“When we put this record out I had a bet with my friend Ryan of the band Lockgroove,” says Charlene’s vocalist/guitarist Matt Mirande. “I said, ‘There’s no way people are going to call us shoegazer after hearing this record.’ I guess I was completely fucking wrong because everything has been that.”
Generally if you ask any of the “new American shoegazer bands” whether or not they consider themselves to be “shoegazer” they will give you a response akin to the diatribe Mirande is giving right now. “I have a problem trying to define the term ‘shoegazer’. I don’t understand why the Velvet Underground isn’t considered shoegazer. Or why isn’t the Jesus and Mary Chain considered shoegazer? Maybe they are now. I don’t know. What we’re most interested in is sound, texture, and writing songs that move you. To me it’s arbitrary where people draw the line on shoegazer. Also at this point there’s a really bad stigma connected with shoegazing.”
It’s the same problem over and over again for the poor bands that have been slapped with that infamous “shoegazer” label. It’s no secret that most musicians consider it a dirty word. Shoegazing is certainly a label Mirande is not too happy about when it’s used to describe his Boston based band Charlene. Comprised of Mirande, multi-instrumentalist John Rex, and drummer Ian Lawerence, the boys of Charlene are fighting the same fight that bands like Voyager One, Longwave, and The Autumns are fighting. They’re all struggling to get free of shoegazing and it’s implications.
“The shoegazer sound aesthetically we wouldn’t deny is apart of our deal. At the same time getting lumped into that just feels limiting to us,” says Rex. “We don’t see ourselves as merely that. If people get that from us then fine, but we’re going to make songs and have already made songs that are absolutely not shoegazer material at all.”
Charlene have been battling the shoegazer tag ever since they formed in 1996. Most write-ups on the band usually touch on the same comparisons: Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3, just to name a few. But the thorn in Charlene’s side isn’t necessarily these particular comparisons it’s the fact that they are only being compared to shoegazer bands. In reality Charlene are much more than a shoegazer throwback. In fact it would be more apropos to compare them to Yo La Tengo, the Velvet Underground, and even Kraftwerk, than the drug induced haze of early Ride. As a three piece Charlene create a beautiful slow drone by utilizing minimalist samples, drum loops, keyboards and those pesky guitar effects to create their own unique blend of experimental pop by way of Luna meets a spluttering Radiohead. Really it’s the guitar effects that are pigeonholing bands like Charlene, Absinthe Blind, and Phaser into the shoegazer category. Once a band starts layering those thick dreamy psychedelic guitars it’s all, ‘Kevin Shields this’ or ‘shoegazer that’.
So what’s the big deal? Why are these new bands so upset at being compared to mad geniuses Kevin Shields and Jason Pierce? It all goes back to the original shoegazer movement of the early 90’s, when the rock media backlash against shoegazing reared it’s ugly head and decimated the sound altogether. Bands like Ride and Lush were always highly praised for their authenticity and innovative use of guitar effects, but the stigma stemmed from the fact that they were using those guitar effects to hide their lack of musicianship. At least they were at the beginning. So the big question became: Are these shoegazer bands actually talented or are they just hiding the fact that they can’t really play under those loud washes of hazy effects pedals? Most critics chose the latter as the correct response and the shoegazer bands of yore began their dramatic shift away from the sound. Basically the “bad stigma” Mirande is referring to is that of shoegazer bands being no-talent-Kevin-Shields-hacks.
Charlene is not a band of lesser talent, although when asked if they are accomplished musicians Mirande says, “Fuck no dude! You’ve got to be crazy. When I buy a new keyboard the first thing I do before I play it is tape little letters to all the keys. I’m not making that up. It’s totally true. The thing I think we’ve been able to do is by building these simple layers over and over each other is hide our lack of musical skills.”
So they do have something in common with the original movement, but does that mean they are a shoegazer band? Not necessarily, although they do admit to having the sound as an influence. “Spacemen 3 was an influence early on,” says Mirande. “Now, why was I into Spacemen 3? For the same reason why a generation before us were into the Sex Pistols and the whole punk scene. It’s because these guys basically picked up these instruments and they were complete musical blockheads. Yet they still managed to conjure up this noise that was really exciting.”
