In mid-2025, Denis (instrumentalist) started sending text messages and half-finished instrumentals to his longtime friend Charlie Bawts (vocalist and lyricist), hoping for some sort of validation that he wasn't wasting his life.

Instead of telling Denis to fuck off, Charlie muted the notifications, listened to what he'd been sent, and heard something in the absolute audio garbage soup that resonated. Something familiar, yet out of context.

Like corn in the next day's stool.

Charlie and Denis have known each other for years. They met through the insular hip-hop scene of British Columbia's Fraser Valley, east of New Westminster, and quickly became friends. Charlie has been making music for more than 20 years, while Denis has spent much of that time eating cereal, practicing, recording, and producing whenever life allowed—or whenever an obsessive streak took hold.

Although hip hop brought them together, it was never the only thing they listened to. Musical inspiration came in many forms: from Ice-T to the Pet Shop Boys, New Order to Public Enemy, The California Raisins to Michael Jackson, the theme from Night Court to Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor's many "grunts" on Home Improvement.

Athletes With Glasses has become a place where both of them can follow ideas without worrying too much about where they lead. Charlie writes about things he might never have written about before. Denis makes music he probably wouldn't have made otherwise. Some ideas fall apart. Others become songs.

Thanks for taking the time to check out the site and hopefully the music.

If you'd like to say hello, AWG would love to hear from you.