Introducing: Charm
The new Toronto band Charm is a case for starting a band with your friends.
In a landscape where new bands appear from thin air to be sussed out for whether or not they are a psy-op, and where AI music litters the streaming services, and any other myriad reasons to run far in the other direction of the music industry; starting a band with your friends prevails.
“Start a band with your friends” has become somewhat of a rallying cry for independent musicians. You hear it said in stage banter and in social media posts; the phrase is aspirational, community minded, and full of the DIY spirit.
When Cormac O’Brien of the Burdock Music Hall put me in contact with Charm, I could not find a lick of information about them, other than a sparsely filled Instagram page. Rarely do you get a chance to interview a band who are at such an early point in their career.
When they dropped “Seventeen” a few days before our interview, I heard Sydney Reynolds’ fearless belting voice over the heavy fuzzed out riffs and rhythms, I thought; “this rips”.
Charm has not arrived fully formed, but they have arrived refreshingly human. Their first ever set featured a cover (a very strong cover of Concrete Blonde’s “Joey”) and there are certainly loose-ends to tighten and jitters that will subside, but these imperfections are so human and inspiring to see as a marker of both the early days of their journey, and of how much better they are going to become — and Charm are already very good.
I hope that this interview is read by anyone who has been thinking of starting a band with their friends for a long time now. Charm make it look fun and cool, but it’s their testament to the power of friendship might be your inspiration to do so.
Charm’s first song “Seventeen” is out now.
It is the year 2026. Many are saying the “music industry” is the worst it has ever been for musicians, and yet there is a prevailing sentiment of “just do it, start a band”. So why now, and why Charm?
We started this band early 2025 with the intention of just rocking out and having fun playing music together. A couple of us have been in bands before and a couple of us haven’t. Alex had never played an instrument but borrowed Kirin’s bass to learn while being in the band.
For me [Syd] being in a band has been on my mind for years and I think it speaks to knowing when the moments right, the people, and just riding that wave!
We literally were at a karaoke night and just started chatting about ‘starting a band ’ and we DID.
I have to know; what did you all sing at karaoke that night?
What a line up of tracks! What an iconic night!
Kirin: Soak Up The Sun by Sheryl Crow
Ainslie: One Last Breath by Creed
Alex: I’m Just A Kid by Simple Plan
Sydney: Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
Alex – how does it feel to join the time honoured tradition of “learning the bass upon joining a band”?
It feels right, you know? Like I’m fulfilling some sort of ancient prophecy. Now all the bassist memes I see are scarily accurate, like showing up to practice late and forgetting equipment - that’s me.
In all seriousness, I was super nervous being the only person in the band without any musical background, felt imposter syndrome when everyone was jamming and i still didn’t know what frets were. I still have a lot to learn but my band mates have been the most patient and supportive people to learn alongside, and I don’t think I would’ve kept at it and gotten this far on my own!
At the time we were put into contact, Charm had no music released and no singles, but you’re making your debut opening for Little Junior at the Burdock. As a brand new band, what is your approach to getting bookers and media types to actually pay attention?
We had all been teasing pictures of us at our practices individually on our own social media, without any music though because we wanted to make sure we were really ready before we filmed anything or made our IG account.
We are all part of the music community in some way, and go out to shows to see our friends bands and I think just being in the mix and talking to our friends about our project maybe helped spread the word that we were actually working really hard and taking this project seriously.
Our goal was to book a Spring show and we did! Having clear goals about what we wanted out of doing this helped push us to build momentum and keep it going. For bands starting out, just keep going, keep practicing, talk yourselves up and encourage each other and be excited about your own music. That excitement is contagious!
I did some instagram digging, and it looks like many of you are involved with some kind of vintage clothing shop – how does this speak to your artistic sensibilities as a band?
Through vintage is how we all met! For various and personal reasons vintage is important to us all differently. The rivers of art and personal expression run deep and have many channels, style is one of them, thrifting is another. For a lot of people I think music and vintage go hand in hand- it’s nostalgic and simultaneously inspiring something new.
Speaking of turning nostalgia into something new, your first single “Seventeen” is sort of an ode to your seventeen year old selves – if they could see you now, what do you think they’d say?
Ainslie: I think they’d be like “finally!!” - I used to play music with a lot of boys in high school and my first band only wanted to play covers of Iron Maiden and The Foo Fighters, so to actually be writing songs with my best friends who all have similar music taste and influences, and us all being girls - it’s really all I ever wanted as a musician.
Alex: I think she’d be pleasantly surprised to know that she finally became a musician instead of just dating them.
Kirin: I was pretty creatively starved growing up in the suburbs of Ottawa, so I would tell her to be patient! That she’s gonna find her crowd soon. I doubt she’d listen to me though.
Sydney: My teenage ride or die was my muse for this song. Dancing and yelling “HELL YEAH BITCH”, that’s how I see her and I at 17 listening to this song.
What are each of your lucky charms?
Kirin: Four leaf clover.
Ainslie: Butterfly.
Alex: Horseshoe.
Sydney - Star.
Tell me about the future. Do you have any releases or shows coming up?
On May 1st we released our debut single “Seventeen” on bandcamp. And the [May 3rd] show on Sunday at Burdock is our first time taking the stage together as a band — very excited for this step! And then we’re playing a show with some really sick bands on May 30th at Toronto style.
We’re aiming to have an ep out in 2026!
Toronto Style, like near Dundas West? One time my wife and I went to Toronto Style after a party and tried to order fries for the walk home, and they said “Sorry, the person who does that is DJ-ing.” What a weird and wonderful place. Do you have anything special up your sleeves for that show?
Haha I didn’t even realize they had food there. Since the DJ will be off duty that night hopefully we can get some fries before the show!
We’re really excited for that show and yes! We are adding a few new songs to our set.
What is the best soup you have ever had?
Sydney: Oh my god, self brag, but my pumpkin soup I made in February. Such a potion making day in the kitchen I loved it.
Ainslie: Syd’s soup.
Alex: My yiayia’s Greek lemon chicken soup, equal parts nostalgic and delicious.
The best soup I’ve had stands as Pho Tien Thanh (I Love Pho Forever) on Ossington. And that’s saying something because it takes a lot for me to go to Ossington.
Edit May 13 - The original intro stated Charm played “a number” of covers, when in fact they only played one.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
Catch Charm on May 30th at Toronto Style with Halloween, Uncaught (in Promise) and So Perfect - https://www.homieshitmag.com/product/halloween-uncaught-in-promise-so-perfect-charm-live-toronto-style