For the second time in just over a month, I was digging around the internet for content related to a song I was writing about and I came across a reference to a certain club with a particular name. Curious, I dug further this time and ended up down a rabbit hole of articles and videos about said place.
Apparently, The Smell is an all-ages, DIY, punk, arts and culture space, that was instrumental in the launch of a number of L.A.-based musicians throughout this new millennium. Artists that have played there include Warpaint, Ty Segall, Best Coast, and Moaning. Sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin not only often played The Smell with their first band, Mika Miko, but they volunteered there as well.
I haven’t checked out Mika Miko at all but by all accounts, they were a pretty great live act. The garage rock quintet was formed in 2003 and in the seven years before they split, released a pair of full length albums and a half dozen EPs and singles. In 2011, the year after Mika Miko called it quits, Jennifer and Jessica started up Bleached. Under this moniker, there’s been three successful full length records, each charting on the Billboard charts, and though they haven’t officially called it a day, they too seem to be on hiatus.
I came across Bleached with their debut album, “Ride your heart”, back in 2013 and found myself hooked. They mined a similar 60s girl group sound structure as that of Dum Dum Girls, but instead of the wall of sound shoegaze imbued by Dee Dee Penny, the Clavin sisters preferred to hang on to their punk roots. With most of the tracks in the two to three minute range, “Ride your heart” is gunshot raw, and at times is aggressive and discordant, but at its heart, it’s really a pop record rife with ear worm melodies.
“I never wanted to lose the boy I loved the most
I never wanted to hurt the boy I loved the most”
Track four is the longest song on the album, clocking in at just over four minutes, and this is mostly due to a dreamy intro that lulls you into thinking this might be a slow love ballad. Then, the foot stomping on kickpedal wakes you right up and the marching bass line drags you into the fray. The vocals and guitars play a bit of call in response during the verses with flourishes that have the potential to induce whiplash and the choruses are all fist pumping and shouting along wistfully for the one that got away. “Dead in your head” is big, bold, and anthemic and yes, demands replay after replay.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.
It’s almost becoming a trope with me during each summer. I sustain a bit of blogging fatigue, leave off writing and posting entries, come to the realization that I have less time to dedicate to this hobby of mine than I used to have, weigh the pros and cons of the whole thing, and eventually decide to soldier on, albeit at a less frequent pace.
So here I am again, soldiering on, much like the subject of today’s post: The Charlatans.)
Who? The Charlatans (aka The Charlatans UK)
Years active: 1989-present
Current Members: Martin Blunt (bass)
Tim Burgess (vocals)
Mark Collins (guitars)
Tony Rogers (keyboards)
Past Members: Jon Brookes (1989-2013)
Rob Collins (1989-1996)
Baz Ketley (1989)
Jon Day (1989-1991)
Selected discography:
Some Friendly (1990)
Between 10th and 11th (1992)
Up to Our Hips (1994)
The Charlatans (1995)
Tellin’ Stories (1997)
Us and Us Only (1999)
Wonderland (2001)
Up at the Lake (2004)
Simpatico (2006)
You Cross My Path (2008)
Who We Touch (2010)
Modern Nature (2015)
Different Days (2017)
Context:
The title of ‘Madchester survivors’ that is often bestowed upon The Charlatans (known as The Charlatans UK here in North America) is actually a misnomer given that the band is not from Manchester at all. The band originated in the West Midlands circa 1988. Despite the geographic distance between The Charlatans and the other bands that rose to prominence out of the ‘Madchester’ scene, they were consistently thrown in with that lot based on the coincidental similarities in initial influence and sound. Their music was anchored by Martin Blunt’s solid, driving basslines and Jon Brookes’ funky drumming but it was Tim Burgess’s simply smooth vocals and especially, Rob Collins’ monstrous work on the Hammond organs that gave The Charlatans their soul and made a name for them in the early days.
I became a fan of their music perhaps a year after their debut album was released in Canada. “Some friendly” and their sophomore release, “Between 10th and 11th”* were albums that were consistently in my Walkman in the early 90s and both are still among my favourite albums of all time. Their third album, “Up to our hips”, wasn’t my favourite at the time but it didn’t stop me from purchasing their next album, 1995’s self-titled LP, the first of many ‘comeback’ albums. I think The Charlatans may have released more ‘comeback’ albums than any other alternative artist, except for perhaps David Bowie, and I think this is where the aforementioned moniker of ‘Madchester survivors’ may be partly right. The Charlies certainly are survivors.
They soldiered on through the arrest (in 1992) and the death (a few years later, in 1996) of their founding keyboardist, Rob Collins. In fact, you got the sense that the band rallied around that disaster and released their best-selling album (in the UK) to date. Then, in 2013, founding drummer Jon Brookes died from a brain tumour, which personally, really hit me hard and sent me on a serious Charlatans kick, listening to all 11 albums released at the time, in quick succession. I remember briefly wondering at the time whether The Charlatans would continue to exist after the loss of Brookes. Sometimes the deaths of band members can destroy bands and any momentum they might have had, but for the second time, The Charlatans managed to weather the loss of one of their own. Indeed, 2015’s “Modern nature” heavily featured work done by Brookes before his passing and that wasn’t the last we heard from the band.
