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Charlie's biography on AllMusic.com
Review on AMG Charlie Farren writes, arranges, and produces a sound totally different from the onslaught of his previous groups, the Enemy, Balloon, the Joe Perry Project, and Farrenheit. Few hard rockers would take the David Crosby route, and though some of the lyrics come from the heavy metal/hard rock spectrum, there is no denying Farren can find pretty melodies and tunes that, in the past, would be surrounded by volume and high energy. Some of the compositions are downright dazzling in their creation of mood -- Read more here: |  |
 | Charlie Farren in Malden Transcript A dazzling array of voices from Malden have been heard on the radio over the years. From Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky" to Gary Cherone and Extreme's "More Than Words," the city of Malden has enjoyed its piece of the Top 40 radio pie. Charlie Farren has also lit up the airwaves with his unique and appealing style — when on MTV with his own band Farrenheit, released on Warner Brothers Records, or as lead singer of what may have been the hardest rocking version of The Joe Perry Project. | When Steve Tyler and Joe Perry walked away from their partnership in Aerosmith, Tyler carried on with two other guitarists and a harder edge while Joe Perry created a more blues-based group. The Best of the Joe Perry Project: The Music Still Does The Talking Review on AMG: |
The third singer, and the voice on Perry's second Columbia album, was Malden's own Charlie Farren, and the hits from that disc, "East Coast/West Coast" and "Listen To The Rock", both composed by Farren, became signature tunes of the Joe Perry band. Charlie Farren was involved in the composition of 60 percent of the 1981 "I've Got The Rock 'n' Rolls Again" album, actually making him the logical extension of Joe Perry's "artistic side" of the toxic twins (the press description of Tyler/Perry's volatile relationship), Charlie Farren replacing Steve Tyler as voice and co-author. The good news for Perry fans? Charlie isn’t actually toxic.
This writer has written pages upon pages of reviews of Charlie's work since the 1980s, and if readers want to check out the AllMusic.com site and put "Charlie Farren" in the search, they'll find an extensive biography and many critiques of his recordings. For this article, we've decided on an interview with Mr. Farren.
Malden Observer: You were born in Whidden Hospital in Everett, August 27, 1953. Did your family live in Everett or Malden at the time? Charlie Farren: My parents were both from Everett, but moved to Malden before I was born. My dad's family immigrated to Everett via Ellis Island from Northern Ireland (Belfast). To offer a little historical perspective, at the time of his coming to America (1927), 'Irish Need Not Apply' signs were common, and anti-Irish discrimination (particularly Northern Irish) was open in schools, in municipal government, and in society in the Boston area — which had very Brahmin and Anglophile roots.
Joe V: How much time did you spend in Malden?
Charile F: Malden was my home base really until I started traveling with my first professional band, Live Lobster. Once I started touring, I still returned to Malden when I was home, at least until well into the Balloon years. (Charlie formed a harder rocking band which played original music and named it "Balloon").
 | World Gone Wild 2002 On the front cover of Charlie Farren's second solo album away from Farrenheit, the singer/guitarist takes a pair of scissors to locks of his hair above the left eye. The image of being his own barber has lots in common with this project, where he has Bob Enik on lead guitar for one song only. That song, "Get a Life," sounds like the singer is saying "Caroline" for the hook (it's the title "Get a Life"), a cool rock & roll jaunt where the listener has to turn the focus up. |
JV: Were you aware of Norman Greenbaum, Preacher Jack and other Malden artists when you lived in the city?
CF: I didn't know Preacher Jack; in fact, I just met him about a year ago when he opened a show I did. I was aware of Norman but never met him. He was the only real recording musician any of my Malden friends knew of, so we were pretty impressed. In those days getting into the music business was a complete mystery to us!
JV: Please take us through the first bands you were in, and what cities they were based in.
CF: The first band had three different names: the Ancient Mariners, White Knights, and the Internationals. They only did one or two gigs, so the names were a reflection of whatever the members thought was cool at the time. These were really little-kid bands: four-chord bands where we'd all plug guitars and mics into the same amp!
Four Letter Word 2003 Hearing the jazz of "Minds Made Up," it is hard to picture Charlie Farren as the hard rocking lead singer of the Joe Perry Project, and his own band, Farrenheit. One of the most prolific members of the Boston music community, Farren continues the work initiated on Deja Blue in 1999 and continued throughout 2002's World Gone Wild. Perhaps appearing on the band Boston's Corporate America disc (also from 2002) was enough hard rock for Farren in this turn of the century as he concentrates on folk/pop and explores lyrical imagery on this release. |  |
JV: What about Blue Willow, your group with Billy Christie on drums, and Henry Peterson on bass? CF: This was my high school band. We were good, but not among the more popular bands even in my high school, and didn't know enough songs to actually play a gig, which was usually a dance. We did win the star of show award in the high school variety show one year though, playing as a trio we did an original song called 'UNITE!' My friend, Scott Kingsly, ran a light show, complete with home-made, motor driven 'strobe lights' and overhead projector petri-dish displays! We may have won because of Scott. It was a thrill though, and it was the night that I caught the bug for performing.
JV: And then there was Live Lobster.
