Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, CHARMED is the New Music Monday highlight!
CHARMED is one of Victoria’s newest additions to the scene. Not only did they release their first single this month, but they also played their first two shows over the last couple weeks.
The four-piece band is comprised of Connor Tanton on lead guitar, Bradley Staicu on vocals and guitar, Ramon Crespo on drums and Ben Andrews on bass.
Tanton told Victoria Buzz it all started when he was playing a show with his dad as an acoustic duo.
“Our singer Brad came to that party and he saw us playing—he had been in a band in Victoria before but hadn’t played for a while,” he explained.
“I guess seeing us play got him all inspired. He came to me and proposed we start a project together.”
Tanton began driving down from Duncan on weeknights to write with Staicu in his Langford apartment. The two were fast friends and bonded over their mutual appreciation for early-to-mid-2000s alt rock bands like The Strokes.
Once they had the guitar parts and vocals mostly sorted out, the duo began to search for a drummer and bass player to fill out the rhythm section of CHARMED.
“We ended up having a chance meeting with a couple members of a band from Victoria called Electric Jane,” said Tanton.
“We knew the singer and drummer of that band who unfortunately had passed away, and we were fans of them but they obviously weren’t playing anymore.”
The former guitarist was not interested in playing, and CHARMED already had two guitar players, but Ben Andrews had been the band’s bassist and he was keen to get back to playing.
Additionally, Ramon Crespo was recruited on drums, as he knew Andrews and was potentially going to fill in for the late Nick West on drums in Electric Jane before the group decided it was best to disband.
“It’s a cool little group because we all have different inspirations and pull from different genres and styles,” Tanton explained.
“I feel like Ben brings this practical music knowledge to the band that we didn’t really have… Ramon’s been super amazing—I’ve never really had a drummer that was so involved before.”
After fleshing out the band, the four-piece started writing together, filling out their set and getting their music recorded.
They recorded their first single with Neil James Cooke Dalin of Astrocolor at Burning Rainbow Studios earlier this year.
Highlight track – “Veronica”
CHARMED’s first single is called “Veronica” and it was just released on Friday, December 5th.
“I can’t exactly speak to Brad’s lyrics, but I think it’s about love, what could have been, potential—but I hear in the instrumentals that we put into it the passion and the fear of the power of love,” said Tanton.
He says the song all started with a riff he brought to Staicu during an early writing session.
Staicu began to sing some melodies along with the riff Tanton had brought and quickly found the chorus’ hook, which stuck.
“It was just a feeling that he felt instantly and it’s gone through a lot of changes, but that hook was always the same.”
While recording “Veronica,” CHARMED decided it would be fun to record a live, off-the-floor drawn-out intro to the song, which they released prior to this first single as a little teaser of what was to come.
The intro is called “Fleeting Thoughts Of (Interlude).”
“That’s another thing that we thought to do on the spot in the studio,” said Tanton. “We wanted to do a really extended, kind of slow, vibed out version of the intro.”
Listen to “Veronica” by CHARMED below:
To listen to “Fleeting Thoughts Of (Interlude),” the extended intro track for “Veronica,” check out CHARMED on Tidal, Apple Music or Spotify.
Currently, the band has no upcoming shows, but plans to play more in the new year, especially following the success of their first gig, dubbed the ‘Swell Party: Volume One.’
Following the release of “Veronica,” CHARMED will be releasing one more single they recorded during their sessions at Burning Rainbow Studios.
They hope to get back in the studio and record a full-length album in 2026.
Follow CHARMED on Gigpit and Instagram to stay in the loop.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Trevor Lang quietly releases cosmic country-inspired album from Germany
- New Music Monday: palace oaks cosmically driven to write music for debut album
- New Music Monday: Horseback Jesus blend art-rock and noise on debut release ‘The Cart’
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“I think what they’re doing, and all local music stations at universities, are so important,” said Tanton.
“To give an audience to local artists like ourselves is huge.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of CHARMED in the comments below!
