Charlie Straight
Charlie Straight is an upcoming band originally from Czech Republic. We caught up with frontman, Albert Cerny, to discuss the band’s first UK tour and what it was like recording a song with Oscar-winning singer, Markéta Irgloviá.
Can you tell us a bit about the band?
The band started off in 2006 so we’ve been playing since then. From the first moment we knew we wanted to make it abroad, possibly in an English-speaking country like this one.
How did you come up with the name of the band?
I used it as a chat nickname so it doesn’t really have a good story behind it to be honest.
Who have been your main influences in your music?
That’s always hard to answer. Some people compare us to The Beatles but bands we’re really like these days are for example,’ Bat For Lashes’. We went to see ‘Everything Everything’ at The Great Escape and I personally like a band called Yuck and obviously when I discovered Coldplay when I was fifteen, which was in 2004, I was really thrilled and motivated to have a band as well.
How was ‘The Great Escape Festival’ for you and what was it like being on the line-up?
Well it’s all new bands that we weren’t really aware of but I have to say, Johnny, the bass player of the band, he went to see Iggy Azalea, and he really liked that. He went to see Chvrches as well. We both went to see a band called Swim Deep and I particularly enjoyed Tribes gig.
How does it feel to be on your first UK tour?
Right now it’s a bit chaotic because nobody knows what is going on in terms of where and when we should be there for loading and sound check at certain gigs. Right now we’re in the place of having moved from Brighton to London and trying to find our place is this huge and fairly complicated city.
What’s the story behind your new single, ‘I Sleep Alone’?
It’s a song I wrote at home and I started singing it initially with my sister, she’s called Caroline, and she’s finishing grammar school tomorrow. She’s doing her A Levels or the equivalent to A Levels in the Czech Republic. So we started singing this together and then I had an idea that it would be nice to sing it with some other more established female vocalists. Then I was invited to a breakfast TV show that isn’t very cool because it’s mostly for pregnant women and women on maternity leave. When I first got the invitation I was reluctant to go there but when they said Markéta Irgloviá, which is the girl from the movie, ‘Once’, was going to be there too I was excited and knew it would be nice to catch up with her and maybe even play her this song or something so I went there and we met and I got to know her whole family and her parents and they gave me some homemade cake that day and this is how it kind of kicked off. Then we wanted to record the song and she told me she was living in Iceland and that there was no way we could record it elsewhere, like London or some other town closer to where we live so we said do we have enough money with the band to fly over to Lake Myvatn and make it and at first we thought we didn’t but we found some really cheap accommodation thanks to her boyfriend, who is also the producer of the track, ‘I Sleep Alone’ and we found ourselves a few weeks later in the studio.
What was it like to work with Oscar-winning singer, Markéta Irgloviá?
She’s very tranquil. She’s really peaceful and open to every possible idea that you want to try in the studio and she’s very open and very patient with us as well, as you can imagine with a band of four men in their twenties trying to record a song with a very soft, fragile female vocalist. I think she was very patient and very nice to work with.
What was it like supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers and how was that organised?
We got to support Red Hot Chili Peppers in Prague in August. At first we were scared because we didn’t know what to expect from that band. We didn’t know whether they were going to like us at all but in the end we were playing and watched their faces and they seemed okay. I have to say we were all pleasantly surprised with it and we got some positive comments and feedback.
You’ve gained recognition from huge bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Coldplay. Was this the point in your career when you started to really believe in the band and think you could make it big?
The point hasn’t really come yet but at the same time, after playing The Great Escape, I’m slightly more self-confident in the way people here in the UK might like the music that we make as well and this is a very reassuring feeling for us.
You have a huge fanbase on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube but how did you make yourself known to the public?
I think the key to having this many fans on social networking sites is because we communicate with our fans and keep them updated with what we’re doing at the moment and where we’re travelling. We post some nice and really interesting photos and stories and make video blogs on YouTube. I think it’s really important to try and make as good music videos as we possibly can on a budget. We’re trying to save money and make as good music videos as we possibly can which is why we travelled to New York and slept in a one bedroom apartment in Harlem with the video crew at the ‘School Beauty Queen’ video shot. When we recorded the song in Iceland we also had a guy with us who could make the video. I think basically the videos are very important.
What would it mean for you to play at Glastonbury?
For me it would mean so much that my life would end at that point.
What steps are you taking to ensure you get a spot on the line-up at Glastonbury?
On Wednesday we’re playing at Bath and on Thursday we’re doing the Proud Gallery and on Saturday the 333 Mother Bar. I really look forward to all of them but particularly the gig at the Mother Bar could be really interesting because of the line-up. There’s a band called Alaska Campus that we play with that night and I’m really excited about playing with them because I’ve heard their songs and got in touch with the drummer and manager. They are very friendly yet a very, very good band.
What else is in store for the band?
My plan right now is to try and not get lost in London. I bought some Oyster cards this morning and if we don’t get lost in London than we will probably make it home and we can keep on doing what we’re doing. For the future we’re working on a new video for a song called ‘Crush On A Hooligan’ and this should be out in Autumn, September/October. Hopefully this will be our second UK single so let’s see.
By Claire Lancaster