A QUICK CHAT WITH CHARLIE HANRAHAN
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and who you are ?
Well before I do that, I’d like to give a special shout out to my band as they stand. Adam Steinberg on the electric guitar. Adam and I have been playing together and good friends for years now. He’s a really special guy and a fucking freak on the guitar. One of the best you’ll ever see. Jacob Benoiton is on the synth/keys/backing vocal. Jacob is one of the sweetest mofo’s you’ll ever meet. Jacob and I have also been friends and playing together for a very long time. Jacob has helped with the production of the single and album. He harmonizes so beautifully and brings such wonderful energy to the stage. Love ya Jacob. Then, lastly we have Milly on backing vocals. Mil is the newest member having only played one show with us about a week ago. Mil is such a crazy talent also. Her voice just empowers me every time I hear it. Fucking epic. And to be honest I’m happy to leave it at that. You’ll get to know me eventually.
What is this single ‘I’m Good, I’m Rich’ about ?
The single is from an album I have in the vault. The album is titled ‘Ignore Your Past, Your Future Will Flourish’. This single is all about not giving a fuck. Just being in your young twenties comes with a lot of stress about stupid shit like having money or being in a stable job and what not. A lot of these things can eat me up in my own head and when I produced this song it really just felt uplifting. A song that encouraged me to say ‘fuck you’ to all of those stupid things. I’m referring to those things as ‘the devil’ in the track. I’ve had a lot of shit change in my life this past year. It’s given me a new mind set that I’m fucking with. I just feel like if you don’t enjoy whatever it is you're doing, why are you doing it, ya know ? Like I keep thinking about when I’m an old gramps and thinking about looking back at me now saying to myself that I should just go for it and chase my dreams.
Who inspires you with your craft ?
That’s a large question. Instead of getting into why these people inspire me, I'm just gonna list some of my favorites. I definitely have all time favorites and then ever changing favorites… artists who I’ll listen to on repeat month-to-month. My all time’s are; Frank Zappa, Ween, Jamiroquai, Funkadelic/Parliament, Kendrick, Talking Heads, Primus, Bowie, Little Simz, and there’s mre for sure but that’s off the top of my head. My current “on-repeats” include; JID, Smino, Nas, Keem, Skepta, N.E.R.D, Playboi Carti, the new PEGGY and Danny Brown album (Scaring The Hoe’s), and Pixies.
How was the song created ?
In my home studio. That’s all. I know that that’s not a crazy thing any more but that’s just the straight up answer. I’m not trying to flex with this answer or anything. I use Pro Tools with a shit load of vst instruments. Mostly utilizing Analogue Lab 2, plenty of Native Instruments vst’s, Xpand 2, then heaps of different samples for the drums. I record live bass just with a di as well as a D112 then Adam records his own guitar parts and sends them my way. The song and album was the result of progression with my production skills over the course of two years with breaks here and there. The tracks started out with such a different feel and sound and I’d just been changing them structurally and sonically that entire time until I was really really happy with how they sound. Once they were almost finished I hit Jacob up to record some final touches here and there with little cool synth lines that come and go. There’s heaps of more shit I could go into but I'll just leave it at that for now.
What are the near future plans for Charlie Hanrahan and his band ?
I’ll keep this one short. Once the album drops, Europe/Japan tour. I love the scene here in Melbourne but man I fuck with the scene’s over there and I feel like it’s just getting too hard to progress any sort of career here like how many time’s can you just play the same venues and hope that someone important will stumble upon you.That’s the number one goal/vision on my list at the moment. And it will happen. Mark my words. I know that’s arrogant but, manifest that shit. I’ve got a team slowly building around me and everyone fucks with the vision so imma trust the process. Oh also, I’m hosting a launch show at the Toff in Town on the 25th of May a few days after the release featuring performances from Dream Cafe and Jazzy. Woo.
To celebrate the release of ‘I’m Good, I’m Rich,’ Charlie is hosting a single launch event at The Toff on May 25. Tickets available HERE.