A Conversation with Charlie D’Ardenne of Humilitarian and Best Bear

Image of Charlie, provided by Best Bear

Ben Rotko ’25 sat down with Charlie D’Ardenne, guitarist for Humilitarian and drummer for Best Bear, in advance of both bands’ performances at Olde Club.

Ben Rotko: Thanks for hopping on with me today. We are really excited to have both of your bands, Humilitarian and Best Bear, at Swarthmore. We're bringing back this space on campus [Olde Club] that has been dormant for a few years. So, my first question is pretty broad, but what is it like being in two bands that are both actively playing and touring at the same time? 

Charlie D’Ardenne: I mean, I don't know how to juggle, so maybe that's not a good visual analogy, but that was like the first verb that came to mind. Fortunately, I think I'm pretty lucky in that the two bands’ schedules complement one another okay. So it hasn't been too much of a struggle so far to book shows and practices around each other, just like everybody kind of has their own day job schedule and that stuff. But at least with these two bands, it seems like it aligns so they don't conflict with one another very often. 

BR: Is that just good luck or does it have something to do with the types of things that you guys are playing? 

CA: Maybe it's luck? I feel like I kind of joined both at different cycles in the album writing processes too. So I don't know if that's part of it as well because Best Bear, the band that I drum in and I sing backup, we just released our debut album recently, so we did kind of a New England tour for that, and now we're back. Humilitarian, we're working on writing our first full-length album. So they’re kind of different as far as scheduling. Like, I guess Humilitarian is a little more open because it's just in terms of whatever dates work for everybody to get together. Then we'll meet up and we'll work on the songs. Whereas with Best Bear going on tour, that's a lot more trying to coordinate with people in other cities and hosts and getting that stuff on the calendar. 

BR: More... "professional," would you say? I don't know if that's the wrong adjective. 

CA: I guess more... I don't know how I would want to describe it. Like the writing process is more fluid and kind of abstract and then going on tour [involves] a lot more concrete details. But they're both, like, they feed into one another. You spend a while writing songs and then you take them out on the road. So it's kind of like a back-and-forth. Like you have the phase where you're writing new material and seeing what direction the band wants to go in. And then once that all kind of falls into place, you figure out where you want to take it and what bands you're going to play with and show it to––stuff like that. 

BR: Yeah, and I'm sure your situation is not entirely uncommon in the sort of local scene of any city, really. But how did it come to pass for you? I know Humilitarian formed when you guys were at Temple [University], was that the first band you joined?

CA: Humilitarian has been around a little bit longer than Best Bear, but I wasn't a founding member of Humilitarian. I joined a little bit later. So I think the other members all met at Temple. They released two EPs and a single, and then their original second guitarist moved to Texas. I think Noah [former Best Bear guitarist] is doing a lot of production work down there. And meanwhile, a little bit after that happened, Humilitarian's drummer Eli was helping Best Bear out in the studio. We were recording at a place called Retro City in Germantown. So just from working with Eli there and talking to him about the bands, like I really liked the Humilitarian recordings that were out, and I guess in the course of that conversation I mentioned, "if you want to have another guitarist to play these songs so they have both of the guitar parts going on, I'd be willing to learn this material and play with all of you." So then we played together at Porch Fest. That was, I guess, 2021. That was like Best Bear’s live debut and Humilitarian played that as well. And I went to another Humilitarian show at Boy Downtown after that. But after that point, I felt kind of familiar with the live set and I started meeting up with them to work on learning Noah's guitar parts, and we gigged with those for a while. And now we've also started writing new material that I'm contributing to. So it's cool, not only that they let me learn this existing material and play in the group, but now I'm like an active creator in the project as well, which is a lot of fun.

BR: So I want to kind of mirror back at you what I observed just so I can kind of verify that I got everything right. So you joined Best Bear first, and then you joined Humilitarian as a touring member at first, and then started writing with them. Right? 

CA: Yeah, that’s right. 

BR: That's always really cool. Is there something that you find interesting about playing different roles within two different bands? 

