Local Charm

On this episode of Inlet Wire, I spoke with Jesse Hubner from Local Charm, a Victoria band whose self-titled record carries more history than it first lets on.

At first, the story sounds simple: a five-piece band from Victoria, making music on the coast. But the deeper story starts further inland, back in the Okanagan, where Jesse and guitarist Shane were both part of the music scene around Vernon. They went to different schools, crossed paths through music, and eventually wrote together when they were around 19.

Two of the songs from the album, “New Tiers” and “Forget,” go all the way back to that period. Then life moved on. Shane moved to Victoria, Jesse stayed in the Okanagan, and the friendship went quiet for years. Not in a dramatic way. Just the kind of distance that happens sometimes when people are only a few hours apart, but in completely different chapters of life.

That changed when Jesse moved to the coast.

In our conversation, Jesse described that move as a turning point. Before then, he said the songs he was writing did not feel genuine. He was lacking inspiration and questioning what he was even trying to write. But when he arrived in Victoria, something shifted. The songs started coming out naturally, almost like they were writing themselves.

That feeling became one of the threads running through Local Charm. For Jesse, the album is about reflection: looking back on relationships, experiences, and versions of himself, then trying to understand who he wants to be now. It is not framed as one big concept record, but there is a clear emotional centre to it. These are songs about change, about distance, about reconnecting, and about learning things later than you expected.

The record also came together quickly. Jesse had a few songs partly formed when he moved, and once he and Shane started playing together again, more songs followed. After only a couple of practices, they already felt like they were close to half an album. The rest developed naturally as the band grew from a smaller setup into the full group.

Once the full band was in place, they went into the studio to record what became their self-titled album, Local Charm. For Jesse, one of the clearest studio memories was the vocal booth. He recorded the ten songs back-to-back, with many of the takes landing quickly. He described it as free, not overworked, and different from the usual discomfort of listening back to his own voice.

When it came to the track that means the most to him, Jesse did not go straight to the most obvious choice. He picked “Get It Got It,” a song he says kind of sits in the background for the band. But for him, it carries the album’s theme closely: realizing you thought you were listening, only to understand later that the other person did not feel heard.

That idea says a lot about this episode too. Local Charm’s record is not only about a new band coming together. It is about an old connection returning, songs finding a new home years later, and the way a move to the coast helped open something back up.

Listen to the full conversation with Jesse from Local Charm on Inlet Wire.

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