interview by Guitar Doug of the Insurgents

2007 may be the year of Charlie Drown. Her New Year’s show at the new Fenix made it clear: The underground sensation is taking no prisoners in the year to come. The hard-rocking, classically trained, martial arts black belt is kicking down doors and breaking new ground in music and video. Charlie Drown, who is vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, is currently building a studio to produce other acts. There is even talk of a 2007 summer tour with Ozzfest.

Her current line-up of musicians is without a doubt one of the most well-rehearsed and powerful forces of nature to be reckoned with in the Seattle music scene. The Charlie Drown Pretty Machine Gun was readied for battle in 2006. Run for your lives because she is ready to fire, and knows exactly where her target is hiding.

Charlie Drown’s latest masterpiece is the new video for the song Beta Switch, from her second album Pretty Machine Gun. The second album was produced by KMFDM. The video was unveiled at the New Year’s Charlie Drown show, held at the new Fenix, which is located where The Premier once was, on First Avenue in downtown Seattle.

The audience was a mix of fans, musicians, burlesque dancers, music writers, and members of bands who were scheduled to play the Undercover II all-star show later that night. Musicians who missed this event obviously failed music business 101. More business cards were exchanged than devil-sign hand gestures thrown that night.

The crowd watched silently and intently as Charlie Drown’s Beta Switch video was projected onto a large screen before her live set. A rock and roll witch-hunt would have erupted if the video was a bomb; also, if the Charlie Drown set did not live up to expectations. This fact probably eluded Charlie Drown. She is oblivious to the stir she has created in Seattle over the past year. She is a recluse who lives outside Tacoma.

During 2006, the reclusive but savvy Charlie Drown made one smart move after the next. She set the cover of Exotic Underground’s Metal Issue on fire. Her cover photo was one of the best in the business and the talk of the town. She put forth a sexy and brutally heavy album, entitled Pretty Machine Gun. The album was well received by most in the music scene. She was on the lips of everyone in the music business and at the top of everyone’s MySpace friends list, throughout the Seattle night scene. www.myspace.com/charliedrown has over 300,000 profile views presently. www.charliedrown.com is popular with music fans throughout the world.

The fickle audience on hand expected to see something exceptional. They all got what they came for: An incredibly professional artistic video, and a flawless and well-rehearsed live show.

Charlie Drown seems oblivious to her cult celebrity status. She once told me she was touched that someone like me even knew who she was. Someone like me? She must be joking. I am nothing but a classically trained musician who “ruined” Ballard in the summer of 2005. This according to The Stranger magazine’s “I Anonymous” column of April 14, 2005. Legend claims my diabolical plan was achieved using nothing more than an electric guitar, a motorcycle, and a six-dollar Scream mask.

“This is Charlie Drown,” I thought to myself at the time. What the hell is she talking about? Everyone knows who she is.

The video was done entirely in black and white. It’s reminiscent of the Hitchcock films Charlie loves. It’s part horror and part artistic entertainment. The film generally caters to the metal, Goth, industrial, and fetish communities. There is more fetish imagery than a Sunday evening at Noc Noc, which also happens to be Charlie’s favorite club. “People pretty much leave me alone there,” Charlie Drown once told me.

Several major fetishes are spun into a work of musical and visual art. In my view, it’s the hottest fetish piece to come along since the movie Secretary. That cult classic is generally hailed as brilliant among the art, filmmaking and fetish communities.

The Beta Switch video could be considered disturbing to some. I don’t count myself as one of the “disturbed,” at least in that particular sense. Charlie Drown has touched on an important concept with her latest work. Great art or music is not always beautiful. It’s sometimes ugly, as is much of our world the artist is trying to capture.

After the video was shown, the crowd agreed and applauded loudly. Then the real fun began. All witnessed a stellar live performance by the monster band Charlie Drown. Charlie Drown had delivered the goods. She had lived up to her own legend as an artist and musician. She and her band blew the roof off the Fenix with her blistering set, which included songs from the first two albums.

The set list for Charlie Drown’s New Year’s show at the Fenix, December 30, 2006: Intro music – Empress, from Silent Rizing; Pretty Machine Gun (PMG); Hate (SR); Star 6 Star 9 (Last Day On Earth) (PMG); Dazed (SR); Bereft (PMG); Toothpick (PMG); See Monsters (PMG); …very short pause…7 sec…; Time to Bleed (PMG); Drive Me Crazy (PMG); Dedd Phukk (SR); Dominator (SR).

Her third album will be out later this year. She is co-producing with her drummer, Pistol Fucking Pete. Pete is a Cornish School of Music graduate and considered one of the best drummers in the Northwest today. Charlie took time out of her busy recording schedule to explain the video. She also weighs-in on some of the fetishes covered in the material. The storyline of Beta Switch is something along these lines:

A young, teenage girl falls prey to a sexually sadistic older man with a teenage bondage fetish. He repeatedly ties her up, whips her and cuts her slightly with a razor to achieve sexual stimulation. The film suddenly moves forward to the girl at 18-20 years old. She finds a man through a personal ad. The actress looks conservative and extremely shy but seductive as she leads the man through her front door.

A bondage scene unfolds quickly. The man is the submissive and is tied to a table. Knife-play ensues with her as the dom. She is running a long, shiny blade up and down his body while he is tied helplessly.

