"Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it." — Bane
Chuck Vibes was born in the darkness. The genre-blending Spokane musician lives in the sonic shadows. His music pulsates with an underbelly energy that blends a post-punk core with a modern hip-hop singing flair that can strike fear into the hearts of the cowardly and superstitious lot of complacent musicians. Some men just want to watch the world burn, but Chuck Vibes just wants to watch the world rage. He strives to achieve this master plan on his new album, GTHM, which hits the streets and dark alleyways via Corporat Records on Jan. 24. As the LP's title suggests, Chuck has long leaned into the comic book iconography of Batman's seedy hometown, and the new album leans into that dangerous spirit.
Chuck Vibes wants to be the musical hero Spokane deserves, and, hopefully, the one it needs right now.
The man behind the mask, so to speak, was not in fact born in the darkness, but he likes to keep his alter ego hidden like any good comic book protagonist. He was born in Spokane and grew up in Moses Lake. Unsurprisingly, he was big into comic books, action figures and the like as a kid, before starting to get into making his own music and remixes around age 14. While he initially started out as a rapper, his sound has evolved into a hard-to-pin-down stylistic amalgamation, which makes sense given his early music influences.
"At first, it was just the music I'd hear on the radio: The Fray, even bands like Maroon 5. I'd play video games; the soundtracks on a lot of wrestling games back then just had nothing but rock and shit like that. That was probably like the biggest thing helped me figure out a sound eventually," Chuck says. "And then, of course, I listened to a bunch of rap like Lil Wayne and Drake and all that."
"Growing up, my family was a big gospel family – there was singing all over. A lot of old school music, like Curtis Mayfield and shit like that. Just everything, bro," he continues. "So when XXXTentacion and Trippie Redd and them came out, the way they were singing on songs, it just sounded really cool the way they were doing it. I've always been able to sing, but I was always kind of afraid to actually sing on a track. So hearing them actually sing was like, 'Alright, well, I can do this same thing, let me just do it.'"
Thankfully, he didn't need to fall into a cave of bats or a vat of chemicals to come up with his alternate identity. The name Chuck Vibes just comes from always wearing Converse Chuck Taylors during his formative high school days. And while it's not a villain origin story, ridicule at a young age helped to forge Chuck Vibes.
"All the kids at high school clowned me when I dropped my first song," Chuck says. "And it was a bad song. I don't really blame them. But I think that gave me a lot of confidence at the same time, just being able to take it. It made me want to do more."
While Spokane might not be a metropolis, it can feel that way compared to Moses Lake, so Chuck moved back to Spokane when he was 19 and (with an obvious COVID pause) spent the next handful of years trying to find his true sound and get a footing in the local scene.
Left to his own devices, Chuck can be somewhat of a creative recluse, just staying in and working on the "hundreds and hundreds" of songs he's got cooking.
"I guess I'm more like Bruce Wayne, not even Batman," he jokingly remarks. "I'm more Bruce stuck in the house, just going crazy. [Laughs]"
As he shifted away from hip-hop to more a rock-based sound, he began looking for a band to help him achieve the live Chuck Vibes experience he desired. In late 2023, he linked up with the alternative instrumental group The Dead Feels after seeing the band play an open mic at the Checkerboard.
"What brought us together is a love of a lot of late 2000s/early 2010s rock," says Sam McKinney, the drummer for The Dead Feels who also handles a pseudo hip-hop producer role for Chuck. "We had been playing covers from bands like The Black Keys, The White Stripes, and even some older Rage Against the Machine alternative rock stuff. Chuck's really into that stuff. And then as we were introduced to him, we started taking the sound more in this darker post punk direction, a la Joy Division and things like that."
By January 2024, Chuck Vibes and the Dead Feels were playing their first house show, and over the course of the past year, the collective kept playing extremely high-energy live shows and building buzz around town.
"Chuck brings a really, really energetic live energy to each song," McKinney says. "You wouldn't necessarily be able to tell by the track, but they're all sort of bangers. One time people started moshing to one of the softest songs, and I was like, 'Huh... OK. I guess that one is a mosher now.'"
"There's beauty in the chaos," Chuck says of his live performances. "It's almost like you're in a gladiator arena. Like in Spartacus, he's just in the middle, and he's just looking around, and everyone's just going crazy. That's how it feels. ... You could even say that's when the Joker comes out. [Laughs]"
GTHM serves as a sort of sonic Bat-Signal in the sky to alert the masses that Chuck Vibes will soon be soaring through the night. In some ways, the new LP is a bit of a Two-Face. The first seven tracks are just a rerelease of Chuck Vibes' 2023 EP I Wrote This in Gotham while the final eight songs are brand new tunes recorded in 2024. But the album still feels cohesive, in part because of how it thematically leans into the dark of the Dark Knight.
"I look at just where we live as Gotham. Like you're always going through stuff, and it's just a battle. I look at every situation, bad or good, as like you're dealing with a certain character in Gotham. You're always going through things, and you're always trying to work and figure out things. That's a big part of me and my sound — just trying to figure it out," Chuck says. "It's just very dark. That's kind of how I look at a lot of things. It's just like gloomy, you know? The feeling of wanting more hope is the theme in a lot of Gotham movies. And that's how I feel."
Musically, GTHM often feels as diverse and colorful as the Caped Crusader's rogues' gallery. Songs like "Ghostbusters" and "Dracula" have an atmospheric indie-rock-meets-autotuned-R&B feel that might call to mind artists like Post Malone. "Cranberry" broods with a sinister alt-rock creep. "Nightwing" almost has a chiptune energy to it. "My Ashtray Is Full" serves up a pure chaotic punk feel. It's hard to know where the next BAM! POW! punch is coming from because Chuck is always keeping listeners on their proverbial toes.
On the newer tunes, McKinney employed old LinnDrum and DMX drum machines programmed in poppy rock patterns to give an upbeat base to balance Chuck's often-melancholy lyricism. And Chuck uses his voice as an extra instrument throughout the album, layering various vocal sounds and whispers throughout to give proceedings an excitingly unnerving vibe.
While Chuck Vibes doesn't have some master plan for world domination, he's hoping to spread the gospel of GTHM far and wide this year via some touring (maybe he'll recruit a few henchmen along the way).
That starts with an all-ages album release show for GTHM at the Chameleon's Jaguar Room this Saturday, Jan. 25 (a day after he turns 25 years old). Chuck might not be 100% raging at the gig as he's still recuperating after a knee injury, but if Batman could recover after Bane broke his back, it's safe to say Chuck Vibes will at least give it a heroic effort.
With Gotham as his guiding darkness, perhaps a variation of a Harvey Dent quote would best sum up Chuck Vibes' vigilante voice:
You either Vibe a hero or live long enough to become a villain. ♦
Chuck Vibes and the Dead Feels: GTHM Album Release Show with Spooky, Cruel Velvet, Prodsynesthe • Sat, Jan. 25 at 8 pm • $10-$15 • All ages • Jaguar Room at the Chameleon • 1801 W. Sunset Blvd. • chameleonspokane.com