With a self-titled record coming out at the end of the month, Charlie Greene is proving to be an artist that can chug out solid music at a breakneck speed. Blending a multitude of country-inspired genres, Greene is able to capture a variety of topics in a genre specific to himself. MMTV’s Kyle Arpke sits down with Charlie Greene to discuss his latest effort, lyrical inspiration, skull fascinations, and writing songs about pet store animal band members.
MMTV: So your new album comes out February 25th. I was really surprised actually, because it comes out like a year after your last one. Do you intend on pumping out music that quickly?
Charlie Greene: Ya know, I think I’d work a lot faster if I had the resources to do it. But yeah, all of my recording situations have been very different from my last record. I went to Nashville for the first time. I wasn’t even thinking about it being a record at the time. We just recorded basic tracks in April, and then I got asked to go down there and sing background vocals on a friend’s record. I got some free studio time for that, and I made eight songs and people were like “that’s a record. You should put that out.” So I have a 28 minute long record coming out.
MMTV: How did you start off recording in Nashville?
CG: Well I’m originally from Atlanta, so I have a lot of family down there. I spent a little time in Nashville before, but my main reason for going down there is my keyboard player, Micah Hulscher. He was my keyboard player from 2009 to 2011 in Los Angeles and moved there 3 years ago. I went down and visited him and he’s in a band called Los Colognes. They’re great guys and have some of the same musical reference points. They were setting up a recording studio in their house and so it just made sense. I was one of the guinea pigs for the new equipment. So I did the record with them and I will probably do the next record with them too.
MMTV: One thing that fascinates me when I’m listening to music is figuring out how much of it (the lyrics) is coming from a personal perspective and how much of it is coming from the point of view of someone else. What would you say are the perspectives that you’re writing from on this album?
CG: When I was spending two months writing most of these songs I was going to make it a concept record and base it around this duality/feeling two things at once… I have a friend who is into astrology and I was learning a bit more about being a Gemini. I found a lot of truth in some of that stuff and so I sort of started from that. “Two Sides” is about that, and I feel that a lot. Feeling two desires that I don’t think should be in a person at the same time. “I’m Going Inside” & “Everything Gets Me Down” is pretty much from that perspective. But “Honorable Women” strictly came from a conversation I had with a friend of mine at a birthday party. You know, it’s a song about a male gigolo for older ladies. It’s not something you really think about and I found myself kind of obsessing about it, and then the song came out and I think it’s funny.