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…).
What’s on the horizon for Slowly? Do you
plan to keep releasing singles monthly? Do you think Undone will ever be
available physically, after you’ve accumulated a certain number of songs? For now, Slowly will continue as
a project that releases singles monthly-ish (I hope to keep up that pace,
anyway). I like releasing it bit-by-bit, as it gives me time to digest what I
am writing and to make decisions about the direction of the next song and the
album overall. I like how no one, not even me, knows the direction it could
take until the next song is released. I also like that the album so far has
become like a monthly diary; I can look back and see how the moods/lyrical
content changed from month-to-month and were influenced by my life at the time,
and how the previous song decisions influenced the next song I would write.
It’s fun to take advantage of the digital format, as it has redefined what an
album can be for me. Back in the day, you had physical formats that had
limitations in terms of album length and distribution, as all the songs had to
be released and packaged together at the same time as a single unit. Most music
I have released so far has been in the form of full albums or EP’s, so this is
the first time I have tried doing it this way and I am enjoying it!
Of
course, one of the biggest drawbacks to the digital format is also what makes
it so awesome; it makes music so much more accessible than before downloading
was a thing. I often find myself getting an album digitally, and not really
fully experiencing it as I did when I was younger (way back in the
pre-downloading age...apparently I am an old, old man). When I was a teenager,
I could only afford that one new CD a month, which I would listen to non-stop
and really get into, because it’s all the new music I would have until I could
save up enough to buy the next album. Today, it’s so easy to download like 5
albums in a day, listen to a few tracks here and there, and then move on to the
next 5 new albums the next day without truly experiencing all that great music
and really getting into all the nuances of each album - or giving some songs
the chance to grow on you when they maybe didn’t click with you right away. I
like how people who enjoy Slowly can take the journey with me and the gradual
release format can give the listener the chance to really digest a new song
until the next one is released about a month later….hopefully those who have
liked what I have released so far feel it’s akin to watching episodes of their
favourite show from week-to-week; the previous episode hopefully leaves you
wanting to find out what happens next, so you wait in anticipation to come back
the next week and check out the next chapter, and so on.
I
don’t really have any formal plans for a physical release, but that’s not to
say it’s not in the cards. I have self-released projects on physical formats in
the past, but it can be very expensive and being a smaller, lesser-known
musician, it’s hard to break even on the production costs. Now, maybe if a
great label came along… :)
Overall,
I really love that releasing my music digitally makes it accessible for
everyone, from anywhere. I also plan to always make it ‘pay what you can’, as
making money off the music is less important to me than having people listen
and (hopefully) enjoy it.
At
the moment, I do almost everything in-house; I write and record myself, do my
own mixing, create my own artwork/visuals, make my own videos, do my own online
marketing, social media, etc...I love the DIY approach, because it has allowed
me (and my band mates) to have creative control and can provide the opportunity
to learn new ways to inject creativity into a musical project (I am also a
visual artist, so it’s fun to create visuals for the project.
My musical foundation is rooted in the punk rock ethos, so being DIY is kinda
ingrained in me. DIY is fun...and it also saves money. (win-win!) The only
thing I don’t do myself is the mastering, which my talented friend Tom takes
care of.
Can you tell us what Soft Wounds has been
working on currently (if anything), and what might be forthcoming in the near
future? Soft
Wounds has been experiencing a bit of flux over the past couple of months. At
the moment, Matt and I are the remaining core members. Our bass player and
drummer recently decided to part ways with the band. It’s very hard to keep a
band going when it’s more of a part-time thing and everyone understandably has
differing priorities (both personal and professional) that can take precedent
over playing music, or different ideas about what the band should, or could be
creatively. It’s kind of like dating 3 people at the same time, and it can be
hard enough to be on the same page as one person you are involved with, let
alone three.
So,
as a result we haven’t been playing live much over past few months, but Matt
and I are in the initial phases of working on an EP’s-worth of new material.
