The Progressive Aspect
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ABOUT TPA JOIN THE TEAM CONTACT US SITE ADMIN Interviews Back to Top ↑ Search TPA Website Search... Go → Recent Interviews Darran Charles - Godsticks Saturday, October 10 Linda Hoyle Thursday, August 6 Published on 10th October 2015 Tim Bowness Darran Charles – Godsticks Sunday, July 26 Article by: Jez Rowden Mike Judge - The Nerve Institute Sunday, May 31 Godsticks have been consistently developing their sound since their debut release in 2008 and new album Emergence sees the heaviness ramped up whilst retaining the quirky, song-based approach that has built them a David Kollar - KoMaRa loyal fanbase over the years. Guitarist, singer and composer Darran Charles speaks to TPA’s Jez Rowden about the Saturday, May 30 Godsticks approach… Hi Darran, thanks for taking the time to speak to TPA. Dave Bainbridge Wednesday, May 13 To start, what was your musical education? I began playing guitar maybe around the age of 11 and began taking lessons from a local jazz guitar teacher. I Sel Balamir - Amplifier was into ‘hair-rock’ back in those days so I didn’t really get much out of those lessons! Although in later years Monday, May 4 (when it was too late!) I began to appreciate what he was trying to teach me. Jan Erik Liljeström - Like most guitarists growing up in the late 80s and 90s, my education came through guitar magazines and tab Anekdoten books. Later on I began studying music theory through various text books and began to use the knowledge Tuesday, April 28 acquired to compose music using a digital musical staff in the computer sequencer software I was using. In my early twenties I began going to the Guitar Institute in London twice a week and attending a variety of Gavin Harrison Monday, April 20 different classes from Jazz to Rock. I really enjoyed my time there although I’m glad I didn’t go there in my teens Monday, April 20 because I don’t think I would have been mature enough to appreciate the grounding they were offering in all aspects of guitar playing. Like many of the other teenagers there I think I would have only been interested in The Tangent - Andy Tillison learning how to ‘shred’. The Tangent - Andy Tillison Saturday, April 18 So I’m mostly self-taught, although given the resources surrounding us since I began playing, I don’t think anyone can really say that they’re self-taught anymore. You have a very individual style of both guitar and singing. How did those develop? Neal Morse Neal Morse Marcus O'Dair - Robert More often than not, my vocal melodies were developed on the guitar and vice versa for guitar melodies! I Wyatt Biography know that’s strange but my guitar style, if indeed I have one, was influenced more by studying vocalists and Monday, October 20 trying to emulate their inflections. I remember transcribing vocal parts of female Indian vocalists, Bjork, and even Harriet Wheeler who was the lead singer in a 90’s band called The Sundays, and then applying them to Tony Levin guitar. Tony Levin Thursday, September 4 Although I’m not consciously doing it, hearing or singing melodies/riffs and then transferring them to guitar stops me from being trapped by familiar scales or riffs. The same applies when coming up with vocal melodies Fred Laird - Earthling on guitar: there’s no way I’d improvise those melodies vocally because they’re often not very natural to sing! In Society saying that, I don’t use the guitar to inspire vocal melodies as much as I used to so perhaps I feel more Friday, August 22 comfortable singing these days, who knows. Josh Kirsch - Fright Pig For rhythm work I’d always been more interested in piano players and adapting piano parts to guitar, but that’s Wednesday, July 23 changed over the last few years. Either way, it’s always my ears that’s dictated what I play rather than any shapes, chords, or scales I’ve learned in the past. How did Godsticks get together? Well it all began when I advertised for musicians to form a band playing progressive and fusion music, which I think was back in 2006. At that stage the intention was to play instrumental covers of artists that weren’t often played by cover bands, such as Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Racer X, Eric Johnson, and Mike Stern. I think even a Charlie Parker track found its way into the set if I remember correctly! The first person to respond to that ad was Jason Marsh, who went on to become Godsticks’ first bass player. Together we went through about 10 different drummers in order to find someone capable and willing to play the kind of nonsense we wanted to! Eventually we settled on an old friend of mine Aaron Evans, who was one of the most gifted and ‘musical’ musicians I’d ever played with. After we did three gigs playing this ridiculously complicated music, we stumbled into writing original music and from that the EP was born back in 2008. Where did you find Dan Nelson? The guy is a monster and his rhythm partnership with Steve Roberts has gone from strength to strength. Our former bass player Jason Marsh actually discovered Dan. He’d uploaded a ‘vanity video’ to Youtube of him covering one of the tracks from our EP called Only When Provoked. He was about 17 at the time and even at that very early age he had great feel and technique. So, when Jason left, we gave him a call and proceeded to rob him of both his childhood and his innocence. How has your vision for what Godsticks should be changed since the debut EP? It hasn’t really changed at all, at least from a compositional point of view. My personal objective was always to create songs that I thought were interesting from beginning to end, and that’s still the goal. The methods used to create this have changed a little bit as I’ve learned to appreciate that repetition isn’t necessarily the enemy of creativity, and can in fact often benefit a song. I imagine that someone would read that and say “Duh!” but I like to learn from my own mistakes and also don’t possess a preconceived idea of what a song should be like. Your sound has certainly evolved over the intervening years, what has driven this? I’ve probably become more comfortable using the guitar as a writing tool and also less prejudiced about writing and performing rock and metal music. In the early days, I wrote a lot of songs on piano but for the last 2 years especially, I haven’t spent much time with my keyboard. I’ve also learned from the live work we’ve done and what the kind of compositions I’d want to hear if I was in the audience are. That certainly influenced the structure of the songs on Emergence. Despite the injection of increased heaviness and the quirkiness inherent in Godsticks the songs themselves are still at the heart of it all. How do you go about achieving this balance? No idea to be honest! I suppose I’m lucky enough to possess the necessary perspective as a listener to appreciate the song I’ve written, so as the composer if there’s something I don’t like or want to hear more of, then I’m in the fortunate position of being able to change it. I also dislike listening to songs with long passages of sound effects or ambience so I’m always hesitant to inflict that upon a listener. Now I’ve said this, you can pretty much guarantee that in a few years’ time I’ll be making ambient music with 20-minute long opuses! I’ve learned over the years that I’m basically full of shit, so I try my best not to have any fixed opinions or entrenched views on anything!! The increased roadwork over the last couple of years has done wonders to tighten up the band. How have you found the touring? I absolutely love touring! That to me is the reward for all the hard work and we’ve been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to tour with some great bands. I’ve been disappointed with the lack of live work we’ve done following these tours however, which is something I’m keen to address this time around. Unfortunately, not everyone is available or able to make these sacrifices which often leads to lost income elsewhere. This led to our parting ways with Steve (Roberts). It was amicable but with neither party really being satisfied with the outcome, given the amount of work we’ve all put in over the years. It’s a great shame that Steve is no longer a part of Godsticks, what are your plans moving forward? Yeah, Steve has been involved with Godsticks from the get-go so it’s been weird getting used to him not being around. I would never downplay the contribution he’s made over the years, but we have to move on. We’ve recently recruited a guy called Tom Price on drums and even though we haven’t been together very long, we’re all really enjoying playing together. He’s got some great parts to work with and fair play to him, he’s more than doing them justice. I’m quite excited about getting out there and playing live. How was last year’s run of shows with The Aristocrats? The show I saw was awesome.