Chuck Schiele’s “Love Letters” to Us

MT: Chuck, you put together a little collection, Love Letters, dubbed “songs for now.”

CS: These are songs written—sort of as letters—to “us” as a planet of people regarding the social condition we face today. I regard these as [part of] my contribution to the necessary uncomfortable conversations we need to begin having as a society of humans. It’s intended to be a universal message applicable to all, without belonging exclusively to anything. Anthems for all people regardless of affiliations.
These love letters are more along the lines of tough yet encouraging “yes we can” love. This is not Kumbaya. So the lyrics are visceral, matter-of-fact, and at times confrontational. I see them as realistic in our collective upset—but, divided by the hope and enthusiasm of us pulling together to evolve to a better reality than this. I want this evolution.

MT: I love this message. Who is in the band and involved in the project?

CS: Truly marvelous people: I’ll start with bassist Edgar Pagán because this project is partly the result of many discussions we’ve shared on the state of the world, the state of the arts, the state of social wellness and spirit… Working with Edgar led to me wanting the project to be catchy-funky-rock with an edge. So, at his suggestion, I called Byron [Cage] to play the drums. When he’s on the mix he plays like a tank that can fly. And that feels good. Simeon Flick is on lead guitar. Simeon is a musical partner of mine for many years in San Diego, California. Heather Kubacki from the Quatro is helping us out in the vocal department. We recorded the drums and bass at Subcat with Ron Keck. Simeon recorded lead guitar in his Blue Chair Studio. I compiled all of that and recorded and mixed the rest at my studio.

As far as the videos go, we have quite a crew to thank. Heather Kubacki,  Paula Pickreign, Juan Junco, Sandy Roe, and myself have been largely responsible for the production of four videos – one to accompany each tune. Everybody’s been so great to work with—even with the hassles of Covid limitations as an actual prohibitive element of the process. I owe much gratitude to Bill & Maureen Kaljeskie, Kenny Labenski, John Thomas, Allison Flick, Will Kaljeskie, Chuck Handley, Randy Tennant, Wayne Wager, Jr., Even Tennant, Jean Lostumbo, Andrew Houghtailing, the nice neighbors across the hall… and of course, you, Misse, for your cool cameo video appearance; and for your help in general.

MT: You’ve got quite the army behind this project. Give us some insight into the message behind each song.

CS: Ever watch the news and find yourself in disbelief that “this” is what it is? …that this is where we’re at? …that this who we are? “Climb” is about wanting to evolve to something bigger, better than this. It’s a chin-up, don’t give up kind of song. There comes a point when people have had enough and just draw a line and change their deal. They accept their freedom. I think our society is doing that now.

“Rise Up!” is a song I wrote after reading a bit by Martin Luther King, Jr., where he stated that, “a man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” That bit changed things in me from that moment on. So, I wrote the song as a song of strength for all people climbing through our evolution as a species. A “power of love” song. A song of respect for all, and for respect of self.

“Justice” is a song about things that truly piss me off.  Like… If we keep showing violence and taking advantage of others on TV, so-to-speak, then this is what we are teaching to each other and to our children. Duh. I don’t want to censor anything, but is this really the best stuff we can think of showing and watching? I LOVE that we can have the freedom to show things. It bothers me a lot that this is what my species wants from TV and stuff. Personally speaking, the issue is a matter of balance and it shows in the way we value things. We still have hate. We still have violence. We are ill with desensitization. We are lost with no return in a society that we’ve so skillfully and intelligently complicated.

Seems to me that if we all spent more time dancing together in music we wouldn’t have nearly as much time for fighting, let alone be in the mood for it. Call me naive, but this is the best plan I’ve ever heard. Music is the answer for world peace since it is the only thing we can truly share without limitations. And we can share it joyously. We should start there-with this idea-and build.

“The Big Idea” is basically… how we get it done. MLK had a dream. I share that dream. I also have an idea. Here’s my idea (the song is the “how-to” manual). As a collective planet of people we take the exact same 5 minutes together, look up to the sky, and just stop everything so that we can just exist peacefully as people for 5 minutes. In these five minutes we can all take a break from being men or women, Republicans or Muslims, Mets fans or teenagers, supervisors, or students….. we drop all the titles and just be a buncha people sharing life. Each other is the most valuable thing we have.  With all the money and compound intelligence and power in the world, I think we’re a bunch of idiots for not having figured out how to do this yet. I hope this song helps.

MT: It seems like it should be more simple, doesn’t it? What else out there influences you?

CS: What influences me? I think the idea of power is fucked-up and stupid. That’s what. I read a quote a little while back that asked: “Isn’t it awkward to want a power that summons others to bow to you…?” and I thought, “Wow, exactly!” I personally don’t seek that kind of power and it seems silly to me when people do.— when they take pride in their assets instead of each other. The kind of power that does make sense and does good things is power in the form of self-control. Exercising self-control is true power. Exercising control over others is simply narcissism. Again, my world is ill with these sorts of narcissisms. I just want to do my part in trying to make things better. To evolve. I want to talk about it. I have ideas to bring to the table. And the way to make anything happen is to start. So, I guess this represents my effort toward the evolution I hope for.

MT: I can get behind this effort. What do you hope listeners take away?

CS: The power to live peacefully and happily. That with love and music —WE are the solution. Get out of your chair, quit bitching and do something good. It works.

MT: Do something good. That can truly cure so much. Help others and you help yourself. I’ve always believed art and music are the best therapy.  How did the pandemic affect this album?

CS: I’m the person who looks at this sort of chaos and somehow settles into a comfort for knowing what to do. We don’t gig so much these days, right?  It gave me time to write and record. I’ve been in the studio ever since the Covid hit. I have several projects going at the moment and to say I got busy is an understatement. The situation of Covid against the concept of the album being made in a “collective” manner offered a process that  fostered a slightly new way of doing an album for me. We recorded Byron Cage and Edgar Pagán on drums and bass at Subcat. I recorded my guitar and vocals at my studio, while Simeon Flick recorded his parts on the west coast in his studio. I compiled the tracks in my studio and mixed the album here. I sent it back to Ron Keck at Subcat for mastering.

From the video production perspective, the pandemic has railroaded a few of our plans and ideas,—requiring a lot of patience, but, this is the gig. I’m managing over 20 people on the project remotely. We just press on. I’ve always preferred to be the tortoise over the hare, so-to-speak, anyway.  This whole thing has been an act of making lemonade.