Dominic St. Charles has been active in professional rock music for the better part of twenty years. Having founded the dark metal band URN back in 1994, which he best describes as his catharsis from his most inner demons and allows him to integrate the darker aspects of his personality into a more constructive manner.
Dominic trained classically at the Catalano Conservatory of Music in Pennsylvania for two years for guitar also trained in classical voice under Dr. Carol LoVerde at Columbia College in Chicago for three years. He also was an upright bassist for the John Carroll University Jazz Ensemble for four years and had won awards at various jazz competitions such as the Tri-County Jazz Festival and the Boston College Invitational.
After graduating from John Carroll University in Cleveland, OH with degrees in Psychology and Communications, he worked in commercial radio in Cleveland at WNCX (98.5) and the ill-fated WENZ (107.9) and was involved in their coverage of the ribbon cutting of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Early in Dominic’s professional career he formed URN and also performed in another band called Sacrosanct, a gothic-rock band, which his long time friend Michelle Belanger as the lead singer and collaborated with Ed Douglas (of Midnight Syndicate fame) through various projects during their days at John Carroll together.
The current version of URN is more of a hybrid of the original URN and Sacrosanct but would open for many major acts in the genre as they came through the rust belt area. One of those, Morphine Angel, Dominic would later go on to join in 1997 and relocated from Cleveland to the Chicago area to do several national tours with them.
In 1999, Dominic would leave Morphine Angel and join the Electric Hellfire Club and did a couple national tours with them. Eventually, during this time, Dominic laid the groundwork for the new URN and in 2001 officially left to concentrate full time on URN.
Over the past sixteen years, URN has since released five albums and have toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Central America logging over 1,200 live performances and in the process shared the stage with honored acts such as Moonspell, Type O Negative, To/Die/For, Katatonia, Virgin Black, Trouble, Bella Morte, Novembers Doom, Celtic Frost, and many notable others.
The band has also appeared at many high-profile conventions throughout North America such as Ancient Ways in Chicago, KiNvention North in Kitchener, Endless Nights in New Orleans, Radio Active in Detroit, GenCon in Indianapolis, The International Body Art Expo in Columbus, Paganstock in Michigan, Doomsday Metal Festival in Milwaukee and the Long Black Veil in New York.
In addition to performing with URN, Dominic has also over the past several years been pursuing his solo acoustic career focusing on his Irish/Celtic heritage and performing a wide variety of original material in the folk, American, and spiritual genres.
Dominic when not overly involved in music is devoted to his wife Jenny and his daughter Rain and spends great amount of time with them.
“If I had only one word to describe myself, I would use “passionate” as that is how I live life, passionately. As a musician, I channel that passion for life in the music that write and perform and I needed an instrument that possessed the attributes that I needed for the intensity that I perform with both live on stage and in the studio.
The first time I played my Breedlove Solo 12-string I was completely overwhelmed with every aspect of it. The craftsmanship, the durability, intonation, tones; just everything about it was perfect. It complimented my singing voice perfectly and has allowed me the freedom to fully push the boundaries of what I want to do musically.
I’ve been blessed in my life to have played with many different guitars and even visit some of their factories, but Breedlove had all of the elements that I was looking for and I could not be happier or more grateful with this wonderful guitar. When people ask me about my 12-string I am more than eager to tell them how incredible this instrument is and that should go and try one for themselves.” – Dominic St. Charles
