when I was working in the studio with Sascha on Pretty Machine Gun. I had a song available, he hated it and said, "go home tonight and get something else". I went home that night, sequenced out and wrote Painkiller Lullaby. I decided crying about it was not going to make anyone happy. And trust me, being in the studio surrounded by torture stuff, cages and bloody dolls... it was easy to become inspired in a very dark sense. Sascha helped in the process the next day when we recorded it and put it together, he was an amazing producer, hearing my lyrical ideas, he honed me into a tight dreamscape process where I was free to portray a charcter, I do believe that was what made that song work.
WTFCO asks: Are there any projects that you have recently finished? Are there any you have in the near future for us to watch out for?
Charlie Drown: I am working on my 4th album, Theta Rhythm . I did some music that is on my sister khaos profile on My Space, just as a little breather. I should also have some new music videos available on YouTube soon.
WTFCO asks: How do you feel about being considered a female Marilyn Manson?
Charlie Drown: Hmmm. I have heard some say this and it is quite alright with me even when it is in a bashing scenario.
WTFCO asks: Where do you feel the music business is heading? How much do you think it has changed since you became a musician?
Charlie Drown: I am not going to even pretend that I know and to be quite honest, I do not really care. I started doing music as an escape and that is where I like it to be, my Fantasy Land. Life is what you make it. I have always been a musician, in one form or another... and not a lot has changed around me, it is I that have changed. The more I learn, the more fun I have. I often feel like I never left school, (the good parts of school) and I am always a kid in a candy store whenever there is a new piece of gear around me. I tend to forget their is a "music world" out there and I just enjoy myself and the few people who have attached themselves to me through this thing I share.
WTFCO asks: My final question, What scares Charlie Drown?
Charlie Drown: And because I love the art of music and lyrics so much I will answer this with a song:
"Time In A Bottle"
(As recorded by Jim Croce)
JIM CROCE
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again I would spend them with you.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go thru time with.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the mem'ry of how
They were answered by you.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go thru time with.
(c) Copyright 1971 by Blendingwell Music, Inc. For U.S.A. & Canada:
(c) Copyright 1971 by Blindingwell Music, Inc. and Wingate Music
Corp. c/o Publishers' Licensing Corporation, 40 West 55th Street,
New York, N.Y. 10019.
- SONG HITS, Summer 1974.
WTFCO asks: What attracted you to this style of music? Did you like this style when you were younger and if so, who did you listen to?
Charlie Drown: When I was younger I was actually really into punk and electronic stuff. The exploited, DRI, Iggy Pop, Bowie, Black Flag, Sex Pistols, etc. And then I got into a lot of the electronic rock stuff like Gary Numan, Nina Hagen, Lori Anderson, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, NIN, etc. I really did not listen to a lot of metal and in fact because of the influence of my father I tended to listen to a lot of classic rock. My musical ideas just sort of come out metal or what I like to call aggressive, for whatever reason. As well, most of the guitar players I have worked with are very metal, I actually prefer them that way as they can play all those tight little grooves that I hear when I am writing. The good ones anyway.
WTFCO asks: How did you come up with your name?
Charlie Drown: It is simply a derivative of the name which I ended up with in life. It is quite metaphorical though. I used to read a lot and whenever I would get to a passage where "charlie" was drowning to save someone else, It was always impacting. I honestly feel that whenever I am around water I may drown in it.
WTFCO asks: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Charlie Drown: Reigning myself in so that I stay within a certain sound. I have very eclectic taste so I tend to always be coming in and out of different genres, but I have learned how I can still manage to play around with many things and still retain myself within different ideas and perhaps genres completely, it is hard at times though.
WTFCO asks: What advice would you give to new musicians just starting out?
Charlie Drown: Personally, I would hate to be just starting in this world. But then again, I always feel like I am. Every year, things change but I am always still under the radar and I suppose I have become fine with that. I would not wish the plight of "getting famous" in this day and age on my worse enemy! Well, maybe my worse enemy...
But as for advice, do music because it does something for YOU! Fuck everyone else. If you are fortunate to pick up a few diehard adoring fans along the way, be happy with that. And I am not saying, do not shoot for the stars! I am merely suggesting a safe and sane way to enjoy what you do by doing it for yourself.
WTFCO asks: How long have you been performing live?
Charlie Drown: I have been playing shows now for a long while, in many different projects. When I started playing live with this Charlie thing it was after I had already finished my first album. 2001
WTFCO asks: My favorite song is Painkiller Lullaby, how did this song come about?
Charlie Drown: It came about when I was working in the studio with Sascha on Pretty Machine Gun. I had a song available, he hated it and said, "go home tonight and get something else". I went home that night, sequenced out and wrote Painkiller Lullaby. I decided crying about it was not going to make anyone happy. And trust me, being in the studio surrounded by torture stuff, cages and bloody dolls... it was easy to become inspired in a very dark sense. Sascha helped in the process the next day when we recorded it and put it together, he was an amazing producer, hearing my lyrical ideas, he honed me into a tight dreamscape process where I was free to portray a charcter, I do believe that was what made that song work.
WTFCO asks: Are there any projects that you have recently finished? Are there any you have in the near future for us to watch out for?
Charlie Drown: I am working on my 4th album, Theta Rhythm . I did some music that is on my sister khaos profile on My Space, just as a little breather. I should also have some new music videos available on YouTube soon.
WTFCO asks: How do you feel about being considered a female Marilyn Manson?
Charlie Drown: Hmmm. I have heard some say this and it is quite alright with me even when it is in a bashing scenario.
WTFCO asks: Where do you feel the music business is heading? How much do you think it has changed since you became a musician?
Charlie Drown: I am not going to even pretend that I know and to be quite honest, I do not really care. I started doing music as an escape and that is where I like it to be, my Fantasy Land. Life is what you make it. I have always been a musician, in one form or another... and not a lot has changed around me, it is I that have changed. The more I learn, the more fun I have. I often feel like I never left school, (the good parts of school) and I am always a kid in a candy store whenever there is a new piece of gear around me. I tend to forget their is a "music world" out there and I just enjoy myself and the few people who have attached themselves to me through this thing I share.
WTFCO asks: My final question, What scares Charlie Drown?
Charlie Drown: And because I love the art of music and lyrics so much I will answer this with a song:
"Time In A Bottle"
(As recorded by Jim Croce)
JIM CROCE
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again I would spend them with you.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go thru time with.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the mem'ry of how
They were answered by you.
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go thru time with.
(c) Copyright 1971 by Blendingwell Music, Inc. For U.S.A. & Canada:
(c) Copyright 1971 by Blindingwell Music, Inc. and Wingate Music
Corp. c/o Publishers' Licensing Corporation, 40 West 55th Street,
New York, N.Y. 10019.
- SONG HITS, Summer 1974.
CHARLIEDROWN.COM
