The Chaplin Sessions

I've spent a lot of my life keeping my past to myself. People see the life I've built, the coffee house, the creativity, the laughter, and understandably assume everything is okay. It is. I love my life. But there's a lot they don't see.

In this episode, I talk openly about growing up around violence, fear and instability, the lasting effects of trauma, and what it means to carry those experiences into adulthood.

It's not a sob story. No violins, just honesty. I don't have all the answers... just working things out as I go like all of us. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that even when life takes you somewhere incredibly dark, there's still a way forward.

I never gave up. And if you're struggling, I can't pretend it is easy, but there is always hope.

Life's complicated, isn't it?

Be kind to yourselves and each other.

Coo to a pigeon.

Chaplin x

This week I'm talking about social media and how I found myself getting far too wrapped up in likes, views, followers and the dreaded algorithm while promoting 7 Hope Studio.

It led to a bit of a crash and a much-needed ego check. A reminder that our self-worth shouldn't be measured by numbers on a screen or the approval of strangers.

I've realized what matters is doing what I love for the sake of doing what I love. Making films, creating things and enjoying the process rather than seeking validation.

I also talk about my love of October and Halloween, its Celtic origins, and an upcoming trip to Warwick Castle. Then there's ghosts, the paranormal and my fascination with things we can't quite explain.

Finally, this week's record is Slipknot's Iowa on translucent green vinyl, picked up from Wayne's Lost Penguin Wax Shack in Bude.Thanks for listening!

ChaplinCheck out 7 Hope Studio:www.7hopestudio.co.uk

IG (Sighs...) www.instagram.com/7_hope_studio

#TheChaplinSessions #SelfWorth #SocialMedia #Halloween #Slipknot

Love, self-acceptance, creativity and learning to give yourself time.

This week I’m trying to make sense of love — loving yourself, loving other people without abandoning your boundaries, and that bigger sense of connection we sometimes find through creativity, nature and spirituality.

I also talk about 7 Hope Studio, discovering filmmaking, learning to be patient with myself, and why getting good at something takes time.

The episode ends with one of my own songs, The Silence in Between.

Thanks for listening.— Chaplin

7 Hope Studio

7hopestudio.co.uk

Instagram: @7_hope_studio

This week I’m joined by local filmmaker Callum Smith for the first guest episode of The Chaplin Sessions.

Callum is the writer and director (& more) of the short film Restless Mind, and we talk about what it actually takes to turn an idea into a finished film without a huge budget, a production company or anyone giving you permission. Restless Mind touches upon mental health, isolation and getting through and was created the support from the men's mental health charity: Pegasus.

We get into filmmaking, creativity, self-doubt, learning as you go, working with the people and equipment available to you, and why some ideas refuse to leave you alone until you make them real.It’s an honest conversation between two people trying to build creative lives, make work they believe in and figure the rest out along the way.

Restless Mind is expected December 2026.

Check out the trailer here:

www.instagram.com/reels/Db6bLl-Itl0/

Find 7 Hope Studio:7hopestudio.co.uk

Instagram:@7_hope_studio

Pegasus charity link:https://pegasusmenswellbeing.co.uk/

Thanks for listening.

— Chaplin

This week I talk about starting something that scares me, struggling with social media, forgetting my phone, missing the slower world we used to live in, and somehow ending up on AI.

I occasionally use AI myself — which makes this slightly ironic — but I draw a hard line around creativity. For me, art, music and design still need to come from human hands and human experience.

A slightly late, slightly tired episode about fear, showing up, ideas and keeping hold of the things that matter.

Be kind to yourself.

Chaplin. x

Grab yourself a kick ass tee, designed & printed in North Cornwall.

www.7hopestudio.co.uk

This week I’m talking about loneliness — and the strange ways we can accidentally build it around ourselves.

I’m very good at being alone. I’m also very good at seeing a problem and immediately trying to fix it rather than stopping to ask what it’s actually doing to me.

Recently, those two things collided.

I’d convinced myself I was alone in some of the heavier parts of life, when in reality there were people around me who cared. I just wasn’t giving them much of a chance to see me.

