THE CALL FROM UPSTAIRS
Photo: Sophia Fascenelli
The Call from Upstairs is an indie-new-dark wave band from Orange County, CA. The band is made up of members: Frontman & songwriter, Brendan Charles; drummer, Adrian Orizabal; bassist, Connor Youmans; and guitarist & keys, Anthony Cereveo. Here are some questions we asked frontman, Brendan Charles, and what he had to say:
Sophia Fascenelli: How did you come up with your band name?
Brendan Charles: I had a strange dream where I was at a house and I heard this eerie voice calling my name from up the stairs, so that’s where The Call from Upstairs originated.
SF: What inspired you to start creating music?
BC: I’ve been skilled in playing the piano since I was four years old, but I never did much with it until I went to college in Los Angeles. I lived by myself at the time and didn’t know what to do so I started recording voice memos and sounds for fun. I didn’t know where to start. It wasn’t until 2019 that I met with an old friend, who’s a producer, who taught me how to use Ableton Digital Audio Workstation. Learning how to mess with audio led me to mess around creating and playing music in my garage. That’s where I made my first song, Show me the Light, which has an 80s throwback sound to it.
SF: Who are your musical influences?
BC: There are tons of them: Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Chris Isaak, The Cramps, and Interpol. Interpol had a big influence on me. All these bands are big influences because I like all kinds of music. I’ll be writing a dark-goth-wave song and then all of a sudden I’ll hear an ABBA song and will want to make a cool melody out of it. I appreciate all genres and sounds.
SF: I’ve noticed you guys don’t release albums, only singles, why is that?
BC: I think albums are a conservative idea. I never listen to an album in its entirety, just songs by themselves. I don’t like to stick to one sound for each song, especially in this day and age of playlists and streaming. I think it’s more effective to promote one song, rather than an album with ten songs.
SF: If you could collaborate with any artist in the world, who would it be and why?
BC: Either Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, or Lana Del Rey. I’d like to work with Trent Reznor because he’s a composer and I think I’d learn a lot from him. However, Lana Del Rey would be fun to work with. I think her voice and romantic-moody style is very unique. I’m a big fan of her older stuff like Ultraviolence; it’s very moody and I like moody things.
SF: Are you working on any new music or planning anything exciting we can look forward to?
BC: Our new song, How Could I Refuse to Love You? just came out. We’re recording new music all the time and we plan on booking a few summer shows soon.