Artist Feature: Charlieboy
words and photos by lucero dunscombe
Wisconsin’s very own Charlieboy is a “therapeutic rock band” from La Crosse, Wisconsin on a clear path of upwards growth. The young and impressive Charlieboy recorded their new album Creature at legendary Pachyderm Studios and played Ravinia Festival this August. Having five different bassists since they formed in 2019, they still are attempting to grow and adapt while succeeding. Charlieboy approaches every part of their creative process with quality in mind, and it seems it's starting to pay off.
Keegan (rhythm guitar) and Kaya (vocals and lead guitar) met through Kaya’s father, who was making music with Keegan at the time. Keegan asked Kaya to join his band. “We call it the predecessor. I joined, and from there we started writing songs that are now our earliest Charlieboy songs,” says Kaya. According to Kaya, meeting their drummer Owen in 2021 was what caused Charlieboy to “actually [take] off as a legit band.”
Charlieboy hasn’t stayed the same over the course of their existence, as they have now had five bassists. "We've had many, many bassists. We’ve only had one record with us, but he's not with us now [...] it’s just been getting better at open communication and learning how to make compromises” says Kaya.
There are many popular bands with married couples as co-founders, such as the dysfunctional Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and the beautiful love story that is Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo. Although twenty-six year old Keegan and Kaya of Charlieboy are married, it’s less important – "it's just kind of like a fact,” says Keegan. Kaya describes pressure and excitement when sharing lyrics with Keegan, but it doesn’t intervene with the creative process. “In general, it makes it easier to communicate," says Kaya.
Charlieboy just recorded their new album Creature at Pachyderm studios in Minnesota, the same place Nirvana recorded In Utero. They just recently played and recorded a live set of “Jam in the Van,” and this August opened for Bonnie Raitt at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. They seem to be following a good blueprint — one of Charlieboy’s inspirations, Hippo Campus, recorded their album Landmark at Pachyderm. “[That’s] our favorite album of theirs. We found out it was at Pachyderm and I was like, ‘I really want to go there now,’” says Kaya.
Charlieboy just started consistently playing basement shows this year, playing the most house shows they've ever played. “I was like ‘this is good, we’re starting to get old,’” says Keegan. They usually play two different types of gigs: large outdoor venues, and small intimate shows in college basements. “The energy is always great, but sometimes it's kind of like, ‘all right, we played our show. We’ll see you kids later, my back hurts,’” says Kaya.
Although Charlieboy is playing larger shows, their time playing basements is not over. “I don't think there's any amount of playing big shows that makes me not appreciate every version of gigging,” says Kaya. Kaya describes the differences between DIY shows and large shows: “[Large show] energy is unmatched [compared] to an intimate setting like a basement where it's hot as hell and everyone's just ready to lose their mind.”
Charlieboy is hard to classify into just one genre — they call themselves “therapeutic rock.” Their writing isn’t forced, it naturally comes to them, and songwriting is their form of therapeutic journaling. Kaya’s lyrics are based largely around her traumatic or emotionally vulnerable experiences. It’s not only just for her to have a place to express herself but also so “[the listener] can still emotionally relate and maybe feel a sense of comfort, compassion or release through it,” says Kaya.
“I think our writing comes from a place where we don't write until we have to. You go out and live from other things other than music experience, big stuff. And then you're like, I feel like I'm overflowing,” says Keegan.
After almost ten years and two albums, the members of Charlieboy are becoming comfortable with being genre ambiguous. After all members developed instrumental skill, they were finally able to experiment comfortably. “The last couple of years, we took what we started with and pushed it into new, more experimental ground. Like the best era of The Beatles is how I think about it.” says Kaya.
Experimentation is what makes Charlieboy’s sound so honest. Since they feel they're not tied down to a genre, they can create whatever they want. “I think we found our sound, but it's an ever changing sound that doesn’t necessarily tie us to one genre–just whatever feels good and comfortable as we’re doing it.” says Keegan.
With the release of their new album Creature, Charlieboy was given an opportunity to demonstrate their growth while also sticking with their original sound. When they recorded Creature, they re-recorded “Friend,” “Partner” and “Pilot,” all from their previous EP More Flora. “Hearing songs that we had phone demos of in high school go through Pachyderm Studios was absolutely nuts,” says Kaya.
The sound of Creature isn’t always the same across the album. The title track sticks out from the rest of the album with its heavy and fuzzy tone. Creature was influenced by Keegan’s other band at the time, where they were “messing around with really heavy tones,” says Keegan. “I would say ‘Creature’ is probably one of the closer songs to our ‘new sound’ that we're developing right now,” says Keegan.
Their roots of indie rock are not gone and will not leave, as their influences are rooted in the sound of Hippo Campus and The Districts. As they play more traditional indie rock, they also have been “contemplating touching on softer, more melodic sounds, like the song ‘Friend,’” says Keegan. It will be interesting to see how their sound evolves as they incorporate these polarizing sounds in their music.
Charlieboy’s high quality production doesn’t stop with their music. Their cover art is made by Kaya, and their impressive music videos are made by a La Crosse local named Dylan Overhouse. Keegan and Kaya direct while Overhouse is the director of photography and camera operator for their music videos. To go along with the release of Creature this year were three music videos for “Bona Fide,” “Friend” and “Creature.”
The music video for “Creature” features visuals of the bandmembers Keegan, Kaya and Owen shaving their heads bald in a dark room with spinning lights. “When you hear the song, I want you to think about sitting in a dark room and experiencing such heavy emotions that you shave your head,” says Kaya.
Charlieboy is doing everything right in a band. They shoot for the prize despite lineup changes, know how to adapt in order to get what they want, produce astonishing music videos and record at famous studios. All of this while their sound undergoes an everchanging evolution that’s impossible to look away from.