So this episode is about connection, learning to be a bit kinder to yourself, and recognising when the story you’ve been telling yourself simply isn’t true.

Then we lighten things up with a new music segment and a record from The Lost Penguin: Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park — an album I completely overlooked when it first came out and now think is pretty much flawless.

Heavy thoughts. Great records. Still figuring all this shit out.

Grab yourself a trinket i printed. Hand pulled in Cornwall. Sent to your door:

7 Hope Studio

https://www.7hopestudio.co.uk

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/7hope_chaplin/

This week’s episode is a prerecorded one — because sometimes life gets busy, sometimes you have a rough week, and sometimes the dentist leaves half your face numb.

I’m talking about Slipknot, how I went from not understanding them at all to becoming completely hooked, and why certain bands end up becoming part of who we are.

We get into Vol. 3, Corey Taylor’s voice, Paul Gray, Joey Jordison, the chaos and musicianship behind the band, and why heavy music can somehow make you feel calmer rather than angrier.

Then it drifts into my own years playing music, touring, recording, MySpace, the changing music industry, and the strange way music attaches itself to particular periods of our lives.

Even if Slipknot aren’t your thing, this one is really about connection, identity, memory and the stuff we love without needing to justify it.

upport the podcast and grab an awesome tee at www.7hopestudio.co.uk

Have a great week. Stay true to yourself.

What if the Titanic had changed course by five degrees?

This week I’m thinking about the small things that can change everything — fate, James Cameron being an absolute lunatic, my auntie’s permanently unlocked front door. Explore kindness, cheap Slipknot records and somehow, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.

No grand answers. Just a few things I’ve been thinking about.

Sometimes five degrees is all it takes.

• If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m building, you can check out 7 Hope Studio — independent clothing, designed and printed by me in North Cornwall. Every order helps me keep making this stuff. Thank you. x

www.7hopestudio.co.uk

I tried to make a podcast about getting out of my own way. Somehow we ended up with Sisyphus, Spider-Man, a shoplifter with half a grand's worth of Lego, the mysterious history of a Morrisons bag and a potentially magnificent diorama in somebody's loft. Somewhere amongst all that, there's a conversation about the rocks we create for ourselves, anger, judgement, knowing when not to get involved, and learning to enjoy the process rather than constantly fighting it. This is The Chaplin Sessions. No experts. No gurus. Just curiosity, observations and whatever happens when I sit behind a microphone and follow a thought. New episodes every Wednesday. Grab a tea, and chill for 20. You've earned it. Thanks for checking this episode out. Chaplin 7 Hope Studio: www.7hopestudio.co.uk Independent clothing, creativity and other things made in North Cornwall.

00:00 Cold Open Banter

00:09 Why Podcasting Spun Me Out

01:05 Creativity vs Inner Critic

01:47 Younger Me Had No Limits

02:55 Listening Back and Doubting

06:20 Authenticity vs Algorithms

08:30 Perfectionism and the Boulder

10:04 Spider Man 4DX Family Day

10:52 Unclosed Windows in the Mind

13:55 Toy Store Theft and Anger

16:36 Making Sense of Stealing

17:58 Trading Cards and Sundays Back

18:41 Toys R Us and Comic Shop Nostalgia

20:25 Final Thoughts and Sign Off

How to know when you are the problem | Sour Grapes & Warm Milk

What happens when life hands you a bad hand versus when you sabotage yourself? This week, I’m breaking down a personal analogy:

Sour Grapes: The painful, random events outside our control. The key is how we respond without letting fear stop us from doing what we love.

Warm Milk: The problems we actively create through choices we can change. It’s about addressing the root cause rather than repeating self-sabotaging patterns.

At the end of the day, it's about staying true to yourself—even when the days feel heavier.

You've got this.

Chaplin. x

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - The Reality of Sour Grapes

5:00 - Are You Leaving Your Milk Out?

12:00 - How to Stop Self-Sabotage

18:30 - Staying True When Days Get Heavy

👕 SUPPORT THE SHOW: For awesome tees, hand printed in North Cornwall, go here: www.7hopestudio.co.uk