Interview with Charon

In the past year Charon, a melodic hardcore band from Brighton have gone from playing ‘2 or 3 shows before going to get proper jobs’ to touring Europe. Battling it out to pay their rent in a genre which in their own words is ‘just a trend’, I met up with brothers in the band Leon and Luke Buckmaster to see what sets  the band apart from others at their level. 

By Amber Ainsworth

Luke, vocalist of Charon, is first to greet me in the kitchen of the brother’s family home, phone in hand frantically making sure everything for tonight’s gig at The Scream Lounge, in Croydon, is in order due to him being the promoter as well as playing. After a short wait we are then joined by guitarist Leon, a lot calmer in contrast to his brother but with the same sense of humour. 

Charon, are vocalist Luke Buckmaster and brother Leon on Guitar, Dominic Bass on guitar, Rax behéshti on bass and William Lewis on drums. The band are getting ready for their biggest musical achievements yet playing a 6 date European tour sponsored by Vans and Monster, as well  as writing the follow up E.P to their 2011 ‘Migrating North’ and filming their  music video. With their first few shows played with Heart In Hand, Charon are already one step ahead of anything they have previously achieved. ‘I look back at our first band (Among Wolves) and it was probably one of the worst things we ever did but we wouldn’t be where we are now if we didn’t do it’-Luke explains, still tapping away at his phone. And how have things changed? ‘Well, Leon hasn’t grown but we’ve got a good manager now’ Luke continues to mention this whilst Leon shares his view on their developments ‘We’ve all grown up and we know what were doing now really’.

Things haven’t always been easy in the past year, they’ve played gigs where toilets have been blocked, large audiences have been crammed into 20 capacity venues and PA’s have broken but this band choose to make the best of a bad situation by throwing their anger into the performance. Luke exclaims, ‘It’s good because we all get so pissed off and so angry but when that happens we play so well!’ 

With individual musical influences in the band such as thrash, death metal and American hardcore it’s not hard to see what separates them from their peers. Leon explains their unique take on hardcore by explaining ‘We make songs which mix melodic hardcore with metal bits and alternative ambient bits, oh and some two-ey (Two-Step).’

And as for how they both feel about the current hardcore scene as it is, that’s where I find my title. Leon passes this question over to his brother due to his stronger views on the matter ‘We’re not part of it because it’s elitist. In the past six months it’s come into its own and it seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.  It’s pretty much a bunch of benders who were listening to heavy metal and now they’re getting on the hype.’

So with their ever apparent drive and vastly expanding fan base Charon are set to only go from strength to strength.   ‘ You have to put your life on hold and It’s not a straightforward line to get there, We’ve got to get up the stages left to right, do the ground work and keep going until eventually it’s there’.