One
of the finest, though lesser known recording guitarists in the world
today, Charles Brown has long been on the musical radar among
guitar instrumental fans. Although his repertoire of album releases
goes back to the early 2000s, Charles recent solo albums, Explorer
Of Life (2017) and Wind Of The Eastern Sea (2016)
both captured the imagination of instrumental fans partial to both
rock and heavy metal guitar. Several new recordings by Charles have
also found their way onto recent various artist collections from the
New Jersey based Bongo Boy Records. Underscoring the album's greatness,
the title track from Explorer Of Life is another featured song
on the Bongo Boy collection called Raw & Reckless Rock Bands
Volume Two. Looking back on that track, Charles tells mwe3.com,
Explorer Of Life is a combination of guitar synth,
along with acoustic and electric guitars. Although Im primarily
a guitarist, Ive dabbled on drums through the years. I have
a Roland electronic kit but it has some great sounding natural and
rosewood drum patches. The hardest part of that song was the altered
meters. I believe Steve Espinosa did mainly keyboard pads, but we
did his parts through trading files back and forth, and then putting
those parts into Pro Tools. I really like how Explorer Of Life
came out, and would like to do more music in that type of progressive
vein. Although most of the other artists on the above mentioned
various Bongo Boy compilations are rock vocals, its to the labels
credit that they stretch the envelope to bring the art of Charles
instrumental music to the further attention of heavy rock audiences.
The exception here is the Bongo Boy compilation Escape The Mind:
New Age Compilation Volume 1, which features a collection of purely
instrumental meditative and sometimes jazzy tracks, with one of the
tracks featuring Charles Maroon Highlands, which
unlike the more recent tracks, goes all the way back to his Mystics
album from 2000. As Charles states in the following discussion
of his Bongo Boy albums, hes quite eager to get back on track
and release new music, while also casting an eye back on his earlier
music, which clearly deserves a wider audience. www.bongoboyrecords.com
mwe3.com presents a new interview with
CHARLES BROWN
The Bongo Boy Tracks Interview
mwe3:
How did you meet up with Monique at Bongo Boy and how many compilation
albums have you worked on with Bongo Boy? Did you have a set parameter
as to what kind of music you would contribute to their various multi-artist
compilations? Were the tracks newly recorded or previously released
on various solo albums?
Charles Brown: I came across Monique and Bongo Boy on Facebook.
They were taking submissions for an open genre compilation album,
so I submitted my track Explorer Of Life, title track
from my CD of the same name). Ive been involved on 3 or 4 of
their other compilations. All the Bongo Boy tracks are new except
"Maroon Highlands" and "Explorer of Life".
mwe3: One of your early classics, Maroon Highlands
is reintroduced on the 2017 CD release of Escape The Mind, which
is essentially a New Age type acoustic track. What instruments and
guitars are you playing on Maroon Highlands and did you
set out to create a kind of peaceful New Age type instrumental? That
Bongo Boy collection has some other cool artists on it as well.
Charles Brown: Yes, Maroon Highlands is in a New
Age type vein. Its done with acoustic guitar in open D tuning,
with guitar synth pads and textures. There are some really good artists
on that release. I like all of it.
mwe3:
Track 10 from the Emidios Rock Den Vol.1, your song Ride
Or Die is close to being a heavy metal track, yet it retains
your prog-instrumental kind of sound. How does that track fit into
the Emidios Vol. 1 CD sampler on Bongo Boy? It almost
sounds like a commercial for Harley Davidson. (lol) Is that why you
connected it to the Ride Or Die idea? Do you have any
other favorite artists on that 15 cut sampler album?
Charles Brown: The phrase Ride or Die is from the
Fast & Furious movies. I wanted to do kind of a Judas Priest ultra
heavy riff, but I used my main Strat for the solo to get kind of a
Ritchie Blackmore / Yngwie Malmsteen staccato effect. That release
has some great stuff also. One of the standouts is Angeles. Theyre
really good, and theyve even opened for some big name metal
and hard rock acts.
mwe3: I was glad Bongo Boy selected your track Explorer
Of Life for their 2017 Raw & Reckless Rock Bands Vol.
2 CD. The track was the title track for your 2017 CD Explorer
Of Life and it is still one of your best tracks. How many guitars
are you playing on that? Your guitar work and drumming is amazing.
Was it difficult playing the other instruments, especially the drums,
on that track and tell us about working with keyboardist Steve Espinosa
on that track and album as well. Is that the style youre planning
on further exploring on further tracks and future albums?
Charles
Brown: Explorer Of Life is a combination of guitar
synth, along with acoustic and electric guitars. Although Im
primarily a guitarist, Ive dabbled on drums through the years.
I have a Roland electronic kit but it has some great sounding natural
and rosewood drum patches. The hardest part of that song was the altered
meters. I believe Steve Espinosa did mainly keyboard pads, but we
did his parts through trading files back and forth, and then putting
those parts into Pro Tools. I really like how Explorer Of Life
came out, and would like to do more music in that type of progressive
vein.
mwe3: Your track on the 2019 CD release of Emidios
Rock Den Vol. 2 is Rock Solid. Is that another heavy
metal style track? You do that style quite well and are you planning
to include it on another future album release? It sounds very current
and its one of your best tracks.
Charles Brown: I had been listening to a lot of Robin Trower
when I came up with that one. It has kind of a Trower / Hendrix groove.
The guitar tracks are pretty straight ahead just using Marshall amps,
but there is an acoustic section in the middle that was influenced
by Pat Metheny. I would most likely consider featuring this on any
future releases.
mwe3:
I hardly hear you playing instrumental style blues but on Dustin
My Broom, you do it well on Backroom Blues Volume 6 released
by Bongo Boy in 2018. Does that track allow you to pay tribute to
your blues and rock influences like Peter Green and Richie Blackmore,
for example? Slide guitar too and theres some tight soloing
on it so its definitely you!
Charles Brown: Dustin My Broom is a pretty
straight ahead boogie type riff in the style of Savoy Brown or ZZ
Top. I put an intro to it that features slide guitar in Open E tuning,
somewhat reminiscent of Elmore James or Muddy Waters. The soloing
definitely gets some Ritchie Blackmore type stuff thrown in!
mwe3: The Bongo Boy Christmas album Lets Have A Rockin
Christmas, from 2017, features your cover of the perennial favorite
Greensleeves. Was that track released before on one of
your early albums? Now I cant remember when you first recorded
and when it came out. Was it rerecorded for Bongo Boys Christmas
collection and can you give us some history on your recording that
track? Sounds you have some bells on that track.
Charles
Brown: Greensleeves has never appeared on any of my
other CDs. It was done as part of a Christmas compilation album I
did with some people I knew when I was part of Comcast. When Bongo
Boy was looking for submissions on their Christmas album, I decided
to submit Greensleeves. It features classical guitar and
guitar synth. My keyboard partner, Steve Espinosa added the bells.
mwe3: So now with your contributions to these six different
Bongo Boy albums, you must be itching to get another solo album out
at some point or perhaps that best-of Charles Brown collection we
spoke about a couple years back. Is there any other recent news on
your music in 2019?
Charles Brown: Maybe I might be able to try to get another
solo release out at some point
maybe a combination of favorites
from past releases and some new material. Currently, Im involved
with The Substitutes, which is a Who tribute band in Denver. Im
covering the acoustic guitar parts on Quadrophenia, as well
as various other acoustic parts in the more well-known Who songs.
They have shows through the rest of the summer and into the fall,
so theres not much time right now to work on my own stuff, but
hopefully I can get something done at some point!