Name: Charles Stooke aka Me, Charles

Nationality: British
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer
Current release: Me, Charles' new single "White Pearl" is out via Spinny Nights. A new EP, Fine Isn’t Good, co-produced by Luke from Nukuluk, will follow on May 10th 2023.
Recommendations: ALBUM: High Land, Hard Rain - Aztec Camera; FILM: Dumb and Dumber - Peter Farrelly

If you enjoyed this interview with Me, Charles and would like to stay up to date on his work, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started writing and playing music when I was pretty young - I think I played in my first band at around the age of 11 (with Jonny Pyke, who I still play with!!!). I got my first introduction to music production software in GCSE music, so when I was 14? I have a poor memory so it’s hard to say for sure.

I was very into indie music, so bands like Foals and The Maccabees. My dad is a big music fan and has very eclectic tastes, so through him I was exposed to lots of different stuff. I remember us having The Love Below when that came out, and me and my sisters playing that tonnes in the car.

More and more I am also becoming aware of the influence film and video game scores and soundtracks have had on me. My sisters and I used to watch a lot of animated Disney films, which have some of the most beautiful and impressive arrangements and songwriting on them.

I remember when I was very young, I wasn’t at all interested in anything that wasn’t hard and fast, and would skip most of an album just to listen to the tracks that were more upbeat and aggressive. Take from that what you will.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I generally find music a bit more cerebral, although I can see how different emotions evoked by music might manifest themselves physically, in the same way any emotion might do.

When I hear music out, over a big PA, that is definitely a physical experience - I like dancing!

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I think a key challenge for me was finding a sense of legitimacy in making music. I was, and am, very supported by those around me, but certainly in my education I was not given the sense that music was a realistic or worthwhile pursuit.

Creatively, a big thing has been simplifying my work. At some point I got bogged down with the idea that if what I made was complex, then it would impress people. What I now find impressive is work that is compelling, whilst being simple.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Relative to music, I think that my key attribute is that I’m sensitive! When listening to other people's music, I like relating to their experiences or emotions. I find it really enriching.

When creating or performing my own work, I am trying to relay my own experiences or emotions, if not caricaturing them slightly, so that the listener can relate to me.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Putting it as succinctly as I can, I hope to make work that is sonically impressive and musically sophisticated, whilst still being vulnerable and ‘human’. That’s the kind of music I really enjoy listening to, and aspire to make.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I find the question of ‘being original’ a bit daunting. I think by its very nature, music is referential, and now more than ever it's difficult to identify an avenue that has not yet been taken. So I generally try not to pay too much attention to this. You can overthink these things to the point of it getting in the way of you doing anything.

What I feel (or hope) makes my music at least slightly unique is that I am dealing with and drawing from my own experience. Which again is not a wholly unique one, but is my own nonetheless.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Probably my guitar, my voice and my laptop / DAW.

In terms of promising strategies, I would identify things you like doing, and then do them lots! You’ll get better the more stuff you make, or the more you practice, and you’ll have fun doing it.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Okay I am writing this in a stream of consciousness fashion, so sorry if it’s a nightmare to read:

I wake up. I have some elf bar for my sins. Depending on who’s up first, either my sister or I will bring the other a cup of coffee. I shower and brush my teeth. I put some minoxidil and topical finasteride on my head. I eat yoghurt, peanut butter and blueberries. I get dressed.

I walk to Herne Hill station and get the thameslink to St. Pancras. I walk from St. Pancras to Tileyard Road. I go up to my boss's studio and work with him on whatever we have on (I work for a sound design practice called Illustrious). I have lunch at the cafe at Tileyard, it’s generally a bit gross but very reasonable. I once had a bad buffalo mozzarella there, it made me very ill. I speak to the really nice people who work at the cafe (hi Marlon, Sophia, Cedric, Sam, Pippa, Cam et al!). I finish work at 4/5/6pm. Then I generally go home, unless I have something on in the evening.

Depending on how I feel, I will make maybe a soup, or roasted vegetables. If I’m feeling fancy I will make aubergine parmigiana. If I’m feeling lazy I will literally just have chipolatas with sliced cucumber and cheddar cheese. I watch some rubbish, or play guitar, or play wii, or go for a run.

