1) Firstly thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to talk to us. Could you tell us a little about yourself and when you began your musical education?
I am a mostly self taught musician and vocalist. I started learning music, the guitar and singing at secondary school around age 14. I immediately switched to bass guitar and started playing with the school band and singing with the school choir.
At that time (and even now) I learned to play by ear more than by sight. I joined my first cover band at age 16 and at around age 19, I joined a band called Oddfellows Local who did mostly original songs and this was my first experience at writing songs as a bassist and vocalist.
In mid 1999 I was introduced to a DAW called Fruity Loops (Now called FL Studio). Before then I used keyboards, 4 track recorders and even 2 cassette recorders to record and produce music. So when I discovered this DAW it opened a whole new world of musical exploration for me (especially without the stress of tape hiss). I still use this DAW today.
I started a band around 2000 called Atheleny with two very good friends, a poet and a guitarist, with myself on bass, guitar, vocals and FL Studio supplying the beats and soundscapes. We self-produced 2 albums.
After a very amicable split in 2003, I started the Coreysan solo project in 2004 and have self produced 5 albums from 3 bedrooms and 1 kitchen :) The 5th album is called DeeperThan Skin out on Brighton’s Blind Colourlabel.
2) You’re originally from Trinidad can you tell us about your musical influences growing up in the Caribbean?
Besides being influenced by the wide variety of traditional and hybrid musical flavours of Trinidad and Tobago, as a Caribbean musician, I was also inspired by Reggae, Zouk, Caribbean Latin and Dub music. The unique approach to playing the bass by the various Caribbean styles of music has always intrigued me as a bassist.
As a songwriter, the storytelling aspect of Calypso, Kaiso and Extempo from Trinidad and Tobago is in my blood and it comes out naturally in my approach to writing songs.
3) You’re now based in Bristol in the United Kingdom. Can you tell us how the music scene differs in comparison and how it has influenced you?
Being in Bristol has allowed me to explore the deep, sensual and trance-like elements in making music. I was already listening to Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead when I was in Trinidad and was deeply inspired by their sultry, smokey sounds and their usage of live and electronic instruments.
The Bristol scene is very different from the scene in Trinidad and Tobago only because of the larger number of musicians mixing electronic and live music in Bristol.
4) As the bassist and backing vocalist for the band Calypso Rose, can you tell us a little about the band and what you have learnt from the experience?
I have been playing with Calypso Rose for about 12 years. I am the only Trinidadian in the group and the rest of the musicians are all French. The band is a family and Calypso Rose is our mother. We have a great time together on and off of the stage.
Playing with and being around a living legend like Calypso Rose is like being with a living historical library of my culture and Calypso Music. She has already done so much and still continues to create and collaborate at 80 years old. This teaches me that the musical road is much longer than most people think.
5) In recent years you have provided vocals on Brighton’s dub/soul/outernational collective Ink Project, who have a new album out in early 2021. Could you tell us what to expect?
Our forthcoming album ‘Rhythm Spirit’ is a beautiful tapestry of driving beats, ethereal soundscapes, sultry basslines and enchanting vocals by myself, Fifi Rong and Yazmyn Hendrix; with some elements of jazz, trip hop, broken beat, electro, downtempo and chillout expertly inserted into each song by producer Jez Lloyd.
6) Your own album ‘Deeper than Skin’ has just been released. Again can you tell us what to expect?
I was greatly inspired when I heard Black Coffee and Dengue Dengue Dengue integrating their traditional music with their electronic creations. So I feel that on this album, my Caribbean roots are more present. Subtly but present.
This inspiration has given the album a more electronic world music feeling than my previous albums. More rhythmic but still bass-ladden, thought provoking, smokey and dreamy.
https://soundcloud.com/blindcolour/sets/corey-album-masters/s-P892Oj9rvkA
https://blindcolour.bandcamp.com/album/coreysan-deeper-than-skin
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