Chuck Love

How do you pack all that soul, funk, fire, and love into one skinny white dude?

Chuck Love (AKA Charlie Erickson)
Has found his calling. Behind the decks, and the microphone where the groove is musical and solid. Good vibes flow out of the
HI-FI as infectious hooks float, smoky chords punch, and solos fly, in this sensitive yet effective beat-down for your head, your soul, and your rump.

Chuck was born and raised in Minneapolis Minnesota where music found him at a very early age.
he displayed the spooky ability to pick out melodies and play them back on the piano as early as age 3. His ear abilities had him correcting his second grade music teacher when her arrangements were over simplified, and encouraged her to "play this chord like they do on the record"
 The sixth grade band director would shake his head in disapproval,
or disbelief when Chuck would fill in the "cool parts" that weren't on the page, and subsequently he never learned to read music.

The first time Chuck heard Bach, it was from the modular Moog synthesizer of Walter Carlos (Switched on Bach)
And this began his fascination and love for electronic music.
The 70's playlist included  Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kraftwerk, Gary Wright, as well as Andre Crouch and the Disciples, Bob Marley, and the Staples singers.

In his early teens Chuck's very supportive parents hooked him up with an arsenal of toys to keep him out of trouble.
By 15 he was recording songs by playing drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards to his Teac 4 track.
He still found time to get in trouble.

As the 80's arrived the prog rock was replaced by punk rock, but another cultural phenomenon was about to drop that would change everything.
Suddenly the street found Kraftwerk, DJs found new crazy things to do with their records that nature never intended, and Chuck found himself deploying his DMX drum machine and OB-8 synth amidst, headspining break dancers, motor mouth MCs, and DJs that make the record go back and forth wikiwikiwiki.
A scene that was more creative, and more "punk" for that matter than anything the 19 year old had previously seen.
An art form that could be tough as nails one minute and over the top campy the next.
This was the kind of cultural train wreck that would set the table for more than two decades of inspiration.

Chuck's shout out to the Oberheim DMX (Digital Drum Machine)
Malcolm X (No sell out)
New Order "Blue Monday"
Grandmaster Flash and Mel e Mel (white lines/New York New York)
Malcolm Mclaren (Buffalo Gals)
Herbie Hancock (Rock-it)

As the 80's marched on, Chuck would occasionally find himself on stage at First Avenue doing cameo performances on the club's packed weekend nights.
These were the days when The Replacements, Soul Asylum,
Husker DU, Babes in Toyland, and The Suburbs ruled.
Oh yeah, there was Prince, who actually caught one of these performances and was impressed enough to invite Chuck to audition for "The Family".

Out of this period would come a collaboration with singer/ guitarist Jimmy Harry. The duo was called Hanover Fist,
and recorded for Wide Angle/Twintone records, eventually getting a singles deal with Capitol..
Sitting next to First Ave's resident DJ Roy Freedom, Chuck went to school on the eclectic sounds of: Prince, Laid Back, Sisters of Mercy
New Order, The Cure, Neitzer Ebb, Front 242, Ministry, The The, Arthur Baker, Madness, Scriti Politi, Art Of Noise, Talking Heads, Thomas Dolby, Yello, and the latest tape edit by the Latin Rascals.

Chuck's favorite beatmix of the period:
"woodbeez" (Scriti Politi)  into:
 "You are in my System" (Robert Palmer)

Studio duties at the time included sessions for Trip Shakespeare, New Occupants, Run Westy Run, and the "Love Theme" for Mystery Science Theater 3000.

1989 marked the opening of Blue Light Music.
Chuck's studio and music production company specializing in music for video. This was at a time when you needed little machines to run the big machines that synchronized to the machine in the corner.

Chuck Spent the 90's between 2 Yamaha NS-10M monitors.

After a break from live performance, and the club scene in general, He ventured back to First Ave. and re-discovered the 4/4.
DJs Jezus Juice,  and Dean Vaccaro, teamed up with percussionists Joseph Pettini, and Slowride Davis to form Tambuca, and enlisted Chuck as a multi-instrumentalist.
Tambuca faves include:
Mambana, Lego, Masters at Work, Jazzanova, Senor'Coconut, and Nova Frontiera,
This immersion into house music seduced Chuck into producing, and spinning it.

First track out of the box is Nymphonix "Off My Mind" with vocalist Andra Suchy
This track caught the attention of Bryan Gerrard and David Drone.
These two Minneapolis taste makers released it on their Celebrity records imprint with mixes by the DeeGees, and Jay-J.
This coincided with Chuck's first trip to Miami for the Winter Music Conference.
"Miami was a real eye-opener. The combination of sun, sand, and sub-woofers was an education how to "get it done". It was mind bending to see the world's best talent, and biggest fans converging in such a perfect setting" says Love.
Nymphonix would follow-up with "Arms Around You" on Celebrity which featured reworks by Bryan Gerrard and Andy Caldwell.

When Monte Hilleman, another Minnepolis soul head launched Vino Recordings, Chuck was tapped. First as instrumentalist on "Raindrops" Feat. DeMonica Followed by the first Chuck Love solo EP.
"Take Me" and "Close Enough" The wax featured mixes by Monte and Jask, and stormed the DJ mag hype chart to #13.

Chuck Love "Frozen in Minneapolis EP" released on Miguel Migs' Salted Music imprint presented 3 original mixes.
"Spread The Love" feat. DeMonica, El Divorcee', and "Back in my Life" with vocalist and songwriter FOURFEET. (AKA Justin Thompson).

Support from the likes of Migs, Kaskade, Heather, Fred Everything, Hardsoul, Jay-J, Julius Papp, MFR, Groove Junkies, and Marques Wyatt. made "Back in My Life" one of the most unavoidable tracks of WMC 2005.

Now you're sure to find Chuck behind the decks juggling vocals, guitar, flute, sawed-off black trumpet, percussion,  and that weird little keyboard thingy with the huka hose on it, bumping through a largely original set that runs from lush chords and organic textures to straight up speaker freakin' electro-thump.
You have never seen anything like this DJ/Live alchemy, and your fist will pump as you realize that there's a truck load of soul, funk, fire, and Love packed into that skinny white dude.

2005 Uberfly
 
 
 

photos: Geoffrey George