Thirteen studio albums, six compilations, and close to fifty singles into their career, this band has persevered where many of their so-called peers have disappeared… or perhaps reunited years later to tour on the backs of twenty-five year old songs (no offense, Stone Roses, I love you too). The Charlatans have accomplished this, I think, simply by keeping things real and fresh and pursuing their latest sound wherever their moods take them. They’ve toyed with reggae sounds, folk country and even some Curtis Mayfield soul, but have always been sure to keep their own stamp on their songs.
As I might have hinted earlier in this post, I have owned every studio album The Charlatans ever released, be it on cassette tape, compact disc, MP3, vinyl, and a good deal of their EPs and singles as well. I’ve always been game when I hear there’s a new Charlatans release coming out because they’re one of those bands that I’ve become a bit of completist about but also because I’m always curious as to what they’re going to sound like the next time around. Not every album has been slam dunk solid, some I have only listened to in full, a handful of times, but every album they’ve released has produced one or two gems.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before somewhere in these pages but my friend Tim and I have discussed The Charlatans’ legacy at length, over multiple conversations and beers now, and also the topic of whether anyone will remember them in ten or twenty years. I was and still am firmly of the belief that they will be remembered, if only metaphysically through their influence on the musicians of the day who grew up listening to them. Sure, they are not as well-known here in North America (even less now than they were in their heyday in the 90s) but in their native England, they appear to still have a substantial following. As I read recently to my own disbelief, every one of their full-length studio albums have hit the top 40 charts there and their tours are always very successful.
Though no hiatus has been announced and indeed there have been Charlatans tours galore, it’s been seven years since we’ve last seen a new studio album by the group. It’s been even longer than that, more than two decades, since the group has produced a tune that surpasses some of my own personal faves but it doesn’t mean the group is done. Indeed, frontman Tim Burgess might have became even more famous than his group during the pandemic when he started a cultural phenomenon with ‘Tim’s twitter listening parties‘ as a way of occupying himself during all the lockdowns. But this didn’t stop him from keeping his band involved, including most, if not all of his group’s releases on the ‘show’s’ episodes. The Charlatans’ last compilation album, “Head full of ideas“, came out in 2021, just a year late in celebrating the group’s 30th anniversary, and though there’s been no news either way, one can’t help but think there’s something new pending on the horizon.
Until then, these five tunes are still my favourite Charlatans ditties.
The top five:
#5: One to another (from “Tellin’ stories”, 1996)
I remember seeing a piece a decade ago on the Uncut website that has long been taken down in which frontman Tim Burgess compared this particular track with Joy Division’s “Love will tear us apart”. Not because the songs sound anything alike but because it was the last song that was recorded by the band before the original keyboard/organ player, Rob Collins, died tragically in a car crash. For Burgess, this placed a certain mythos on the song, much like that other famous song that will forever be tied to Ian Curtis’s suicide. But far from being dark and haunting, “One to another” is a swaggering, stomping anthem for the club kids of the Britpop era, Jon Brookes crashing about on his kit and helped along by some wicked drum loops courtesy of The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands. Press “play” below and turn it up.
#4: Weirdo (from “Between 10th and 11th”, 1992)
“Most of the time you are happy… you’re a weirdo.” That first line of the song is almost as instantly recognizable as is that crazy organ riff and hyper drum beat that get the song off to a roaring start. To this day, “Weirdo” remains The Charlatans’ biggest hit in North America and it’s unsurprising given it’s almost a perfect melding of 60s psychedelic rock and dance-ready drum beats. Heck, this song made us all dancing fools, but whenever I hear it, it’s my friend Andrew Rodriguez that I picture, wearing a Reni-style bucket hat, pulled down so that you can barely see his drunken gaze, dancing in a crouch by himself on the dance floor, arms waving wildly both to keep time to the melody and to keep himself from falling.
#3: A man needs to be told (from “Wonderland”, 2001)
“A man needs to be told” is easily my favourite Charlatans track released after the turn of the century. It is here, perhaps to a lesser extent than on the other tracks on 2001’s “Wonderland”, that you can hear Burgess’s flirtation with Mayfield-esque falsetto vocals. The first time I heard the song I almost thought that it couldn’t be The Charlatans. It blends elements of soul and funk, layers slide guitar over a dancing bass jive and some excellent time-keeping by Jon Brookes. It starts off in a mellow groove (there’s that word again) oddly reminiscent of Chapterhouse’s “Mesmerise” but the gospel backup vocalists chime in at the last minute and the drums suddenly kick the song into high gear. You’ve just to got to listen to it to understand what I mean. Simply fantastic.
#2: Tremelo song (from “Between 10th and 11th”, 1992)
There’s a long story that goes along with my love for this track**. And given this story, “Tremelo song” became something of an anthem for my high school friend Andrew Rodriguez and me the year after we graduated. Even though neither of us knew what a “tremelo” was, we forever called a certain very memorable day “Tremelo day”, given that we had felt what we imagined the featured character in the song’s music video felt. Let it suffice to say, “Tremelo song” will always hold a special place in my soul due to that certain time and place in my life when I felt that Burgess was singing about me and my life in this song. Put your earphones on for this one folks because it’s made for it. The keys, the drums, the bass are all layered on, one at a time, combining for one killer hook.