CA: I feel like it's kind of helpful as a songwriter just because I like playing different instruments and kind of occupying different writing roles, like I feel like you get more of an understanding of what each part of the band does. And then if you're playing in other projects, or working on your own material, having that firsthand experience with it is helpful. I think maybe if a musician is exclusively on one instrument, you might get more depth and knowledge with that one, but then it can be sometimes more frustrating trying to convey ideas to the other members of the ensemble. Compare that to, if you know how to play their instrument, in some sense it can be easier to convey, "well, you can do this on it" instead of only having the guitarist’s terminology for a part of a song versus having some guitar vocabulary and some drummer vocabulary and so forth. 

BR: Yeah, that I mean, that makes perfect sense. So, I guess this might be like asking somebody to pick their favorite child, but between the instruments that you play, is there one that you have either more experience with or more of an affection towards?

CA: I guess I have more experience on guitar, like I started when I was a little younger. I don't really have any formal [training]. Like my dad had an acoustic guitar around the house. I would like noodle around on it when I was little, but I don't think I actually started taking lessons and figuring out how to play other people's songs until I was in like middle school. And drums, I started a little later, probably like 17 or 18. So I think guitar is just a little easier from having been playing it longer. And I think electric guitar is kind of more forgiving just because there's stuff you can do to [it] like running it through all the pedals and so forth. You can modify the sounds in those ways. Whereas like playing drums as an acoustic instrument, I feel like it's a lot more unforgiving in a live setting, which is also fun. It can be frustrating because it's loud and what you're playing is what everybody hears. So if I goof up on drums, it's very noticeable versus guitar, I think you have a little more space to fudge on it. But that's kind of cool too, that it's so physical and it's very... like playing the drums is more of a, like a visceral experience versus guitar. There's a little more you can do to modulate the signal between what you're playing and what's coming out of the amp speakers, if that makes sense. 

Image of Charlie, provided by Humilitarian

BR: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Do you have any sort of––this is a silly sounding question, but––do you have any sort of personal guitar heroes, so to say? 

CA: No, I like the question. I guess, like, starting out definitely J Mascis was a big influence. 

BR: Who?

CA: J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. 

BR: I don't think I'm familiar, but–– 

CA: Oh, really? 

BR: I'll check them out. 

CA: Yeah! They're cool. They [Dinosaur Jr.] came out of Massachusetts originally, and their original lineup just reunited maybe like a decade ago, but they've been putting stuff out again. I like Duane Denison a lot from the Jesus Lizard. His stuff is a lot trickier for me to try to play because I think he was, like, classically trained. So he has a way more complicated understanding of chord changes versus rudimentary rock-based guitarists. I feel like I'm always getting inspired by individual players. I'm working on a whole cover set for Halloween this year. 

BR: Ooh. 

CA: Playing guitar in The Lunar Year. So that's cool. Like listening to how Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson approach chords and how they're using them in their songs. 

BR: What is this cover set for? 

CA: I guess the concept is like a '90s battle of the bands. Like we're going to do a set of Hole [band formed by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson] covers and then another group of musicians is going to do a bunch of No Doubt covers. I don't know if there's actually going to be a poll or whatever at the end of the evening to see who "wins." 

BR: Ah this is for a show.

CA: Do you know World Cafe Live in West Philly? It'll be at that venue on October 29th. 

BR: That sounds familiar. Actually, that's sort of a decent segue into another question I had. We can talk about it here. So what sort of advice would you give to somebody who, in this case, somebody at Swarthmore, who kind of wants to get into the Philly music scene but doesn't really know where to start?

CA: I feel like the best advice is, if you have the time for it, just to go to as many shows as you can and talk to musicians whose stuff you like, and just be nice to everybody. 

BR: To sort of pry a little more, what is a good way to find quality shows?
CA: When I first moved here in summer [of] 2019, I got in the Philly DIY Music Group on Facebook. 

BR: That's where I found you guys. 

CA: Cool, okay, yeah! I saw [that] Blue from Best Bear posted some demos in that group, so I emailed her and that was kind of the beginning of my involvement in that band. And I'll see other people post stuff in that group and I'll follow them on Instagram or whatever, check out people's songs. It's like, I mean, in a way, social media sucks because there's like the drive to compete with everybody all the time. But on the other hand, it's nice having access to what people are writing and releasing. So if you're able to deal with the constant influx of content, it's helpful to find people on those platforms and you can see what bands are playing together and what artists complement one another in the scene. That's one way to stay involved. 

