Babe Charlie might be the best band that never existed.
It’s actually a fictional band created by Guelph composer Joshua Bowden.
His project Babe Charlie: Live From the Other Side, is what Bowden calls an audio experience with some theatrics involved and he's looking for vocalists and background singers to perform as part of the project.
Bowden first got this idea when he was living in Parry Sound. He wondered that if he did have a band what would it sound like and what would a concert by them look like.
He said he was inspired by the Beatles and their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, because they tried to create art without the limitation of having to perform live.
“Without worrying about making it live I really get that creative freedom to just go crazy with it.” said Bowden.
The project is meant to sound like a live performance. At the beginning there will be interviews with fictional fans, radio hosts and throughout there will banter between the band mates. Sort of a digital Spinal Tap.
“I want it to feel kind of outside the box,” Bowden said.
Part of the theatrics the album puts on is listeners will hear a monster come out on stage and it gets slaughtered.
“When you listen to it the band allegedly already has an established platform. This is just a big concert they’re putting on,” said Bowden.
One of the songs on the eight track record is called, Season of Bees, “She’s small but she’s all I can see/And she’s twice as good as LSD/All I think is what was life before the season of bees”.
Bowden is applying for a $10,000 grant from the Ontario Arts Council. The money would go towards recording the album and making vinyl copies. It will also be available through streaming services Apple and Spotify.
People interested in singing on the record can go here.
