AWESOME AUSSIE
STRING BENDER ROCKS REGION
MICHAEL CHARLES
by Ernie Thomas
During the last
decade, guitarist Michael Charles has spent more time on these
shores than those of his native Australia.
“I go back from time to time, but mostly I’m over here now,” he said.
“It’s been about
12 years since I’ve released anything in Australia, but that’s about to
change,” he said.
Charles has been
spending a lot of time lately in his state-of-the-art Chicago recording
studio, which is also the home of his own Moonlight Records label.
There, Charles just
completed work on a batch of songs for his latest album, Nobody’s
Fool. He recently wired those recorded tracks via the internet
to a studio in Australia, where they are being tweaked out to perfection
and then mastered by producer Greg Williams.
This marks the first
time in years that Williams has twisted knobs on a Charles album.
Williams helped the guitar player become a big enough radio star in his
homeland to land him in regular rotation on the Australian version of
MTV.
“This will be my
first album released in Australia in a dozen years, so it’s sort of a
come back for me there,” he said.
Nobody’s Fool is expected to be released in America by early summer via Charles’
Moonlight Records. In Australia, it will be released as a joint venture
between his Moonlight label and the Aussie imprint, New Market Records.
“Because of
technology available to us today, Greg and I are able to work together
again” he said. “Because everything is digital, musicians can work from
one side of the world to another these days without losing any quality
or anything in the transfer.”
Charles began playing
music at age five after discovering his father’s old guitar sitting in
the corner.
“My dad was always
fiddling around with his guitar. He never played as his occupation, but
he could hold his own,” said Charles. “He taught me the rudiments, the
structures, basic chords and things like that. I still remember the day
he looked and me and said, ‘You don’t need me no more son. You’re on
your own.’ Playing guitar is all I’ve ever done. I’ve never had a
day job.”
Looking back with
hindsight from middle age his career choice, Charles puts it honestly.
“It’s had a lot of ups and downs. It’s a very hard life, being a
professional musician. Especially, when you have to leave your home,
your loved ones and your friends behind to chase your dream. It’s not
been an easy life, but it’s been a good life and it’s been my life. I
have no regrets, because I can’t imagine not playing music and I can’t
imagine doing anything else for a living.”
Numerous singles and
five strong selling albums have landed Charles on several Australian
television programs, radio stations and in plenty of magazines over the
years.
All told, the artist
has released more than 25 recordings over the last two decades, ranging
from straight ahead guitar rock to old school blues.
“I started out
playing rock, but then I discovered the blues,” he said. “I love the
blues, but it can be limiting, so recently I have been moving more
towards rock again, but definitely with a strong blues feel.”
Charles has been
hailed by in the media as “Australia’s answer to Stevie Ray Vaughan”
and he cites Eric Clapton as being his primary influence.
That said, it seems
almost kismet that Buddy Guy, a friend of both those legendary
guitarists, was the person responsible for bringing Charles to the
United States for the first time in 1989.
“My manager
contacted Buddy’s manager about be playing at his club [Buddy Guy’s
Legends],” he recalled. Charles told how his first flight here was
delayed for hours and that when he landed at O’Hare International
Airport, he was whisked immediately to Legends, where he joined Guy live
on stage in mid-jam.
“I’ll never forget
that night,” he laughed. “I was terribly jet-lagged from the long
flight from Australia and I’m pushed on stage. I’m trying to talk to
the other guys up there playing [with Guy] to find out what key they are
in, and they can’t understand me because my accent was so strong back
then. So there I was... tired, nervous and winging it...while on stage
playing with Buddy Guy.”
Surprisingly, Charles
did not crash and burn that night. He has been asked back to Legends
many times since then, including to bend strings at Guy’s Annual
All-Star Birthday Jam.
After several years
of being consistently on the road touring, Charles explained that he
took a break two years ago to build his Chicagoland studio and “to kick
back a bit and relax for a while.”
When the itch to play
began getting stronger and stronger, Charles assembled a new live combo
which is currently doing a handful of regional dates at small clubs with
these new musical mates, in anticipation of soon hitting the tour trail
again.
While the guitarist
slips into his live set some customized cover versions of traditional
blues numbers like “The Sky Is Crying,” “Everyday I Have The Blues”
and “The Thrill Is Gone”, his live concerts are largely spent
showcasing the deep songbook he himself has created over the years.
Michael Charles Band
performs April 8 at
Soprano’s Lounge in
Griffith, Indiana.
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