Get familiar with Charlie Gradon, we predict you’ll be hearing from him a lot over the coming months.
You may have seen Sydney-based musician Charlie Gradon around town playing drums and singing in the formidable psych-rock force, Turtle Skull. You probably aren’t aware, however, that his talents extend far beyond the humble drum kit (no disrespect drummers out there), and today we can present the evidence, with his debut single ‘Double Rainbow/Colour Blind.’
The track is taken from Charlie’s forthcoming EP Self Doubt, which is an enchanting collection of songs that sounds more like something you would expect from an artist’s third or fourth record, rather than their debut. Soaring melodies and beautiful harmonies stick out on the EP that flirts with folk, indie, and rock genres, and is glued together by Charlie’s insightful lyricism and unique voice.
You can catch Charlie Gradon performing tomorrow night at Folkswagon in Surry Hills (info here), and check out our interview with him below:
Your debut is titled Self Doubt can you tell us why you called it that?
Self doubt is probably my biggest undoing, this record sounded a lot better about six months ago, but I couldn’t stop touching it.
Where was it recorded?
In my studio at home.
Tell us about your setup?
It’s really nothing special. Some nice pre’s, an RME Babyface interface. Sometimes Ableton, sometimes Logic, sometimes my Tascam Porta One and a heavy dose of chaos, leads, guitars, pedals everywhere.
Who played on the EP?
It’s just me, start to finish except for the dark and art of mastering. These tunes were recorded very privately with no real plan for showing anyone, but I shared it with a couple of friends and they gave great feedback which spurred me on to get a release going.
There’s a lot of different flavours on the EP from folk, to 50’s rock and roll, to slacker rock. What sort of music influenced the writing of the record?
At the time I was listening to a lot of Radiohead, and Bob Dylan. I was inspired by Tame Impala and Sydney’s Brightness. Seeing them both release great homemade records made me believe in what I was doing.
There’s some philosophical moments lyrically on Self Doubt, it nearly feels like a coming age record. Is lyric writing a cathartic practice for you?
Absolutely. I’m a bit of an obsessive writer, for me it’s my tool for making sense of the world, and processing emotion. I seem to inadvertently soundtrack stages of my life.
What are you most excited about people hearing on the EP? Is there any tracks that you think sum up Charlie Gradon’s sound?
Well the record will be out hopefully around November, so until then ‘Double Rainbow’ will have to do! I wrote and recorded it in one night when I got pulled over and received a massive fine for stuffing up my rego. That pretty much sums me up.
Where do you see yourself heading musically in the future?
The second album is mastered and ready, I just gotta get this one off my chest first. I had Dan Frizza from Turtle Skull come and help me record it at home, and we finished it up at his studio in Coogee.
People may know you as the drummer from Turtle Skull, are you looking forward to getting out from behind the kit and throwing some shapes?
I’ve been songwriting way longer than I’ve been playing the drums, and I gigged a lot in the folk scene a couple years back. I always wanted to play drums in a band but there was always someone a little better than me in the room! For me singing is where I feel the most, it’s definitely not my strongest asset, but yeah, an instrument inside is a special thing.
