Exposed Vocals Interviews Rollingexile

Charlie began his musical journey in Dublin in the late 70s, by successfully conning a few people that he could play the drums, to the extent that he was invited to play in a couple of bands. His die was cast! 

 

Dublin was going through a musical revolution in the 1970s , similar to what was going on in London at the time, Charlie played with several bands – including  The School Kids and the legendary Berlin. 

 

He also deputised for Larry Mullins, playing 6 gigs with U2. It was an exciting time for Irish rock musicians.

 

Charlie appears in several books published covering that period of Irish Rock including “Where The Streets Have Two Names” by renowned U2 photographer Patrick Brocklebank.

 

Extract from Irish Rock:

“The late ’70s saw the height of the punk rock movement. Irish bands such as Dublin’s The Radiators From Space, The Boomtown Rats, Berlin, The Blades and The Vipers were in the midst of the new genre…”

 

After the break up of Berlin, in 1981, Charlie moved to London. During this time, his friend Mathew Ashman, from Adam and The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, brought him into the studio and produced and played guitar on his first self-composed recording “Move On”

 

Taking time out from the music business Charlie returned to performing in 2010  supporting The Boomtown Rats (Roberts and Crowe) on their European Tour, playing across Germany and The Netherlands to appreciative audiences.

 

Returning to London after the tour he started writing new material and playing solo gigs around the UK. 

 

His first album “Exile” recorded in London and Dublin, with several guest musicians including Garry Roberts from The Boomtown Rats on guitar.

 

After the release of “Exile” Charlie assembled Rollingexile to tour and promote the album, touring throughout 2015 in the UK, Europe and the USA. 

 

Rollingexile’s second album “Hardline” will be followed by promotional tours in Europe and the USA throughout 2016 and 2017.

 

www.rollingexile.com

 

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Rollingexile

I was born in London grew up in Dublin, decision to become an artist was the love of music and the hunger to play and love of playing

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Rollingexile

The name is  to do with the path my life took, leaving Dublin like so many other exiles, then  living in many countries constantly on the move, and feeling not really belonging to any one place,  so rolling around the globe and feeling like an exile resulted in Rollingexile

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Rollingexile

I give away tracks for promotion when bringing out an album.

Its hard for bands in our catagory, we can’t make up for the loss of sales due to sharing, like the big bands who go out on tour and make up the loss with gig sales and merchandiseing .

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Rollingexile

Wish i could, its still a struggle for us without any management or label support, you just have to have the strength and commitment to keep knocking on doors and and keep that momentum going

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Rollingexile

Ocassionaly , its not a problem for us ,when there is a trust in each other that whatever happens the rest of the band will carry it.

That trust comes from a band that is tight from giging and rehearsing and most importantly listens to each other.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Rollingexile

No Touring as yet,  we will be touring the new album HARDLINE in 2017 , we will get back to you on that :]

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Rollingexile

I never consciously say to myself ok i’m going to write today, I find various triggers get me into writing mode,

like hearing a tiny section of music on tv or radio or walking down a street catching a few notes, and it feels inspireing and

that then puts me in the mood and gives me the motivation to write.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Rollingexile

We use our website www.rollingexile.com as our main hub , and on that site we have all the various links like Facebook Twitter Instagram etc

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

Rollingexile

Hahahah ..  Hmm good question .. well i can’t say I’m  embarrased by any,  ok maybe one or two Maddona tracks :}

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Rollingexile

Build my own studio to use for future Rollingexile recordings .

Also starting a Subisdised Recording Project  giving new bands a chance to record  in a professional studio

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Rollingexile

The HARDLINE album was recorded at Rogue Studios in London , my studio at home is really just set up for demo

although guitars a on few tracks for the HARDLINE album were done at my studio.

At the moment i use logic , a couple of Macbook pros, Yamaha 24 desk ..Waves + Slate  Plugins   .. Mott + Akai interfaces ..  Various mics

i m hoping to do some upgrades later this year,

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Rollingexile

Facebook Instagram Twitter are what we mainly use

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Rollingexile

Phil Lynott, he was a major inspiration for me growing up in Dublin.

Thin Lizzy were a band that had a huge influence on a lot of us younger musicians,

He was a wonderful humane being, song writer, performer, and player, a rare combination ,  i dedicated our album HARDLINE to him

 Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Rollingexile

At the moment we are doing shows in London, preparing for our HARDLINE album launch gig on the 4th November

In the process of setting up tours for the HARDLINE albumin Europe and the USA for 2017

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Rollingexile

Racing Motorcycles :]

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Rollingexile

Thin Lizzy .. Vagabonds of The Western World .. it intrigued me a mix of hard and soft rock, great early Lizzy

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Rollingexile

Like anything in life, if you want it enough, you find a way to make it work, although i can be really challenging at times :]

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

Rollingexile

Touring the album in Europe and the USA coming to a town near you :]