I would say it's also helpful to… like the first show Best Bear and Humanitarian did together was at Porchfest, which is like a yearly West Philly DIY music festival. Like a bunch of DIY bands will set up on people's porches and play sets. So festivals like that or like I think XPN festival [a yearly music festival in Camden, NJ] just happened. Like if people have time to go, just wander around one of those, you can check out a bunch of bands based around the city, and you'll find stuff you like and meet people who kind of have the same intentions in mind. That might be a little easier than just going to a venue at random and trying to catch like one or two bands. I mean, I'm sure that's how some people get into the scene, too, but it's certainly a little more efficient if there's like an all-day show with a bunch of different acts and you can just kind of walk around and see a dozen or so different artists and see what you like. 

BR: That's a really exhaustive answer, I'm excited for people to hear what you just said. So, you kind of already spoke a bit about what being on tour was like, but my final question is, what is your favorite type of show to play? Whether it's a house show or a bar or like a festival. 

CA: I mean, really, it's like any show where the audience is engaged is cool, regardless of what the venue looks like. We kind of played a spread of different types of venues when we were on tour and all of that stuff was cool. Like we did a, I think it was like an old paper production warehouse in West Haven, Connecticut. It was just like a big cubic room that a bunch of people packed into. But that was a lot of fun. Just seeing, like, how eclectic the scene was up there. Like somebody had a Donnie Darko bunny costume on and kind of random stuff you might not see if you just go to a show at like Milk Boy or Ardmore Music Hall or whatever. And then, on like the last date of the tour we played at this bigger festival in Buffalo, New York, on the river. So there was just like a big outdoor stage and a ton of people kind of walking through and then they'd catch songs and stop and listen for the rest of the set. I feel like both of those experiences are cool in their own way. It's nice. One of the things I like about being in Best Bear is that I feel like the songs are versatile enough they can work in both of those environments. We have rock songs that are heavier hitting and they work well in like the enclosed space with a bunch of New England kids. And we also have songs with melodic hooks that I think will appeal to people in the outdoor festival setting. They all kind of have their own appeal. It's nice that there's been a variety of different venues and it's fun seeing how different people react to the material in different settings. Kind of like a non-answer answer.

BR: No! I love just hearing you talk, you know, picking your brain. Is there anything else that you want just to talk about?

CA: Oh. Hmm. So I was a little curious. Like you had mentioned, Swarthmore had been doing shows like this pre-pandemic, and then, is this the first one after COVID lockdowns were lifted a little bit? 

BR: Yeah, so this is the revival, and there's like there's a lot of history, like the venue was created in 1977. So, yeah, it's very, very old. 

CA: That's cool. Is there any kind of archival project or stuff like that, or does anybody keep track of like, what bands have played, that kind of thing? 

BR: You know that's been something we've been very frustrated about because there's not that much institutional memory. There's no institutional memory. So it's really just kind of what's online and like what people remember. 

CA: Yeah. 

BR: Like, we know Nirvana played here in 1990. 

CA: Yeah, we might be doing a Nirvana cover for the October 1st show. 

BR: Kira [lead singer of Humilitarian] mentioned that, I'm very excited for that. But yeah, I know Neutral Milk Hotel played here in 1998, I think. 

CA: Oh, cool. 

BR: I'm excited. 

CA: Yeah, should be fun. I don't know how much of a chance we would have to learn stuff before then, but if people have requests we can do our best, if we can incorporate them into the set.

BR: Honestly, I definitely want the focus to be on the songs that y'all have written. They are awesome.

CA: Thanks. 

BR: I actually listened to the new Best Bear album on the car ride down to Swarthmore, it very much eased my nerves. So yeah, I'm really excited [to see it live]! Thank you so much for sitting down with me. 

See Humilitarian and Best Bear LIVE at the Olde Club at Swarthmore College, October 1st at 7:30 PM.