Q&A: Charity Children
Referring to them, I read in an interview a few years ago that “some bands seem to be just there to make the world a warmer and brighter place” and I can't agree more with it. Their personal story could well be a movie, and the music they make the soundtrack to the movie of any of us who has been adopted by the city of Berlin. I'm talking about Charity Children, the group made up of New Zealand expatriates Chloë Lewer and Elliott McKee who, after a few years of absence return now at a time when music is more necessary than ever. And precisely that has been the excuse to ask them some questions, so don’t miss Chloë and Elliot's responses below!
About to release new music, there will be people who will discover you now but the truth is that you two have made a decade in Berlin. I imagine ten years go a long way in a city like this, so I want to start by asking how you are, and at which point of your life and career you are now?
Charity Children: “Yea, we moved here May 3rd 2011 (we mostly remember this date because it was the combination to our shared bike lock for many years.) But it’s insane that it’s been 10 years. So much has happened - so it makes sense - but 10 years seems monumental. It’s basically a third of our lives- and the majority of our adulthood. Like so many, we never planned to be here so long, but we can’t quite shake it. We’re both making music and films/music videos as our main creative outlet. We’ll be putting out a lot this year.”
Elliot McKee and Chloë Lewer (Charity Children). Photo by Caroline Mackintosh
I have to tell you that by listening to your music I get my own memories of this city all mixed up. In a way your music is a kind of soundtrack that crosses emotional borders, implicitly carrying the memories of many of so many people in a city that has welcomed so many of us. Does this even make any sense for you too?
Charity Children: “Yea, sure, that makes sense to us. Life is sort of written in soundtracks- like a certain smell- music is profoundly emotive. Like, I may not be able to give you the exact date of some moment in the past- but I can certainly tell you what was playing on the radio as it happened. During our first 5 years here we spent so many of our days playing on Berlin streets. As we got to know the city- the city got to know us. We’d pop up on sunny afternoons, balmy evenings or anywhere/anytime people had the space and pleasure to allow some street music to score their lives. Especially at places like Mauerpark- the pleasure to play alongside some beautiful musicians on Sunday afternoons when the mood was festive- and everyone's afternoon was a kind of collective experience. To be forever lodged into many positive memories because we were part of the soundtrack of those afternoons is, of course, an honour. People may forget us, but there’ll always be those catchy little melodies circling somewhere in the back of their minds when they think of those days.”
After several years as Charity Children and two albums out there, a few years ago you decided to make a stop to follow different paths. After 5 years since your last album, without a doubt it was great news to know that there will be new music coming soon, but what has made you come together again and how different are you from those you were 5 years ago?
Charity Children: “We feel like completely different people to the ones we were 5 years ago (for better or worse). The whole dynamic of the band is unrecognisable. When we were busking and touring and releasing our first two albums we were not only bandmates- but a couple. This, of course, added it’s own vibe to the music. But shortly after we released our second album ‘Fabel’ we broke up. We were both heartbroken. There was talk about continuing the project despite the break-up, but we soon realised that we just couldn’t. I mean, we’d always considered ourselves idealists, but touring an album and continuing a project in the midst of a heavy break-up- no chance. We needed time, we needed to find our individual peace. We had been inseparable for 5 years, we’d moved to a foreign city, we worked together, lived together, created together- we’d lost ourselves in each other.”
“But with time came peace. After a couple years passed, after redefining our relationship into one of great friendship, we started to really miss one of the foundational elements of our connection- our joy in making music together. The phantoms of the past had faded, so we could create together again. A lot of our new music revolves around that journey- but also all the other shit that comes along the way. We’re different people and the music will reflect that. But we’re in a great place and the creative process for the new album was the smoothest, loveliest studio experience we’ve shared together. Irrespective of the result (which we are incredibly happy with) to get back into the studio and to write another chapter of our shared story was a small triumph for us and a deliberate choice of love over fear.”
Today there’s a new music video for your first release. A video with a very cool first minute, and a song that I loved. It seems to me like a heartbreaking but yet beautiful song that sounds like life itself. Because daring to love is betting on living, something that should never be a bad decision. About the song, I wonder if it is a way to make peace with your past history, whatever that is?
Charity Children: “Yea, most definitely. The song itself is quite light, quite joyful- but the theme is a little more earnest than the song sounds.”
“Love is trouble. And we spend most of our lives trying to avoid trouble. So why do we love? Mostly because we can’t help it. But I guess we all wonder at some point, is love more trouble than it’s worth? And what do we do with it once it’s over?”
“When reflecting on broken relationships we often mournfully pronounce that ”It didn’t work out”. ‘We Loved’ questions the flawed nature of this common phrase. What is ‘working out’ in a relationship anyway? When two people share a meaningful love is it automatically invalidated when it ends- as most things do? Surely not. We did work, and then we didn’t… but we still worked. 'We loved and that is something they can never take away’. The song is indeed inspired by the end of our own romantic relationship and our eventual, sometimes formidable decision, not to mourn what we’d lost - but to celebrate what we had.”
The honesty that is breathed in your lyrics undoubtedly helps your music sound so authentic and it sure has a lot to do with what I mentioned before about my memories. But, putting so much of yourself is not risky in a world as socially complex as this we live in or on the contrary is something therapeutic for you?