“[Shoegazing] was basically emulating the whole punk ethos,” elaborates Rex. “It was, ‘we don’t know how to play it, but we love it enough to want to play it.’ Or at least try to learn.”
This is where the frustration comes in. Until now the shoegazing sound has essentially acted as a steppingstone for bands looking to hone their musical chops. 
The sound has been used almost like training wheels on a child’s first bicycle. Once a band built enough confidence in their playing they would cast off those effects pedals and move onto a more accomplished playing style (for evidence of this look no further than the careers of Ride and Lush). The deal with these new so-called shoegazer bands is they are fusing elements of the shoegazer sound with other musical ingredients like samplers, keyboards, and drum machines into a melting pot of sound. Charlene has been melding the shoegazer sound with other traditional and not-so-traditional rock instrumentation to create their own brand of music from the get go. They aren’t just a shoegazer band in the traditional sense. They never were. So stop calling them shoegazers damn it!
“There are a lot of bands right now that have that [shoegazer] influence,” comments Mirande. “But hopefully they are trying to take it to the next place and that is essentially what we are doing.”
Yet Charlene is more than just a band fighting the shoegazer stigma. In fact they are much more. Mirande, Rex, and Lawerence not only make-up the band Charlene but they also run their own independent record label (Shark Attack Records) as well as at their own studio called Dented Head Studios. “There’s basically three major aspects to us,” says Mirande. “There’s Charlene. There is Shark Attack the label. Then there is Dented Head the studio. We’ve got lots of irons in the fire and we’re definitely staying busy.”
Indeed they are. As the heads of Shark Attack Records Mirande and company have already released Charlene's self-titled debut last November to rave reviews and are slated to release two more albums by two other bands on Shark Attack later this year. Combine that with the fact they are touring over the summer as well booking Shark Attack bands to use Dented Head studio time and the Charlene boys are busy to say the least. “We try to play as much of the game as possible,” says Mirande. “So we do things like record our own records and I think they sound pretty good. We’re certainly going to get better as we keep doing it, but I think we are certainly accomplished with studio equipment. We also design all of our own packaging. The artwork and all that. At the time we started the label I just saw a lot of things going on that didn’t seem right. Maybe it’s just arrogance but I felt we could really do a lot on our own. I felt Boston lacked some kind of scene to rally behind. We didn’t feel like doing what a lot of bands have to do which is run around and attract a label and then wait for that label to care. I felt like our energy was better spent focusing first and foremost on making great music and also building something that could actually sustain itself. If we all have faith and if you’re in it for the long run and stick with the game then things are going to work out in the end. I think that’s what Shark Attack is all about. It’s about taking control of every aspect of it and that way you can make every aspect of it count.”
Mirande will be the first to tell you that getting a label off the ground is no easy task. It’s taken a few years but Shark Attack is finally starting to fulfill its founder’s dreams of actually becoming a self-sustaining entity. Mirande says he no longer has to work a day job that “takes up the majority of your waking life” and is now living off of his job at Shark Attack. “If you cut back on all the things you actually really need then yes, I am living off of it,” laughs Mirande. “You minimize your lifestyle.”
“He’s lost some weight and tightened his belt,” jokes Rex. “But he’s certainly not living off of anything else.”
So what about Charlene? It’s almost impossible to interview the Charlene boys without getting into all the other aspects of their career but this article is supposed to be about the band. The truth is as the label and the studio have grown, so has the band itself. Charlene formed in 1996 with Mirande and Rex recording on four tracks here and there. As is the case with many bands their beginnings were humble but laden with big aspirations. “John [Rex] and I came up with this idea of having a two piece band that created just walls of noise and layers of sound,” says Mirande. “It’s kind of a cheesy concept when you first start out but at the time it was really inspiring. It was basically like, ‘How loud and how sick of a sound can two people generate using samplers, guitars, organs, keyboards and whatever else we could get our hands on?’ It kind of grew from there until we realized that we needed some kind of rhythm to the songs otherwise they would be a complete mess. So we enlisted the help of this guy named Rico who played with us for a couple of shows. Then he moved to London so at our last show with Rico we just announced to the crowd, ‘Tonight is our last night with our drummer. Rico’s going to London so if anybody wants to play with us let us know.’ Ian stepped up and we just kept rolling.”