I have another shower and brush my teeth. I apply a minoxidil cream to my scalp. Sometimes, if I want to sleep well, I will read before bed. Other times, I watch youtube before bed. I get up in the night to eat at least once. This isn’t a joke, it’s really annoying. Sometimes I eat cereal in the night, or cheese, or dried currants. Sometimes I eat chocolate. Sometimes I eat ham.

I dream of Sardinia, and a faceless woman who tells me how my hair is looking very full lately. Fin.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

Okay, so with “White Pearl” I had written the bassline maybe six years ago in midi. I did write a topline and started production on it, but wasn’t getting very much done at the time so ended up just sitting on it. At some point during the following years I came up with the ending bassline, but never wrote it down, I just had it in my head (the first time I actually heard it played was when Caius, our bassist, figured out the fingering at a rehearsal).

When time came to finalise the tracklist for the EP, I felt there wasn’t a strong enough single, so decided to use the idea for a new song (all the other songs on the EP were written and recorded at this point).

I think I wrote it all pretty quickly, using some pre-existing lyrics I had in my notebook. Caius and I recorded him playing his parts at his flat - this was the backbone of the track, so-to-speak. I then laboured over the production for much longer than was necessary, gradually accumulating the constituent parts: saxophone from Nat, backing vocals from Theo etc.

The production process, though not continuous, went on for months and months. I’ve just checked the date of creation for the first draft of it, and that was October 2021. Luke and I finalised the mix, Nick Powell did the mastering. This is very abridged, all in all I think the whole process from start to finish spanned seven or so years!

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I’m not very used to collaborating with others, particularly on Me, Charles stuff. I definitely like having creative control, but have seen the value in sharing those responsibilities whilst making this record.

I co-produced the record with my friend Luke Kulukundis (of Nukuluk), and having a creative partner in him was invaluable. Certainly towards the time of finalising the EP, I leant on him a lot in making editorial decisions about all aspects of the record, as I did with many of my close friends. I am very lucky to have so many intelligent, creative and supportive people around me.

When working with my band, again, although I have final say and am the songwriter,  it’s a collaborative process. Everyone has input, people write their own parts, or we write them together. The final product becomes richer as a result, and the process is more enjoyable.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I think all I can hope to do through my music at the moment is further explore myself, and hopefully people will be able to relate to the work. I am not a prophet or an activist. My music is shallow, and self indulgent. I can’t say that I am making any groundbreaking observations in my work, I am just trying to make sense of my emotions and translate them into music.

I really hope that my music does have a positive effect on people, or at least they enjoy it. But it would be disingenuous to suggest any more than that.

The role of music in our society is many things by my estimation. To be enjoyed, critiqued, to soothe, to agitate, to inspire, to be functional, to maintain tradition, to explore new ideas and forms, to accompany other works of art, to bring people together, to politicise people, yada yada yada.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which ways and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

In the past, music has been a really healthy way for me to express and process difficult life events and the feelings attached to them. Especially when younger, I just wasn’t able to consciously acknowledge a lot of what had happened in my life, and so everything came out in the music I was making. I think, in this way, there’s an element of subliminal expression through making music that can be really cathartic.

At the same time, listening to certain pieces of music can help one tap into particular states of mind or feelings that are otherwise difficult to attune to. Again, this is really healthy, I think. All emotions are valid, even ones that are difficult to sit with, so anything that eases that process is a good thing.

As I have matured, I have been able to use music to sort through my life in a more cognisant way. Just writing things down, whether as lyrics or keeping a journal, is a really good way of making sense of what's in your head. I suppose doing this in a musical context is just a bit more fun!

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Hmm, this isn’t something I’ve given much thought to if I’m being honest! I'll give it a go. I suppose there are empirical elements to making music; formulas of different chord sequences or song structures that are proven to ‘work’. You learn a vocabulary of specific terms to talk about music.

Ultimately though, I think what sets music and science apart is that fundamentally the former is merited subjectively, whereas the latter objectively. There isn’t really one person who can definitively say if your music is good or bad, just whether that person enjoys it due to their own preference.

Science deals in absolutes however, and once something is proven and peer reviewed, then that’s how that thing is. It either is or it isn’t (although maybe not now in our post-truth hellscape).

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think any form of self expression is valid and important - each to their own!

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I hope this doesn't come off as glib, but I do not.