CF: Live Lobster was the first professional band I was in. It was five-piece; I was the singer and did not play guitar. Ken Kalayjian and Bob Kilbashian were the guitarists, Bob Sutton on drums, Joe Bourke on Bass…they all sang. This is where I really learned how to sing. We played in every club from Philly to Maine to Syracuse, the whole Northeast. We'd play four to seven nights a week for 40 - 45 weeks a year, and we did that for two or three years — maybe 1973 to 75 or longer. We'd have to carry our own PA and lights, as no clubs had them in those days, and we'd have to play four to six sets a night. The big club in Boston was The Kenmore Club and they had a downstairs room called K-K-K-Katy's that held about 800 people, and that booking was for two weeks at a time, seven nights a week, six sets per night, except Sunday was seven sets! I learned how to be a rock and roller in those days boy. K-K-K-Katy’s had some great acts play there: The New York Dolls, Aerosmith, up and coming acts like Johanna Wild, Bozo Rock Opera, ITMB, Rick Berlin's Orch. Luna, etc. It's curious that The Rat is most often written about as the definer of the Boston scene. That room was cool, but not the only good room, and a lot smaller.
JV: That's a good observation, Charlie. The Rat was opened when Barry & The Remains moved from a Boston University hall across the street to The Rathskellar basement. But K-K-K-Katy's, part of a three-club complex that, you noted, was called The Kenmore Club, had a big impact on the scene for many years. What happened after Live Lobster? CF: Ken and I left Live Lobster to form Balloon. It was a scary move because Lobster was popular and we were earning our living touring. But although we weren't really a 'cover' band (we were more of a rock band, more like the Black Crowes doing a Faces song than a cover band doing Four Seasons) we weren't doing originals. We went to see Aerosmith at Katy's and again in Revere at a place called 'Scarborough Fair', and thought, ‘I can do this!’ So we started developing an all original repertoire and began to really catch on. Loud and heavy! We started to try to establish ourselves as a one or two set act, and began filling places like The Club, The Rat, Jasper’s in Somerville, and eventually started headlining and filling The Channel (1,400 capacity). We had a couple of songs on area radio that really fueled that success. The first was 'East Coast, West Coast' and the second was 'Listen To The Rock', which was on the top ten at both WBCN and WCOZ for 11 weeks. We had a live broadcast from The Channel, that was aired in its entirety on WCOZ. We began performing regionally and traveling to NYC regularly. Atlantic took an interest in the band, and Ahmet Ertegun took an interest in my songwriting. Ironically, Ahmet liked the songs that I wrote that the band didn't play. Balloon’s rise, and Atlantic's interest, was interrupted by my joining up with Joe (Perry of Aerosmith) in 1980.
JV: So tell us about Joe Perry Project.
CF: It was a big thrill to meet and work with Joe, and an eye-opener to really peak behind the show-biz curtain and see how things worked. Don Law was managing Joe at the time, and Don had a great team of very professional, experienced, seasoned folks. I was very impressed with Don and his team, and very impressed with Joe's band. Dave Hull is just the greatest, and Ron Stewert was such an accomplished professional drummer, we recorded the record in a matter of a few weeks. I was surprised by Joe's approach. Aerosmith's calling card, besides the big guitar riffs, is great grooves and clever, punchy, precisely-played arrangements. So I was expecting that. Joe had those big riffs alright, but he was much more in the moment, much more raw and edgy. He wanted to make a punk-rock record, more Clash or Sex Pistols. So we mapped out some songs, set up on stage at The Opera House, and roared through them as tape rolled (The Record Plant mobile unit). We were writing lyrics on paper taped to the floor and just were ripping through and keeping first takes. I thought it was fun, and we ended up with a pretty cranked-sounding record. So Joe wanted something completely different than either Aerosmith or the first JPP record. To this day, so many people write to me saying that record is in their personal top ten. It's almost an underground gem. Folks still call out some of those songs at my shows. Farrenheit still does 'East Coast, West Coast', 'Listen To The Rock', and 'I've Got The Rock & Rolls Again'. South Station Blues was another favorite of mine, and I still play that from time to time in my solo shows. Joe was also very open to co-writing, which I thought to be generous. We co-wrote four songs on that record, and we also did two of mine, two of David's, and two of Joe's. That was a great band, and it would have developed into an really powerful unit, but it became clear that Aerosmith was not over, they were only on hold. And Dave and I saw that writing on the wall, so we made a move and started our own band.
JV: Which you called ‘The Enemy.’
CF: Dave and I started looking for a new lineup and format that would work. Allen Devine came in to play guitar, a great writer and guitarist, and he reminded me of a cross between George Harrison and Jeff Beck. Alan has his own band and still making great, original music — a real artist. But soon we pulled most of the Balloon guys back because so much was already in place with those relationships: Ken Kalayjian on lead guitar, Dave Hull on bass, Bob Sutton on Drums, and we added Paul Curran on keys. We were instantly very popular regionally, packing clubs around New England, and doing opening slots for larger bands like Aerosmith, The Smithereens, Blue Oyster Cult, Twisted Sister, Joe Cocker, etc. We had a regional radio hit with 'America Rocks.’ The Enemy did a live concert in the street in Worcester that was aired on TV38 and simlucast on WAAF.