Given the recent lineup changes, we will be playing all instruments, and I am
excited to see what comes out. (Matt and I are both multi instrumentalists, so
we have all bases covered and then some!). The core of Soft Wounds’ sound has
mainly been at the intersection of Matt’s and my songwriting, so at this point,
even if it becomes more of a recording collaboration between the two of us, I
am totally OK with that...even without playing shows, we can still have a
voice, still release music and still have people from all over the world
(potentially) enjoy that music!
Do you consider your music to be part of
the current shoegaze/dream pop scene? Do you feel your sound identifies closely
with those genres? (Interestingly, lots of artists I speak to say they feel
part of the scene, but they don’t think they have a particular shoegaze-y
sound…) I’d
like to hope that people would identify Soft Wounds and Slowly as being a part
of the current shoegaze/dream pop scene. I personally regard both projects as
fitting into the scene/sound, but I guess everyone will determine what style
they think it fits under based on what they hear in the music for themselves.
Music is so subjective and it means something different to each listener, who
all have strong opinions on what they like and (especially) don’t like (if the
comments you read under the YouTube videos of any semi-popular band’s music are
any indication)...my only hope is that we can reach and connect to even a few
people through what we create and that no matter how they define the sound,
they at least think it’s good...I know not everyone will be into it, but
hopefully we pick up a few new friends along the way.
Overall,
I feel our sound has a lot of the hallmarks of shoegaze/dream pop; heavy use of
reverb, delay, atmospheric sound, lush melodies, wall-of-sound-y-ness from
time-to-time...but whatever genre the listener wants to call it is fine by me,
even if they call it ‘total shit’. (because that would mean they at least took
some time to give it a listen, and in my mind, any reaction, positive or
negative, illustrates that the music has elicited an emotional response. That’s
all I could really hope for).
What do you think of modern shoegaze/dream
pop/psychedelia artists, any favorites? There are so many amazing musicians out
there today, it can be quite daunting, especially being a huge music nerd who
is always looking for new and exciting sounds, it’s so hard to keep up!...but,
at the same time it can also be very inspiring. I love what modern shoegaze, dream
pop and psychedelic bands are doing...so much creativity, I love it when bands
bend the unwritten ‘rules’ of songwriting and of recording in general...I would
be humbled to be considered in their ranks.
I am
torn in regards to my views on the popularity of shoegaze, dream pop and
psychedelic music; on one hand, it would be great if these niche genres had a
wider audience...but on the other hand, if these sounds were too mainstream,
bands maybe would not be willing to take risks as they do. Being more
underground breeds creativity, IMO, allowing for some really interesting and
creative sounds/approaches. Being a part of this scene, I feel like I belong to
a special club of like-minded people and artists who are all in on one of the
best-kept secrets in modern music.
Bands
I love? In my own backyard (the Toronto area), there are some fantastic bands
like Beliefs, Indoor
Voices, Lust, Memoryhouse, SIANspheric...I recently discovered a local
band called Tonemirror who are pretty awesome (would
love to play a show with those guys sometime!). Outside of my local scene, I
have really been digging recent releases by Lazy Legs, Kestrels, Newmoon and
Pity Sex, to name a few.
What is the most important piece of gear
for your sound? If
I had to pick one, that would be my Strymon Big Sky reverb pedal, so
versatile...I’ve had it for two years now and I've officially decided that it’s
the only reverb pedal I will ever need...Lush, deep sounds, a ton of different
editable parameters and reverbs that you can customize and save...not cheap,
but definitely worth every penny!
...it
totally sounds like they paid me to say that, but it’s true, see for yourself...you’re
welcome Strymon, please make my check out to ‘cash’. :P
What is your
process for recording your music? What gear and/or software do you use? What
would you recommend for others? I
use pretty old software...Cool Edit Pro 2.0...yep, pre-Adobe
Audition-styles...I have recorded with it for years and just got comfortable
using it, so i haven’t rocked the boat (or the bank account) on a more modern
‘high end’ recording program. I have also dabbled with using Reaper, which is
an amazing piece of recording software (which is only $60 for home-studio
users!) and have had some success with it as well, but it’s much more complex
and has a steeper learning curve...I like simple, simple works for me. I also
use wav editors like WaveLab and Soundforge when they are called for, but I
mostly try to get the sound I want right from the instrument, amp, pedals or
right from my own mouth, with as little digital manipulation as possible.
