Q: Okay, so who are you?

From left to right: Bassist Andrew Hall, guitarist Olin Valby, guitarist and singer Michael A. Charles, and drummer Dean Drobot.

I'm Michael - guitarist, singer, and website guy. I live here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and so does Andrew. Olin and Dean are presently living in, respectively, the United States and Scotland. For a time - a depressingly brief time, when you add it up - we all lived together in Saskatoon and formed the core of the band known as Sea Water Bliss. There've been other members, over the years.

Now I guess it's just me and Andrew, but we don't do much except make low-budget music videos and play a coffeeshop gig every once in a while. But back in the day - back in the day, my friend - we were huge. Huge!

Q: Really?

No, we were always tiny.

Q: I didn't come here to read about some small-time Canadian band. I came here because of the silly internet cartoons. Tell me about the silly internet cartoons!

You are correct, I also make silly internet cartoons, which you can find scattered throughout this website or on the Sea Water Bliss YouTube channel.

Lately I've been trying to impose some order on our website by posting purely personal stuff, like cartoons and movie reviews and rants about my day job, over at my blog Stuff I Done Wrote: The Michael A. Charles Online Presence.

(You can also read some of my poems, stories, plays and short screenplays over here.)

If you're really interested in the cartoons, you can read this interview I did with the JimH Crossword Blog about how I got into animation. But right now I'd prefer to talk about the band.

Q: Okay, so what does this so-called "band" of yours sound like?

Well, a lot of people have said we sound like the Barenaked Ladies. But we hate the Barenaked Ladies. So you might say we sound like what the Barenaked Ladies would sound like, if they hated themselves.

Q: That answer doesn't help at all. I don't suppose you have any recordings I could listen to?

Yes, finally, we do.

After playing music together for almost fifteen years, during which time we never recorded anything more sophisticated than lo-fi basement tapes, in 2006 we finally completed our self-titled debut CD, samples of which are available here.

Q: What's with the fish-girl on the main page?

That attractive ocean creature is Marrina, reproduced (without permission) from the early-'80s Marvel comic book "Alpha Flight". For another take on Marrina, by local artist Troy Mamer (who painted our album cover, above), click here.

Do you have any further questions?

Q: No, that's all I can think of.

Okay. Well, thanks for dropping by.

Q: Yeah.

Maybe we'll talk more later?

Q: Yeah, sure. I'll see you around.

Okay. Bye.