Charlie
Berger is the frontman of Soft Wounds, a Toronto-based jangle-gaze band that made a major splash
in early 2016 upon the release of their excellent self-titled debut LP. (This
record topped many “Best of 2016” lists recently -- including ours) He also
releases music via his solo project, Slowly, which is just as sonically
impressive as Soft Wounds. The combined musical efforts of these projects
soundtracked the entirety of 2016 for me, so I am naturally thrilled to share
with the world the following interview with the brilliant Mr. Berger.
How and when was Soft Wounds formed? First, I just want to say thank
you so much for the opportunity to speak about my projects. Smaller,
independent artists like myself would not be able to reach as wide an audience
without the hard work of talented music bloggers and radio/podcast hosts like you!
I am flattered that you wanted to take the time to get to know more about my
projects and myself. I’m also a fan of your blog and radio show, and I have
discovered so much awesome music through them, so thank you so much for all you
do!
So,
let’s see...Soft Wounds was initiated in the spring of 2014 by me (Charlie). I
had been the vocalist in many projects/bands prior, but wanted to take a stab
at adding guitar, which I had only previously done for home recording projects
and never in a live setting. I had the idea to form a new project that would
draw from the sounds I’ve always loved (shoegaze, dream pop, post rock,
slowcore, etc.), as I had not yet had the chance to explore those genres in a
band that played live. From being in a lot of different bands over the years, I
know a lot of musicians, but at the time, I didn’t know of many who weren’t
already involved in their own shoegaze-ish band and interested in starting
something new. So, I did what most people do when they are looking to connect
with likeminded individuals who align with their ‘alternative’ (music)
lifestyles, I posted on Craigslist. :P
Through
craigslist, I met Matt, an amazing guitarist/vocalist/songwriter, and a recent
transplant to Toronto from Australia. He was keen on the idea and also a big
fan of shoegaze and dream pop. Matt had his own solo
project
and had played in several bands in his native Hobart, Tasmania. We met up a
couple of times and things clicked right away. Along the way, we also met
Andrew, a ‘living shoegaze encyclopedia’ of a bass player, who brought a unique
style to the mix. Together (with our first drummer, Geordie who we picked up
along the way, who was then replaced by Jimmy), we started to write what would
become the basis for Soft Wounds first demo and eventual first studio release
(released back in January 2016). The rest, as they say, is history?
What prompted you to begin your solo
project, Slowly, earlier this year? At the time (Spring 2016), Soft Wounds was
going through some lineup changes (a couple members left the band abruptly), so
while we were getting new members up to speed on the previously-written
material, Soft Wounds put songwriting on hold for a few months. I had a whole
lot of new material that had built up over that time (I’m always working on new
music at home), so I started to record the ideas I was writing at home in my
spare time (mostly to not forget them). I had previously done some solo
recording on another solo
effort a
few years back; and I had always found it a lot of fun and a challenge to write
and record every part of the song myself (bass, guitar, vocals, drums, etc.). I
started to realize that I had much more material than I could possibly release
with Soft Wounds, so I decided flesh some of them out and turn them into
material for a new solo project (which I called ‘Slowly’) and release them
myself in an ongoing fashion online.
The
sound of Slowly is slightly different from Soft Wounds in the sense that it’s
all me. In Soft Wounds, one member may be more responsible for writing the
foundation of a given song, but always in collaboration with the other members,
so things can morph and change as each of us brings our own unique styles and
ideas to the table. I guess you could say that Slowly is what Soft Wounds would
probably sound like if you cloned me 3 times and I started up a band with those
clones (which is a great idea for a movie, BTW…they could call it something
like ‘Clone Band’ or ‘Band of Clones’...I dunno, we’ll let the suits in
Hollywood figure that part out…).