For the most part, I just throw up a decent
mic to my amp, plug it into my Focusrite interface, and get into it. I usually
start by writing a few different guitar parts that can fit together, and test
out some vocal melodies. Once I have a couple good, solid parts (usually what
could be a solid potential verse and/or a chorus/bridge, etc.), I will record
them roughly along with some vocal ideas over top of them and will use that
rough recording as reference to work out my ideas and refine them. From there,
it’s a matter of choosing what kind of tempo and what sorts of drum beats I
want...then I decide (on paper, or in my head) of how many times I want to play
a given part, what kinds of transitions I want, etc., and I map out the entire
song in a rough outline...then, I open the recording program and it’s GO TIME
on an official song...I start by recording the drums, then the root notes
(either on bass or guitar) and then start layering on top of that and finish
with vocals...many decisions are made quickly, and I often go with my initial
gut idea for what I hear in my head for a given part...when I get into a flow
state, the stuff just kinda falls out of me and time passes by very
quickly...before I know it, I have a song, and it’s midnight, I don’t know
where I am, and I really have to pee!
I will spend a lot of time tweaking in the
mixing phase. I will mix down a track and listen to it through my studio
monitors, on my computer speakers, headphones, ear buds, in my car, on my lo-fi
stereo, on my iPhone speaker, tin cans (basically anywhere that sound can be
transmitted), all to get a sense of what elements might need to be tweaked.
Once it’s all mixed to a point I am content, I mix it down one final time and
send it off to be mastered.
My best recommendation would be to
experiment...figure out what works best for you by trying out all kinds of zany
setups and arrangements. There are no ‘rules’, only what sounds good to you.
It’s so easy to get bogged down in how you are ‘supposed’ to record/write music,
but if you think it sounds good, go for it and keep at it. Write a ton of
music, record a ton of ideas and always be true to what you want to hear, don’t
try to play to a specific audience...I find that when someone is going by
something honestly, it comes through in the music and others will feel that
honesty. Also, learn from others...if your band/project pays to record in a
professional studio, pay close attention to the process and be involved in
every step so that you can really get a sense of the process.
Looking back, the first songs I ever wrote
were pretty bad, and my first home recordings, which were done on a broken
4-track directly to cassette, sounded like white hot garbage...some could maybe
argue that the music I make today still does, but I would like to think that I
have come a long way through experimentation and collaborations with other
musicians and recording engineers who are much more skilled at
songwriting/recording than I am.
Do you prefer vinyl, CD, cassette tape or
mp3 format when listening to music? Do you have any strong feelings toward any
of them? I
kinda like them all for different reasons, depending on what is required; I
like the warm tones and collectability of vinyl, I like the crisp sound and the
archival aspect of CD’s, I like the exclusivity, lo-fi-ness and nostalgia of
cassette tapes (my first real band released on cassette only, which was all we
had back then) and I like the easy-shareability (and inexpensive distribution)
of mp3’s and other digital formats, which is the big reason why I have decided
to release exclusively in digital formats, for the time-being.
What artists (musicians or otherwise) have
most influenced your work? Good
question...I mean, can any shoegaze-ish musician honestly say they haven’t been
influenced by at least one of the big-guns? (MBV, Slowdive, Ride)...also bands
like Galaxie 500, Swervedriver, Lush, Auburn Lull, Fugazi, Sigur Ros, the White
Birch, Godspeed, Codeine, Slint, Low...so many others, too many to list here
without putting people to sleep.
I
listen to a pretty diverse range of musical styles from shoegaze, to post rock,
to noise, to math rock, to hip hop, to downright insanely heavy grindy
stuff...but for the most-part, I usually end up back on something melodic, with
lush sounds that creates a sense of atmosphere in some way, those are the
sounds that typically inspire me.
What is your philosophy (on life), if any,
that you live by? If
I had to boil it down to one phrase, I guess my philosophy on life would be
‘make it happen’...if you want something, make it happen, don’t wait for it to
come to you...life is too short to spend it waiting, you have the ability to
make things happen, the first step is believing that.