Charity Children: “Ah, it’s not too risky for us. As artists, it’s all we have to work with really. Many won’t like it, or disagree with the things we say. They have their own truth. Beautiful. But this is ours. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, our truth will touch that of another person. And shit- that’s everything. If through our expression it helps reveal a truth in another, ufff, delicious. When you hear an artist you’ve never met and who has grown up in another world suddenly singing a lyric that just flaws you- because you could never put it in such a precise way, but that’s exactly how you feel- that’s everything. It helps reveal yourself to yourself. What a gift. Now, we’ve been the recipients of that many times and we don’t know if our music will do that for anyone, but we’d be incredibly touched if it did.”
After several years separated and immersed in musical projects very different from the indie folk sound of your first two albums, what can we expect from the new songs by Charity Children?
Charity Children: “We think the sound has changed a lot. I mean, it’s still our writing style, and it’s still our voices. And the change in our sound wasn’t necessarily intentional- simply a reflection of the different places we are in our lives, our tastes changing and in the way the album was produced. This is our first ‘studio’ album. In the past we were primarily a live band who would write songs- perform them live 100’s of times- and then go into the studio to record something that had already been almost fully developed. This time we went into the studio with just a collection of lyrics and melodies - 14 songs we knew we wanted to produce but without many preconceived notions of how they should sound. We felt far more free to experiment and develop a sound that was detached from any consideration of how it should sound live. The process felt more exhilarating because we were inventing as we went, as opposed to the pressures of trying to capture something that had already been invented.”
“We’re also five years older than we were the last time we made music together- we’re different people. In that time we’ve been heartbroken numerous times, we’ve lost loved ones, we’ve made incredible friendships, we've seen new places, we’re inspired by new things. Like everyone, life doesn’t stop evolving- change is inevitable - so it would be artistically dishonest to not allow your music to change with you. Whatever we settled on in this album is simply a reflection of where and who we are right now- just like the previous albums were reflections of previous selves- who are almost strangers now.”
Like so many others, I imagine that the pandemic coincided with the plans to make or record the new songs. Have the restrictions and their consequences altered in any way the plans or even the type of songs that you finally released?
Charity Children: “It didn’t affect the music we made because all of the initial recordings were made pre-covid. It definitely muddled and postponed our plans for the release though, but that always seems to be the case- pandemic or not. Now, music videos are another story. We’re in production for two music videos right now and are having to navigate all of the restrictions that come with working with a bunch of people face-to-face. But limitations aren’t always a bad thing- they make you look and think in ways you may not have without them. New ideas come to mind. In situations like this it’s important to embrace limitations - so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
There are many benefits of music. No one would doubt its therapeutic capabilities. Understanding the complexity of the moment we are living in, it is still paradoxical as in a moment when it is more necessary than ever, where so many people feel so alone and mentally exhausted, the absence of live music is practically total. How is this never ending moment affecting you on a personal level?
Charity Children: “So many have lost so much during this time and we’ve been lucky in many ways- but, of course, the absence of live music is tough. We try not to dwell on what we’ve missed out on, but to concentrate and fantasise about just how incredible it will be to safely stand shoulder to shoulder with friends - or even strangers- and allow yourself to fall under the spell that live music often casts. It’ll be like quenching a thirst-sometimes it’s only when actually drinking something that you realise how thirsty you were.”
What plans do you have in terms of releases or even live shows for the next few months or at least for the moment when life can resemble what we had now a year ago?
Charity Children: “No plans to tour at this stage- booking anything at the moment feels like a bit of a fool's errand. We do plan to record a series of live videos in the coming months though. As we wrote these songs for the studio- none of them have ever been played live. To sit down with a band and start work up some live versions is a rather exciting prospect though.”
Chloë Lewer and Elliot McKee (Charity Children). Photo by Caroline Mackintosh
To start finishing this questionnaire, festnoise is about music but especially about music festivals so do you have any good, bad or fun memories of experiences in a music festival you want to share?
Charity Children: “There’s a few too many to choose from! We once played at a festival in Germany and an intense thunderstorm started during our set and we had to evacuate the stage, which actually then collapsed ten minutes after we left it. That festival was pretty badly sued that year (not by us!). And of course, that time we met Patti Smith backstage at a festival and Chloë coyly approached her to sign her copy of ‘Just Kids’ which she happened to be reading at the time on tour (it’s still one of our favourite novels of all time). We spent years on the road and at festivals with our bandmates, who were all pretty hectic and wild…”
“And of course playing on the street was a festival everyday. It meant that we met characters from all walks of life, from all over the globe. Some of them became good friends of ours. Some of them became our bandmates. Some of them we'd prefer not to run into again, ha! When we were new to Berlin in 2011, we busked at Brandenburger Tor and on our lunch break, we sat with the other buskers which were two painted ‘statues’ and a Berlin bear mascot - who struggled to eat his Currywurst.”
Which are your favourite festivals as music fans and in which ones do you dream of playing?
Charity Children: “Our favourite music festival is ‘Fusion Festival’. We’ve actually played there about four times - we love it's wild wonderland- it’s non-commercial and no police are allowed on site. We feel very lucky to have played there many times and it’s one of the few festivals that we’d still attend even if we’re not playing. Another amazing festival which is fairly new and still very intimate is ‘People Festival’ which has taken place just a couple times in Berlin. It’s less of a festival and more of a musical workshop for very established artists who spend a week writing new songs together and performing rare material with other incredible artists, as well as local choirs and dancers. We were lucky enough to have been in a small room to hear Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and The National jamming together. Seeing Feist was incredible. It’d be a dream to be invited there!”
Don’t miss anything about Charity Children by following them on Facebook and Instagram but specially listen to their music on Spotify
Cover photograph by Caroline Mackintosh