JV: What about the Atlantic Records connection, Aziz Goksel and Ahmet Ertegun?
CF: After a couple of years, we reconnected with Atlantic and Ahmet. Ahmet came out to see the band, and came several times to hang with me in my apartment where I had my studio, just to talk and listen to records and songs I'd written. He was very high on my songs and singing, but felt that The Enemy was good, but not unique enough to be interesting. Dance music was popular at the time and a five-piece rock band was not on Atlantic's must-have list. He signed me to Atlantic to write and develop my songs. Ironically, that's really what I do in my solo show; the music that caught Ahmet's ear is well-represented in my later solo CD Deja Blue. He loved the stuff but felt he couldn't get radio to play it, urging me to keep writing and waiting for the right time. I was impatient, and both Dave and I were itching to get back on the road, so I asked for, and was graciously allowed, to leave Atlantic to pursue a new rock band. Looking back it seems silly to not take the advice of someone like Ahmet — he well may have been right! But leaving at that time gave David and I a chance to take advantage of a new opportunity that was to present itself.
JV: Which takes us to Farrenheit.
CF: Leaving Atlantic got me out of 'writing and waiting', which can be trying, and back into action mode. When The Enemy did the WAAF/TV38 simulcast show the opening act was Steve Cataldo from The Nervous Eaters and his new band The Reflectors. I had always been a big fan of Steve's and made sure to catch his set. The band was great. Dave and I watched the show, and Steve's drummer, Muzz, really caught our attention; we thought this might be our guy. I was also impressed with Derick Dyer who was playing Sax/Keys/Vocals. Derick later joined us in LA where we recorded the Farrenheit record. After recruiting Muzz, we experimented with some backup singers and had Derick on Sax for a while, but we really liked the way we sounded as a trio. I hadn't been playing guitar on stage for very long, but was starting to develop a fuller style and we agreed to try to go as a trio. But I needed to make money, and had been invited to perform with a jam band for a very limited number of shows. The lineup changed over time, but it was a great, fun bunch of terrific musicians, and one of those relationships connected Farrenheit with Warner Brothers and fast-tracked our Warners deal.
We played at The Channel, and I managed to get my new trio, Farrenheit, to be the opener. It would be our first gig. It was a sold-out room, and in the audience was Roger's friend and Foghat manager, Tony Outeda, who approached us after the show and said he wanted to sign us to Warner Brothers. Dave and I looked at each other and said, OK, look dude, we've been around and know that's not how it works . . so we didn't believe him. He showed up about two weeks later at a Farrenheit show at Bunrattys with a small recorder in his hand, and again told us he wanted to bring us in to Warners, but we were skeptical. A few days later I get a call from Russ Thyrette with Tony on a conference line. Russ basically said 'Tony's the real deal, we want you at Warners, and we want Tony to manage you.' As they say in the music business, boom. Originally published in The Malden Observer, Thu Oct 02, 2008, 04:19 PM EDT By Joe Viglione / recordreview2001[@}yahoo.com
 | FARRENHEIT 1987 (Warner Brothers) Charlie Farren was lead singer of the Joe Perry Project six years prior to the release of this Keith Olsen-produced record. It is arena rock, make no doubt about that, but it is great arena rock. Farren is a tremendous singer, frontman, and songwriter. He's appeared on Bad Company's Fame & Fortune disc as well as The Heat by Nona Hendrix, but the industry has failed to give him his due. Read more here: |
FARRENHEIT Raise The Roof 1999 The title track says it all: "Raise the Roof" is a rock & roll anthem and the follow-up to the Warner Brothers debut Farrenheit by Charlie Farren's trio. The 1987 Warner's release was produced by Keith Olsen, and this is most likely the material the band was preparing but never got to release. |  |
 | The third installment of the Farrenheit trilogy is as consistent as anything the former lead singer for the Joe Perry Project has released. Greasetown and its predecessor, Raise the Roof, are Charlie Farren's musical statements, post the Warner Brothers debut produced by Keith Olsen, Farrenheit. "Signal in the Noise," track eight, epitomizes what Farren is all about; a voice superior to Eddie Money, Mickey Thomas, Steve Perry, and so many other major stars, the industry still hasn't found a way to get this sound to the masses. Read more here: |
| Release: 2004 Recording 9/11/03 The Boston area power trio Farrenheit has a very distinctive sound live, not the sweeping onslaught of Cream or the unbridled fury of the early Grand Funk Railroad. The two-thirds of this group who were half of the Joe Perry Project in the early 1980s -- singer/guitarist Charlie Farren and bassist David Hull -- have an interesting high end, hard rock punch that is topped off by John Muzzy's treble-tuned drums. The upper timbre rhythm section tension could be accurately described by the liner notes to Live Yardbirds Featuring Jimmy Page -- was the phrase "twin piledrivers" -- leaving the mid-range up to Farren whose guitar adds the grunge bottom to the disc, the very appreciative crowd also bringing a sort of mid-range to the table. Read full article here: |  |
ALBUMS CHARLIE APPEARS ON
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