#1: Sproston green (from “Some friendly”, 1990)
To tell the truth, there was such a jumble and jockey for the order in this top five of songs that I wasn’t really sure until I finished drafting this post as to which would be number one. In the end though, it had to be the final track on The Charlatans’ debut album, “Some friendly”. There’s just something so epic about “Sproston green“. Maybe it’s the lengthy, slow-building intro. Perhaps it’s the way the song never gives an inch, the equally driving drum beat and bass line and the “raise the goblet of rock” guitar riff. Listening to it on repeat while finishing up this piece this week, it struck me how it hasn’t aged a day, timeless, like a good deal of The Charlatans material. Let’s turn it up for one more listen. And then, perhaps, I’ll go back to listen to their entire collection one more time and revel once again in Jon Brookes’ brand of drumming, Rob Collins’ (and then, Tony Rogers’) keyboards and organs and of course, Tim Burgess’s random wording and perfect lyrical delivery.
*This post became a necessity when I realized, while throwing together my list of my favourite tunes of 1994 (the series for which shall start sometime in the near-ish future), that I somehow managed to miss including some great tunes from my very favourite album by one of my favourite bands while counting down my list of Best tunes for 1992. So this post is recompense, in my own little way… many apologies to Tim, Martin, Mark, Jon, and Rob.
**Being typical gen-Xers, I was taking a year off after high school to “work” before heading to university for higher learning and my friend Andrew Rodriguez went back to high school to boost his grades. There was a day in the spring of that year that we called “Tremelo day”, based mostly on the video for the song. On our “Tremelo day”, we both woke up hungover, though I daresay Andrew was moreso than I. Andrew had had a fight with his girlfriend, got kicked out of a party, and proceeded to get rip-roaring drunk the night before and woke up on the couch at a mutual friend’s apartment. I woke up in my bedroom in the basement of my parents’ house, having drunk a bit myself the night before. That weekend’s want ads were left resting on my head, a none too subtle jab at the fact that I was still unemployed almost a year after graduation. Of course, the threat didn’t feel empty at the time so when Andrew showed up at my door not long after I got out of bed, I left with him, both of us unshowered and unshaved, making us a sorry set indeed. We spent the day aimlessly wandering our small town, scraping together the few coins we had to nourish our hungover selves. Somewhere near late afternoon, Andrew made the connection between our meager existence that day and that of the guy in the “Tremelo song” video.
For other top five lists in this series, click here.
I’ve already told the story on these pages about how my friend Tim and I drove to Cambridge from Toronto one day over the Christmas break back in 2011. We headed there to meet up with one of Tim’s university friends Greg and his wife Wendy, and check out their books and records store, Millpond. We stayed for dinner before returning to Toronto in a snow storm but not before sharing laughs and memories and trading a few musical picks.
Greg’s contribution was Crocodiles, seconded by Wendy, and based on their raves and descriptions, I definitely took note to check them out when I returned home. Perhaps coincidentally, my own suggestion was Dum Dum Girls, whose sophomore record “Only in dreams” was hot on my repeat listen list and had placed on my favourite albums list that year. What’s funny is that Greg and Wendy hadn’t heard of Dum Dum Girls and I hadn’t heard of Crocodiles but at the time, the front persons and driving forces of each band, Brandon Welchez and Dee Dee Penny*, were married and had regularly contributed to each other’s musical projects.
I later learned that Crocodiles were formed in 2008** by Welchez and Charles Rowell in San Diego, California, after their previous, mostly punk-driven bands had broken up. Their psychedelic and retro noise pop sound was established right from the beginning and got them drawing buzz. I recognized and fell for it when I first listened to their sophomore album, “Sleep forever”, quickly making the connection with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and of course, with Dum Dum Girls. I’ve continued to follow the group through the multiple lineup changes but the sound hasn’t veered too far off course, nor has the songwriting quality diminished, right up to last year’s excellent “Upside down in heaven”, the group’s 8th full length album.
In 2013, though, they released their 4th album, the Sune Rose Wagner (The Raveonettes) produced “Crimes of passion”. The neon colours of its album foreshadowed the technicolour sounds and garish and glam tinged ethos. Ten searing and cool tracks for turning up and rocking out alongside, my favourite of which was track six, “She splits me up”. With guitars that wail at the high end, dance harpsichord-like arpeggios, and gnarl and snarl at the robust bass line. Meanwhile, Welchez bemoans and lauds a member of the opposite sex and the hold she has on him.
“She dazzles on the streets beneath me but her love is never real. And the world outside is fading fast, and she’s so detached. She splits me up”
Yessssss.
*Funnily enough, this is the first post to focus on Crocodiles but Welchez has been mentioned a couple of times already in posts about Dum Dum Girls.
**Same year as Dum Dum Girls.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.
My (life in) music lists 