Charlie Havenick was the opening band at a recent Permanent Records Roadhouse night. This was my first time coming across her fronting her own band, but not my first time crossing paths with the musician. Back in 2024, she was playing drums for My Veronica (at the same venue), which made my list of favorite new finds of the year (you can check out that list here and look for her on the drums). I didn't make that connection until writing up this review, but it does explain why I enjoyed her set. Her Spotify bio describes her music as "indie rock and slowcore aesthetics rage against folky, orchestral sincerity." I think that description could apply to My Veronica, as well.
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| Charlie Havenick at Permanent Records Roadhouse |
As a side topic, she's a UCLA alum. The day before, I caught Katrina Weissman at The Fable who is also a UCLA grad. I enjoyed both sets so give it up to UCLA's music program. You can read my song spotlight review of Weissman here.
Permanent Records Roadhouse runs a tight ship due to the fact that they often book two groups of bands on the same night (doors at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.). So Havenick labeled their opening song "Laundry Chair" as the band's "public warmup." For "Queen Anne," she had some conversations with her drummer and told the crowd, "We're rehearsing now." It all worked out fine as the band played with relaxed aplomb. The bassist sat on a monitor, playing with confident ease. A steel guitar provided the set with an Americana flair.
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| Charlie Havenick at Permanent Records Roadhouse |
A fun story was told about her recent tour of Europe. She mentioned how music fans in London were all so proper. I guess she couldn't get a sense if they liked her music or not, but she added that they "then came up later and said how great it was."
Her most recent release is "Big Love Big Loss." I found this Instagram post interesting as it goes through the twists and turns that the song's lyrics took, "This was originally a song about loving and losing dogs and then it was about loving a person and now it’s really just about being a person."
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| Charlie Havenick at Permanent Records Roadhouse |
My song spotlight goes to "Stop It." I could be totally off base in my interpretation of the song, but I take it as understanding what is and is not under your control, but not allowing what is not under your control to turn into an excuse for why you can't succeed in life. And hey, she showed off her instrumental skill sets during the live rendition of the song as she picked up a trumpet towards the end and went all Wynton Marsalis.
What you can't beI want it
I stopped it
Setlist: Laundry Chair, Queen Anne, Dinner, Numb, Glass Half, Big Love Big Loss, Stop It.
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