Charlie Daniels, a Musician Trying to Make it in LA, Finding a Way to Do Everything He Loves

Charlie Daniels is a 24-year-old hopeful trying to find himself in the music industry. He loves playing and producing music, as well as film. He moved across the country from Nashville, Tennessee to Los Angeles, California in the winter of 2021 in order to try and pursue his dreams.

Charlie Daniels is a 24-year-old musician from Lake Forest, Chicago. He is the drummer for an indie psychedelic rock band called Goodie Bag, and also works at a recording studio called Sunset Sound, based in Los Angeles, California.

Daniels was only three years old when he was first learning how to play the drums. Daniels says, “I grew up surrounded by music. My dad is a self-taught drummer who encouraged me and my brothers to play from an early age. I first sat behind a drum set when I was 3 years old and I’ve been stuck there ever since.”

He began his first significant foray into music when he was in high school where he had originally been playing country music. Daniels stated, ”…during my junior and senior year I joined a band with three of my closest friends. After our first few shows we decided to start taking it more seriously. We saved up for our first recording sessions, played venues across Chicago, and released music on streaming platforms. Although we were only 16 or 17, I think these experiences gave us a leg up when we started our musical careers in college.”

Daniels began playing in his current band Goodie Bag, in college. He stated, “Connor, the guitarist from that very same high school band, moved to Nashville one year after I did. Immediately we started playing music together and we brought his roommate, Riley, along with us. We wrote a ton of music and started auditioning singers. We clicked instantly with Linsey who layered immensely catchy melodies over our instrumentals. From that point on we got together at least twice a week to write songs and practice setlists. I’ve lost count but I imagine we’ve played over 60 shows since then.”

Shortly after Daniels graduated college in Nashville, Tennessee, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. He explained, “Eager to jump into the studio life, I found myself out of luck as the entire recording industry closed down.” This time caused him to reconsider his career where he realized he did not want a job centered around country music. After some thoughtful consideration about what the music scene would offer there, Charlie and his girlfriend decided to move to Los Angeles in winter 2021.

Goodie Bag (Daniels on bottom right).

Daniels continues to work on his band in LA as of current, and provided insight on what exactly it is like to be in a band. He stated, “That work, frustration and occasional satisfaction forms a strong bond between you and your bandmates. The ultimate payoff is performing in front of an audience. It’s there that you can showcase your talents and prove to the crowd but also yourselves that the work was worth it.” He remembers the first moment in which the audience sang one of their songs word for word and explained how unreal the feeling was.

Daniels has also had a dream of becoming a sound engineer and by February of 2022 he was afforded the opportunity to begin accomplishing this dream. He describes, “When I decided to move to Los Angeles, I mailed a resume and cover letter to just about every studio in town. That was over 60 manila envelopes. Of those 60 studios, I heard back from 4. Two of them got back to me right away but after the interviews, I didn’t feel they would be a good fit, so I held out for options that suited me better. After one more unsuccessful interview in October, it was radio silence for four months. Then, on Valentine’s Day, I got a call from Sunset Sound. They wanted me to come in for an interview. When I arrived the next morning, the studio manager took me on a tour of the facility and before the tour was over, I was hired.” He is now working as a runner and hopes to eventually become a sound engineer there.

He expressed his love for working there, explaining the opportunities it has afforded him, “For the last year I have gotten to meet some of my biggest idols and hear them create. Artists such as Fall Out Boy, The Black Keys, My Morning Jacket and Miley Cyrus all came to record in 2022. From time to time movies and TV shows will film at the studio which is a particularly exciting experience for me. Seeing how movies and shows are made behind the scenes is truly amazing. There are so many moving parts and the way they all work together to churn out a product is fascinating to watch.”

When Daniels has downtime at the studio he gets to enjoy time with his other interest, playing music. He described, “The coolest thing I get to do at the studio is play music in the rooms where legends such as The Rolling Stones, Prince, and Led Zeppelin have all recorded. When the rooms aren’t booked, my coworkers and I take advantage… by setting up our instruments and jamming together. I have probably done this over 20 times but I still get goosebumps when I sit down at my drum set in those studios.”

His roommate and friend of four years, Caroline Sanford, discusses how she first met Charlie, “I actually saw him playing the drums with his band at a basement show in Nashville before I knew him, and then I was introduced to him for the first time right when he started dating Mary Grace (her best friend). He was a little intimidating at first because he looks like a grizzly bear and he can be kind of quiet.” In spite of this, over the years the two have become best friends, “...at some point we just became best buds and we’d play video games, and watch movies, and play Catan every weekend during the pandemic.” Sanford mentioned her appreciation for his music taste and knowledge, “He listens to every genre and just knows an insane amount of info about music, he’s introduced me to a ton of music that I love.”

Daniels hopes to eventually become a sound engineer at Sunset Sound. He explained, “My long-term goals have shifted a handful of times over the past couple of years. I think I’d ultimately like to be a mixing engineer for film. Almost as long as I’ve loved music, I have loved movies so working in the audio department of the film world would be a perfect combination of my two strongest passions.” Although he is still working towards becoming a sound engineer, which is one of his biggest aspirations, in the meantime, he is continuing to work on his passion for playing music. He and his bandmates in Goodie Bag plan on releasing a new single, “wish”, which will be out on music streaming platforms on April 28.