Charlie McDermott – best known for his role as Axl Heck on ABC’s The Middle – has spent most of his life in front of cameras.
Now 34, McDermott moved to L.A. when he was 16. That is not where he is during his phone call with SNACK. He laughs as he says, ‘It’s actually really sunny today, which I always find strange in England in the winter.’
McDermott has bounced between L.A. and the UK since marrying his wife in 2017.
He reflects on how the UK has become a second home to him: ‘When I go back to L.A., I feel like I’m smacked in the face by how much harder it is to get by day to day, comparatively. Whereas I just feel quite cosy here.’
Despite having spent so much time down south, this week marks his first visit to Scotland.
‘I’m really excited to go. I’ve had three botched trips to Scotland. The first one I got a job and had to cancel. The second one was COVID. And the third one was another job. So this is my first time. And I’m, I’m really, really excited.’
What brings him here isn’t the glitz and glamour of his acting career. Instead, the actor is embarking on his first tour since releasing his debut album, Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands, in 2020.
Music has always been part of McDermott’s life: in his bedroom, with friends – it’s been ever-present. But sharing it with the world? That’s new.
‘With COVID, it kind of just shut the film and television industry down, and then that rolled into a year of strikes… That, I think, kind of just opened up this opportunity for me to keep working on music.’
Reflecting on writing his experimental folk album, McDermott explains that it stemmed from a feeling of lost control.
‘It really felt like the more I tried to fight, the worse a lot of problems got… It was almost like the tighter I tried to hold something, the more slippery it became.’
Part of this loss of control came from what he describes as feeling ‘overexposed’ during his time on The Middle.
‘Towards the end of working on The Middle, I really felt like I was having a bit of a mental breakdown… I felt like I couldn’t really escape the character.’
He elaborates: ‘I spent more time pretending to be this guy than I did being myself, you know? For like 10 months out of the year, 10 hours a day, I’m performing… I really felt buried.’
Writing music became a way to reclaim himself and the creative process.
‘There’s a lot of fun that comes from being handed a script and just getting to run with it… Someone’s written the thing, they already know what they want to see, and you kind of just show up.’
Still, McDermott confesses: ‘I really missed making something that was me, and not just attaching myself to other things.’
Sharing his music has helped ‘reset the balance.’
There’s a clear sense of relief in his voice as he says: ‘It’s like drinking a giant glass of water after being really thirsty for a long time.’
‘I actually have something that exists now, that’s out there for people to find, that is me.’
He laughs, adding: ‘I’ve not met anyone at all who’s come up to me in the street and been like, “I love your music,” and then found out I was an actor.’
Despite this, he’s excited about sharing himself in this new way.
McDermott will be performing at Stereo, Glasgow, this Wednesday the 20th of November.
Featured photo credit: Charlie McDermott