The underlying artistic concept set forth is that the former submissive woman is now the sexual dominant over a man. This type of change is called a Beta Switch, according to Charlie. The woman becomes aroused and suddenly splits into two separate personalities. Charlie Drown, decked out in fetish gear and looking stunning, is the other personality.

Her fingers are long, shiny knife blades and she is a much darker character than her wholesome counterpart. Charlie then slashes the man violently. Charlie explained the artistic meaning in this way to me recently: “The victim has now become the abuser.” It’s the artistic point Charlie conveys brilliantly through the song Beta Switch, and its just-released video.

Charlie Drown
UNMASKED

The first is the most obvious question. How much of this video is autobiographical?
The video has little to do with my actual life. It was co-written and directed by a dear friend named Jason. He is with Ultra Digital Films and lives in Seattle. Jason had as much to do with writing the script as I.

What exactly is a Beta Switch Charlie?
A Beta Switch is a person who has been pushed to their limit and finally snaps. The Beta Switch then gives abuse to the person who once abused them.

The young girl in the video is being subjected to S&M by a man with a so-called cutting fetish. As an adult she is shown to have the cutting fetish. Is this common?
If abuse or trauma is left unhandled, it can become a very deep life-focus and obsession. So yes, cutting can be a manifestation of those deeper issues.

Where does the Beta Switch video go from here, Charlie?
It will be included as part of the upcoming album that we are recording.

When will the new album be completed?
It will be finished when it is finished. I don’t have any deadlines or pressure. I just want it to be the best album I can do.

The video makes the case for the origins of sexual fetishes. The five main fetishes explored in Beta Switch are bondage, S&M, cutting, self-mutilation, and knife play. Let’s talk about how you wove them into an artistic statement using film. Also, what they actually are all about.
Sure, I would love to talk about the video.

First, are teenage girls the most common self-cutters?
I find that boys and men cut more than teenage girls. Some use it for fashion and for others it’s an unhealthy statement.

What would you say to someone who secretly cuts?
Anyone who is seriously harming themselves should open up and talk with someone. Talk about the things making you feel badly about yourself.

What would you say to a parent?
I would tell them to open up their eyes and figure out who has been fucking with their kid. People need to be aware that even though kids grow up fast, they are still immature. In certain situations they will still need protection.

Protection from what?
Sexual predators, rapists, pedophiles, older kids with little morals, control freaks and generally abusive people. People like these are what lead kids to harm themselves.

The man in video has a fetish for teen bondage, S&M, knife play, and mild cutting of teenage girls. Would this be a sign of an underlying problem?
Whenever there is something beautiful growing, there is always someone who would like to trample all over it. Especially when you are not watching. Pay attention, because abuse is not just a problem with teenage girls. It happens to people of all ages.

Do you feel knife play get can out of control?
When there is passion, any situation can get out of control.

Is knife play healthy or a sign of a problem in the relationship?
Knife play in a relationship has little do with the relationship. Nine times out of ten, the act is to trigger regression and restimulation. Certain fetishes are based upon past occurrences. They usually have very little to do with the relationship you are actually in.

You are influenced deeply by the writing of Aleister Crowley. Why?
He taught me Magic. Through him I have learned what matters most. It’s not fame and fortune. Aleister Crowley is very personal to me. He is my father from another realm that I will soon be ready for. I don’t enjoy discussing this subject because it’s so emotional for me.

Your personal MySpace profile has this sentence in the “about me” section, “I protect you from me”. Why?
It means exactly what it says. I protect my friends from my anger and my natural hatred of people.

Hatred based on what?
Hatred based upon confusion, indifference, and non-comprehension.

How do you treat those with whom you are close?
When someone is close to me they almost become godlike. I raise them up onto a pedestal. I must in order to love them unconditionally.

Your live show is physically demanding. What is your key to staying fit physically as a performer and vocalist?
Lots of hiking, martial arts, yoga and the right food. Mostly it’s due to good genetics.

I think most People would be surprised to learn that you are kind, polite, have a sense of humor, and are a bit shy. Why the change when you’re Charlie Drown the artist and performer?
Instead of burying the horrid things in life that I have experienced, I release them in the form of art. I am an alchemist. I turn pain into music, visual imagery and poetry, and art. I don’t dwell on the bad things.

Is music is therapy to you?
I have been through some very horrid things in my life. What is amazing, is that I am stronger for it now and don’t need to take drugs to cope with life. I would never harm even harm anyone intentionally. Through music, I am far better off today, than I have ever been.

Why is that?
I have managed to keep an innocence and purity of my very own, just for myself. Music is all I have and that’s is why I do it. Music healed me and it raised me essentially. It held my hand when there was no one else there. It lifted me up when no one else would. A point of reference in my life has always been my art.

Anything you want to say to your fans?
I love my fans and the people who believe in me. You are what keep me going. Love yourself to Death for me.

Thanks Charlie, for taking time for this interview.
Thank you Doug, for doing this interview with me. I’ve really never gotten the chance to talk about these things as much as I would have liked. Your questions have helped me stay focused and query myself about some of the things I do in the future. I think I really need that sometimes. Best wishes to you Doug!