Style: House

Charlie doesn't really like talking about himself and trying to get him to reveal detailed biographical information is difficult at best. This is due in part to having been born and raised in the upper Midwest, where modesty and humility are highly valued personality traits. If you talk to his friends, you can begin to assemble a picture of his past. He's lived his entire life in Minneapolis and is a fiercely proud 4th generation Minneapolitan. Although clever and mischievous and despite several close calls while growing up, he managed to avoid any serious repercussions for his youthful indiscretions. In regards to music, Charlie's parents enrolled him in piano lessons when he was little, he played in jazz combos in high school, and is a bit of a multi-instrumentalist. Over time he's managed to cobble together a small home studio and has been writing his own music for a number of years.

In order to get any insight into his past direct from the source, one needs to ask oblique, leading questions that can only be answered by personal stories. We've managed to extract details about three formative experiences in his life that led him to be the DJ he is today.

Formative experience number one: Dance Fever, an obsession with dance music is born
Unless you have an unhealthy knowledge of late 70's / early 80's television or remember a brief aside in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the term "Dance Fever" holds little, if any, significance. In fact, we had to scour IMDB and youtube to even find any reference to it. Dance Fever was a syndicated variety series that featured amateur dancers performing to the hottest disco tracks of the day; their rountines being graded by a panel of b-list "celebrities." As a small child growing up, Charlie LOVED this show. There is photographic evidence of a two year old Charlie Echo watching the television screen with wide eyed amazement as the dancers twirled and gyrated to the throbbing disco beat. A seed was planted that would burst forth and bloom years down the line. This is also the source of the secret love of disco that lurked behind the rock and roll veneer of his teenage years.

Formative experience number two: Discovery of tha' funk
1995. PBS. "Rock and Roll" documentary. Episode 8: Make it Funky. Like any self-confessed music nerd, Charlie had been religiously watching this mini-series on the local PBS affiliate, KTCA channel two, for the better part of a week and a half. While the previous episode, "Walk on fhe Wild Side" had stirred his interest in glam and art rock, episode 8 put a serious twist on his musical tastes. While the segments on James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone were informative, it was George Clinton and the Parlia-Funkadelic mob that blew his mind. The mothership descended, Dr. Funkenstein deployed his clones, the Starchild unlocked the secrets of the pyramids, Sir Nose learned to dance, and the Bop Gun Brigade funkatized galaxies with the Flashlight. We're not entirely sure what any of that last sentence means either, but Charlie gets very excited when talking about it and we didn't have the heart to make him stop. Here began his obsession with the bass, the funk, and Bootsy Collins.

Formative experience number three: The Birth of a Gear Fiend
Charlie had DJ'ed a couple of high school events in his junior and senior years and had gotten hooked. Between the thrill of playing in front of an audience and being able to musically take the crowd where he wanted to go, he knew that this was something he needed to do again and again and again. Following his buddy Jake's example, in the summer of 2001 he invested in a pair of turntables and a mixer. He spent more than he should have on what, at the time, seemed like little more than a pipe dream. However, it was on that rig that he learned how to beat match, how to mix tracks together, and the true meaning of the term "money hole."

In all, Charlie spins a variety of "House" sub-genres and is flexible enough to be able to adapt to different crowds and different DJ's. In the end it's all about how good of a set you throw, and Charlie prides himself on throwing some of the best.