The Black Pepper Band

Charlie Powling

Singer Songwriter

It's taken ten years, but Charlie has slowly built a reputation as one of the best original story-tellers on Darwin's live music circuit, producing his first self-titled album in 2018, a mix of hard hitting rock, folk and country ballads, followed by Traveller In The Storm the following year.

I've always found Charlie reticent to talk about his past, so thought I'd try Julia Zemiro's standard opening question to guest artists on RocKwiz to list their first album bought with their own money. Well, it worked, and I couldn't stop him talking:

"I've got three for you. I came from a politically active family with a proud working-class identity and can remember growing up listening to early Australian folk music, with its origins in the Irish rebellion against English tyranny, and artists like Mahalia Jackson and Paul Robeson bringing the American civil rights movement, and its equivalent campaign for social justice for First Nations Australians, into our lounge room."

"Even though I was only a kid, I started 'preaching' against injustice, I must have been such a know-it-all pain. My musical influences were further widened when my parents bought my very first record, the live recording of Pete Seeker's We Shall Overcome concert at the historic Carnegie Hall in 1963, introducing me to songwriters like Woody Guthrie and Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) and the newly emerging Bob Dylan. I loved that record and played it over and over."

"I then 'borrowed' the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album off my brother-in-law for several weeks, and played it to death, it was so scratched and worn out he had to replace it when I eventually gave it back, and records weren't cheap in those days. I can remember singing along to it in my bedroom, escaping from the outside world."

"And I think my third album, which I bought with my own money, was Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters, full of brilliantly descriptive 'pop' songs."

Charlie talks about how those early influences instilled in him a love of musical narration. "I have always tried to emulate that story-telling within my music, so far not very successfully, but I'll keep trying."

He then went on to list a litany of later influences like John Schumann, Paul Kelly, Sixto Rodriguez, Kev Carmody, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, and the legendary Genya Ravan, and many more far too numerous to mention here, like I said earlier I couldn't shut him up.

Charlie finally got around to officially releasing his first 2 albums to online platforms and national radio in the lead up to his third album Charlie & The Black Pepper Band, released in December 2022. The album's first single was Drive The Highway.

His management team released an additional 3 singles over the course of 2023: Fifteen Of Fame, When My Ship Comes In and King Canute.

Charlie and the Band then went back into the studio to produce their 4th album Movin' On, released in December 2024, and is available on all the on-line music platforms by searching Black Pepper Band.

And, of course, he's now back in the studio laying down tracks for the 5th album, but more about that later!

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The Second Album

Charlie recalls how the 2nd album came together relatively quickly, as most of the songs were already written and being performed live as part of his extensive play list. He decided to call it 'Traveller in the Storm' after the album's second song, as he considered it best described his life: "Tumultuous and full of mistakes and wrong turns, travelling through one storm after another".

Charlie turned to Lindsay Masters (Masters Studios) once again for the production, with Lindsay playing bass on most of the songs as well as contributions on lead guitar and backup vocals. Lindsay sometimes played in Charlie's support band and they had built up a good working relationship. He brought in his son Ben to help out on drums on some of the tracks, and likewise with his wife Linda who contributed with backup vocals on a couple of songs.

Of course, Garry (Jacko) Jackson continued his contribution on both lead guitar, creating many of the riffs, and musical guidance, and again Melanie did most of the backup vocals. By this time, Wayne Wright had joined the band and was quickly nickname The Rock by Charlie because of his constant solid performances, and the ever reliable and clown of the band Dirty Dan Thomas always there backing Charlie on the drums for every significant live performance. Both Wayne and Dan helped shape the development of many of the songs, but ended up not appearing on the recorded versions.

Unfortunately, they lost Danny Thomas to cancer soon after completing the album, telling jokes to the last and how he felt "Sensational". Rest in peace Dirty Dan, you live on in our memories.

One song on the album introduced to the band a new member, a young gun guitarist James (Gravy) Brown, who Melanie recalls first played on Fifteen of Fame one night at Dolly's Bar, one of their regular haunts.

Gravy always says how the song suits him, being written in a minor key, and Melanie recalls that first night he played lead guitar: "It was electric, I think we in the band all had goosebumps, and the crowd roared, everyone knew something special had just occurred".

From then on Gravy would jump up on guitar whenever they played Fifteen of Fame live, and was the obvious choice for the recorded version. Charlie and Lindsay laid down drumline, bass and a low key rhythm and then had Gravy lay down his lead, three takes, and in the end Lindsay used the first take relatively untouched. They always intended to add backup vocals and other instruments to fill out the sound, but once Charlie heard its raw energy, he instantly declared it finished.

Although completed in late 2019, 'Traveller in the Storm' wasn't actually released via online music platforms and national radio until 2022 as a preliminary lead into their 3rd album release that same year, with both Fifteen of Fame and King Canute going on to be released as singles in 2023 and receiving extensive airplay on radio around the country.

Debut Album

The songs on Charlie's debut album were chosen because they represented a good cross section of his music from his extensive play list - a bit of country, some folk, a dance song or two, and several rock ballads.

The first song 'Footprints in the Sand' is the story of a man who ends up in prison after a jealous rage, and is writing to his lover seeking redemption. That song and 'It Kissed Me Tenderly' were both considered the most commercial and have gone on to be some of Charlie's most requested.

However, when asked which songs he prefers, Charlie nominates Soldiers' Lullaby and False Values being the two he's most proud of:

Soldiers' Lullaby relates the horror a young soldier has towards the impending battle, and how he wants to escape back into his dreams about the woman he loves but had to leave behind, both of them knowing he will probably never return. Why must he march to war with flags and lies, he didn't ask to be a soldier!

And False Values where he describes the media fussing over celebrities, but nobody notices the death of his friend who came to Australia, worked hard and raised his children with great dignity after losing his wife in the fight for democracy in Myanmar. The world is full of false values!

The album took a long time to come together and was finally completed in 2018 with a short run of CDs being produced. However, it wasn't actually released via online music platforms and national radio until 2022 as a preliminary lead into their 3rd album release that same year.

Production was by Lindsay Masters (Masters Studies) who also played bass and lead guitars on some of the songs, with Garry (Jacko) Jackson making a significant contribution, playing on most of the tracks. Charlie's partner-in-crime Melanie Macauley sang backup vocals.

Charlie Powling

GoldFields FM Radio Interview 12th of December 2023
A chat to Charlie Powling about the release of his new single "Drive The Highway".

Interview 11th May 2023
Interview with Mitch Vogt of 2MO Gunnedah NSW.

GoldFields FM Radio Interview 19th October 2023

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