the body electric

_{Louide and Charlie Marshall. Supplied.} 

The name Charlie Marshall should be familiar. He was the singer and guitarist in one of Melbourne's legendary outfits, Harem Scarem, beloved in the 1980s for their swamp blues 

Charlie's a sensible chap - knowing that rock'n'roll does't always pay the bills (never mind buy you a house), he has a job, just like most of us. He is a science teacher.

Unlike most of us, he established  The Body Electric, which ran (or, perhaps, may still run) from the early 1990s to about ten years ago, with a variety of fine Melbourne talent, which has released at least five albums. Along the way he's also released another six records with different line-ups. Seems his job doesn't keep him out of mischief.

The calibre of musicians that Charlie has arrayed around him is high: they include Jim White (Dirty Three), Warren Ellis (Fungus Brains, Dirty Three, Nick Cave), Brian Henry Hooper (Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Beasts of Bourbon), Bryan Colechin (The Marching Girls, Hugo Race), Cam Butler, Matt Heydon (Cow Penalty, The Voyeurs), Clare Moore (The Moodists, Dave Graney) and Darren Richard Seltmann (The Avalanches).

And then I listened to, and was mightily impressed by, Charlie's latest album "Gaian Soul" by Family Affair, a duo with his son  And  I thought a few questions were in order.