“In a sense we always wanted to make pop music that was at the same time catchy, but also dissonant and jagged around the edges,” says Rex. “Pop with barbs. It was definitely a focus on layering sound and having tons of minimalist parts going on at the same time which would then add up to this one giant sound.”
The story of Charlene’s self-titled debut is one filled with hardships and mistakes. In total it took the band more than a year to finish the album, but the record had various incarnations before it was finally complete. “Initially this album was going to be an EP,” explains Mirande. “But then we listened to the songs we had recorded for the EP an said, ‘Uhhh...no!” So we scrapped most of those songs and just kept going. It takes us awhile to do it [record]. Some of the tracks you’ll hear on the album only took us a matter of days to assemble, but there’s always one part that had to be done like a billion times to get it right. Other bands talk about going into the studio and recording everything live. We certainly don’t do that, but there is a different level of spontaneity to it. What I mean about a different level of spontaneity is when we come into the studio we are definitely improvising. There will be a part that just comes in that has a different tone or texture and then somebody plays a part over that and then another person hears that part and it triggers another idea. We basically go from there and we end up layering and essentially building the song.”
“It’s a punch for punch deal,” says Rex. “I play a note. Matt plays a note. Ian hits a drum and we keep doing that until something fucking happens.”
“Then if nothing happens we all fight,” laughs Mirande.
“Yeah,” elaborates Rex. “Sometimes we just fight for the hell of it.”
“Shirts get thrown aside,” says Mirande. “There’s lots of slapping involved.”
Jokes aside, Charlene is one of those true democratic bands. There is no principal songwriter in the group and everybody in the band pretty much plays everything (so saying that Ian Lawerence is just the drummer is simply a logistic). These guys do it all. When it comes to song writing Mirande says, “I personally am at my best when I am completely unaware of the fact that I’ve really achieved anything. I always need someone over my shoulder going, ‘Yep. We’ll take that piece and that piece. Keep going. We’ll take that piece too.’ Sometimes I just go to John and say, ‘Help. I’ve got three musical Lego blocks. Make me a house.’ I just work so much better when my conscious mind is off.”
“You’re making it sound like you need a lot booze,” says Rex.
“No, no,” counters Mirande. “It’s just best when I’m unaware of my surroundings and whatnot. Like booze. Right. Like the way booze helps.”
So there you have it. The members of Charlene are not your average Joe-rock-stars. Not by any means. These guys are not only providing their own means to record, produce, and release their own music (and the music of their friends) they are providing a foundation for their future. If more people had the balls and the know-how that Matt Mirande, John Rex, and Ian Lawerence possess then there would be no need for major label woes and independent artists and musicians would rule the world. Well, in a perfect world maybe
.
“What we’re trying to do is draw a line in the sand and say, ‘Do it yourself’,” concludes Mirande. “And people are getting behind that. For those folks that are interested in that kind of thing, hopefully, as we grow and our bands grow we can kind of lead by example and provide a path for the people who are interested in following that same path. What we’re seeing today is more and more musicians who are interested in saying, ‘we’re in it for the right reasons. We’re committed to the long haul. How are we going to make sure we can last through it?’ Do it yourself. We’re all music fans. We all know what it’s like to walk into a record store and just spot something that’s beautiful. You have no idea where it came from or what it sounds like but somehow you can tell it’s going to be good. At the very least it’s going to introduce you to something new. I think that’s the thrust of what we are trying to do.”
Just remember: If you value your life. Don’t call them a fucking shoegazer band.
Listen to Charlene’s “Rip Off” here.
Visit the band on the web here:
www.sharkattackmusic.com
