Charlie Jones is apparently the alias of Sint-Niklaas, Belgium born all-round artist Jan Verstraeten. An alias under which he shows quite some versatility : he makes paintings, he sculptures, “installations” (as to whàt kind of installations, the info source I have is somewhat vague), and of course also music.
Originally, his “Big Band” was just a duo, consisting of himself on guitar & vocals, and Joris De Bock (also a member of Vogue) on drums. With inspirations from the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Beatles, Tom Waits, and Led Zeppelin amongst others (Verstraeten is also very partial to music genre outside the Rock and Pop idiom, such as Gospel, Folk and Soul), the duo first produces a demo entitled Because We're Young, which apparently attracted enough attention, so that the next recording session was “subsidized” by Quadrofoon Records, who got the debut full-length Wash The Dirt Off These Hands (releases date June 5th, 2010) a decent distribution in the Benelux via Suburban. Since then, Verstraeten, aka Charlie Jones, has found a couple more musicians whom understand him in Steph Van Uytfanck (on keyboards and occasional mouth harmonica) and Koen De Gendt (bass).
In spite of the title of the album, Verstreaten/ Jones is still a young man, in fact only 22 years old, and perhaps it's this “youth” which makes him so uncertain of things in general? It turns out he's still full of doubts, doesn't know how to profile himself in his relations, his artwork, and his music! These things have become the topics of his songs' lyrics. Which again brings controversy, as at the same time that he wants to be heard, he does not wanna become a caricature of himself. And while he doubts about himself, he is very much fond of his freedom! Perhaps that's why, although generally speaking his music can be put under the general denominator of “singer-songwriter” Rock, there's so many different undercurrents in the separate songs? (I admit this paragraph was inspired by a part of the info sheet that came with the promo download of the album)
The best place on the Internet to find music by Charlie Jones, is at (www.) charliejonesbigband.com, where you'll find a video for the new album's title track on the home page. In the “music” section, you are allowed to listen to the complete album (unless I'm mistaken, because I didn't really check), and of course the “video” section brings extra (older) videos. To get a better idea of the new album, either check it out at the local record shop, or make due with the 30-second samples usually provided by the trusted online sales sites. Personally, although I am enchanted with the music (in all its variety), I feel slightly taken aback by the somewhat annoying stylings of the lead singer (he's got a slight whine in his semi-high pitched vocals).