Charlie Shew began playing before he had pubic hair and has become one of those musicians about which young neo-hippies say, behind his back no less, "Hey, that guy used to play with ________ ." Like most musicians of his generation, Mr. Shew has resorted to the inevitable day gig with a high tech music company (Glyph Technologies) as well as advanced forms of black magic and evil; but at night, he still straps on his bass or sits down behind his drumset and rocks out for old times' sake, to keep himself young, and with the hope of drawing enough attention to himself that he will attract local news media and law enforcement so he can further his as yet fully defined plan to rid the planet of computer "geeks," programmers, and generally progressive-minded technical people, leaving him as Master Planner. Charlie could wow you and the members of Mectapus with the musicians with whom he has played over the years, but he chooses to keep us all in the dark under the guise that "since most people who dig Mectapus won't know who the hell I am talking about, I'll spare you." No one shall be spared in the end, Charlie! Charlie Shew now spends most of his time wrestling computers to the ground to make them do his musical bidding. He doesn't get much sleep, and he skeptically depicts himself as a skeptic's skeptic.  

Mr. Shew's connection to Mectapus came about as a result of workings between "early" Mectapus (also called Australopus) and Joe Palermo as such: On the fateful summer day that bassist Dan "The Man" Janis left Ithaca to pursue fame and fortune in San Diego, Mectapus was thrown into a state of chaos, floundering in the realization that it had no bottom end; in this dark hour and as a last ditch effort to find a supreme musician, Joe Palermo summoned his friend and partner in crime Charlie Shew (the two men compromised and comprised Sweet Pete's "Funk Farm" in the early 1990s) from the depths and darkness of his amazingly large desk at Glyph Technologies to "the DMZ (Defunct Mectapus Zone);" on the 28th day of July, 1997, Mr. Shew appeared at 730 Bostwick Rd., at that time the preferred rehearsal space of Mectapus, and he began to learn songs furiously. Shortly thereafter, on the evening of 31 July, 1997, the "new" Mectapus took flight at the Nines in Ithaca with Charlie Shew on the bass guitar; the "DMZ" soon after became "Mectopia," a place where happiness prevails among this human infestation. 

As a member of Mectapus, Charlie Shew occasionally uses a cannon-like weapon to destroy us at gigs, although the power of this weapon is disputed among band members as its appearance is most infrequent. More likely, Charlie will use "pressure" to make us bow, and most consistenly he arms himself with the bottom end bass, some big percussive and concussive devices, an army of tiny wizards, and a large number of boxes of unknown purpose. With great certainty, Mr. Shew has a large but hidden arsenal still largely unknown in Mectopia. The day will come, however, when the truth shall be told. 

As a member of the dark forces of rhythm, Charlie's exact position is unknown. Some factions within the band suspect his position resonates with his master plan to become the Master Planner. His sushi factor is +10, the highest possible score, assigned to those who not only eat sushi but make sushi. Fish on, Charlie!