With a background in both song and dance Char has performed in one capacity or another from a very young age. Her first venture into a recording studio came courtesy of Tones On Tail’s Glenn Campling who recorded her very first attempt at his home studio in Northampton. A couple of years after that initial recording Char taped two covers at Roger Rideout’s space again in Northampton (Roger was a member of Jam, an early pre-Bauhaus band featuring both Kevin Haskins and David J, as well as playing with Accrington Stanley, an internationally renowned world class Beatles tribute act). Ironically, one of the tracks Roger recorded with Char was her take on The Beatles Come Together, but Michael Jackson’s arrangement of the song. Although recorded very much for her own use with no release in mind one of these vocal performances did eventually find an official release on last years Record Store Day special Analogue Excavations and Dream Interpretations (Volumes 1 & 2) by David J and Tim Newman.
Tim Newman, a regular contributor and working associate of David J is also one third of the brilliant, ethereal Love is a Ghost. Craig Tattersall and Char herself make up the remainder. But this is perhaps jumping the gun a little…
Tim was working on material with David J when he was hit by a thought that Char’s voice may work as backing on a version of Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon). However, despite both their best efforts the session was unsuccessful and aborted but not without Char taking full advantage of the Bristol based musician’s studio – they subsequently recorded 3 original compositions. This ultimately led to Tim inviting Char back to Bristol to add backing vocals to a cover of John Cale’s Fear is a Man’s Best Friend, a piece he was working on with David J for a new Glass Records compilation, so impressed was David of Char’s performance and the blending of their two voices that an invitation came from Paul Statham (B-Movie, Dido, Kylie Minogue, Peter Murphy) for his Dark Flowers project, a multi-artist ensemble including amongst others Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr, Shelly Poole (Alisha’s Attic) and Dot Allison (Massive Attack). Paul was working on a series of murder ballads and had invited David to record a version of Sonic Youth’s classic Death Valley ’69. Purely on the strength of her contribution to Fear David invited Char to contribute, turning in a sterling performance, she can also be seen in the video.
In 2021 Love is a Ghost released their debut CD single, the hauntingly beautiful Siren, an original composition (Tim’s arrangement and Char’s lyrics). Siren had a very limited release on Tim’s own Hessian Claw imprint. When their second single was ready (2022) Your Last Day Tim had been working on a series of remixes for Glass Modern’s Dave Barker. So impressed was Barker with this project that he offered to release the single and wanted to include the full nine variants of Siren making the Glass Modern release an epic 19 track CD single!
Back to the Analogue Excavations project, Char appears on a handful of the albums tracks, her unique voice taking these particular pieces in an altogether different direction. The Clock Becomes an Impersonator of Torture was even played at the 2022 Glastonbury by one of the in house DJ’s!
A new Love is a Ghost single is currently in the can; Vampire. Expect a Spring release alongside some special editions and indeed special guests – with all profits helping fund their as yet untitled debut album.
Using an alternate moniker for this latest release (a very limited CD single is available); Baby Bloodlust aims to run parallel alongside her work with Love is a Ghost (the two projects will though on occasion cross paths).
On the writing of Daryl Dixon:
Char…
“I wrote the song back in 2016 (I was 16 at the time) fresh out of season seven of (AMC’s zombie apocalyptic drama) The Walking Dead. Its safe to say I was inspired by the character (Daryl Dixon) as I saw a lot of myself in him. It sparked a good story for a song. However, I lost all the lyrics to this one when my phone died a sorry and horrible death. So, I had to re-write everything from memory. I never thought I’d ever actually produce it but I’m so glad I believed in it. It’s something I’m very proud of ”.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE: VERY LIMITED COMPACT DISC SINGLES:
LOVE IS A GHOST: SIREN HESSIAN CLAW RECORDS (HC001)
(original private pressing ORDER VIA EMAIL: andyb1919@hotmail.com )
LOVE IS A GHOST: YOUR LAST DAY GLASS MODERN (GLAMCD049)
(ORDER OPTIONS VIA: glassmodern.bandcamp.com)
BABY BLOODLUST: DARYL DIXON (NO CAT NUMBER PRIVATE PRESSING)
(ORDER VIA EMAIL baby.bloodlust@outlook.co or andyb1919@hotmail.com )
Daryl Dixon is also available to stream or purchase via the usual platforms:
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