Angres-based percussionist Charles Dubois (Humbros, Ensemble Nist-Nah, Kristallroll) just released his second solo album »iiinox«, which contains a collection of mini-compositions. It is out now on Picot.
skug: Why did you want to make a solo drum record?
Charles Dubois: I’ve been performing solo for a little over a year now. The project started in 2023 when I toured mental health hospitals and institutions around my hometown of Angers with my friend La Houle, following six months of music and noise workshops with people with special needs at a local institute. That tour left a deep impression on me, and I felt an undeniable urge to perform this music again. I then developed a »light« version of the setup that could fit in a suitcase, while requesting a drum set at each venue. This album is the culmination of a year filled with live performances, improvisations, and experiments with this configuration. It’s actually my second solo release under my own name. In October 2023, I released »Knocker-upper!« live excerpts and a piece created during a residency in an abandoned house, using found objects on-site. That piece, »Radio Treize«, was broadcast via FM transmitter to radios scattered throughout the house during an open public event. In addition to this solo work, I have another project with sculptor François Dufeil. This collaboration, called Cloches Sous Pression (Bells Under Pressure), revolves around unique percussion instruments made from repurposed metal objects, primarily sourced from plumbing materials. These objects are transformed into idiophones and membranophones by cutting, assembling, or melting them. Our first self-released album came out in 2020, and we’re now working on a second. Playing on these sculptures since 2019 has been a fantastic training ground for this solo project. »iiinox« refers to two stainless steel discs I often use in this solo, which are scraps from a milk tank I found on a farm last year. I’ve developed different techniques with these discs, using bells as resonators and leather to generate electronic-like sounds. Over nearly a decade, I’ve built up a collection of objects, including bells, pieces of metal, wood, and various types of leather, along with very old and damaged cymbals. Each object I add to this collection has its own distinct gesture, something specific that defines how I interact with it. So, this album is like a live mixtape, a compilation of these small, distinct gestures, with the drum set often serving as a resonating surface to amplify them.
Do you see what you do as »extended drumming«?
I think of the drum set as a base, an amplifier for these sounds, but in some ways, the sounds could function without the drum set entirely – that’s something I’m working on for a future release. I’m more interested in reducing or erasing the drum set than extending it, I guess. Also, I draw a lot of inspiration from electronic music. Much of my solo work involves transposing electronic-like sound qualities into acoustic materials. I spend a lot of time searching for sounds that resemble those I hear in electronic tracks.
Is what you do on »iiinox« improvisations or worked out compositions?
It’s primarily improvisations that gradually shape themselves into small compositions, influenced by the objects I discover and the performances I give. I spend a lot of time improvising solo, aiming to add new material to my set. For this album, I really wanted to capture the raw, unfiltered sounds of this collection: bells, metal plates, bowls, saucers, broken cymbals, muted Chinese gongs, rusted iron triangles, alarm bells, jingle bells of all sizes… Sometimes the object’s natural resonance is enough, while other times I have to adjust my movement and position to bring out the best sound, or at least the one that resonates with me. That’s why most of the setup is positioned around the drum kit, on the floor, standing, kneeling – it’s very fluid. Since this album directly comes from the performances I’ve been doing over the past year, it captures all those gestures and postures, which are just as important as the sounds themselves. Several people who have seen me perform recently mentioned that there’s a kind of choreography to it, which I find an interesting idea. I love the fact that an object, not at all intended to make music, forces me to move in strange ways to produce sound, and then either harmonizes or contrasts with the other instruments and objects.
I saw you live in the Les Brigittines Church in Brussels as part of Will Guthrie’s Ensemble Nist-Nah. He seems an important person in your musical development.
He’s a master, an incredible teacher, and a great friend who literally changed my approach to drumming and music, both solo and ensemble. Will is endlessly creative with new ideas and projects, and I owe him a great deal for what he’s given me. I’m a member of Ensemble Nist-Nah, which Will formed in 2019 / 2020. I can’t hide how much that group has influenced my playing, my sound, and my ideas. We’ve played over 100 concerts in Europe, and I hope we’ll continue with the second ensemble album set to release in 2025. Another important figure for me is Florian Tositti, a fantastic self-taught drummer, and great DJ / digger, with whom I’ve played in the duo Kristallroll since 2018. His vast knowledge of music in all genres has shaped my own record collection and inspirations. As for other names, among dozens, I’d highlight Eli Keszler, whose album »Last Signs of Speed« blew me away when it came out. I took a long time to recover from that, and his collaboration with Ashley Paul on Slow Boat is another one I could listen to on repeat. But I would also say that my masters, or at least my strongest inspirations, come from more electronic and electro-acoustic music. In fact, I would even say that this influences my solo work much more than inspiration from other drummers. The list is vast, as are the genres – it ranges from dubstep to experimental techno, jungle, hip hop, ambient, and beyond.
For most people, music stays on the level of entertainment – it’s something you listen to in your free time. At which point did you know that music would be more than that?
I don’t know if my definition of music is any more serious than that, but I’ve always known I wanted to do it as much as possible. As a teenager, any job I got was to finance my music – to buy cymbals or go to festivals. Then, I studied at the School of Fine Arts, and that’s when I started to realize that being a full-time artist might be a path I could take. I never imagined I’d be doing solo work like this even two years ago. For me, music was always a way to create, travel with friends, and meet new people. But solo work brings something new – I now feel inspired to collaborate and improvise with many more people. Also, I have so many music-obsessed people around me that I’ve never felt more fanatic than anyone else. Even though I spend my time searching for new tracks and listening to mixes and web radios, I can’t help but think about how things are made when I hear music: How was that drum part played? What instrument is that? Is it made of wood or metal? How can I imitate that sound in a jungle or minimal techno track? That snare drum is incredible, what size could it be? It’s so constant in my mind that I often wonder how it feels for people who listen to music without analysing everything
Did you have professional musical training as a drummer?
I started learning drums as a kid in a small municipal music school and with a private teacher. Then it stopped, and I practiced on my own throughout my teenage years. I had an iPod and headphones and would work on my favourite tracks after school, just like many young drummers do. I formed bands early on with friends, mostly rock, and we rehearsed regularly, which really shaped our weeks. Later, I studied at the School of Fine Arts, where music was present more in the form of sound installations, performances, and parties. But the drums were always there, in the background. I returned to drumming full-time with the duo Humbros from 2017 to 2021, and much of my solo sound today comes from what I developed with that duo.
