Noodles & Chats with Chersea

This week I (Jess) had the pleasure of meeting up with Chersea in Gastown for a delicious bowl of noodles and some good talk time. We chatted about the Peak Performance Project, dreams, Project Limelight, mental health and more. Check out our conversation below!

Jess: You recently said that you've had a brand change, what kind of brand change was that?

Chersea: When I went up to the PPP bootcamp, they were hinting towards how important it is to identify your brand and to have something that's attainable for your viewers or listeners or fandom. My issue was kind of that identity - and trying to find a way to truly represent what I want to do as an artist. So the brand change is kind of indicative of that, and I really wanted to focus on my bioplar: the black and the white, the manic and the depressive, the ebb and the flow of having a condition like that, which a lot of us as artists do have. The thing is I also want to help relinquish the stigma and I keep playing with it, toying with it, because we're human. We're normal people but just with a little extra somethin' somethin'. I just wrote a blog on the Peak and that's coming out, which tells my whole back story which will hopefully help solidify that brand. I've never been very vocal about that and I want to create something that a lot of people, especially these days, can identify with – mental health. As you can tell, it's a lot of black and white.

Jess: Is that explicit in your music?

Chersea: It already has been explicit, that's why Grey Matter is called Grey Matter. The lyrics in Grey Matter explicitly talk about 'What have I done? What have I become?” because I was on medication for so long and as soon as I got off mediation I wrote that song, and I hadn't been writing music for a long time because of the medication. So, Grey Matter is all about that and Vipera is more of a science based type of album I would say. I really care about science and I don't want to brag by any means but I’m a little bit of an academic. I love studying, I love learning. This next album [mental health] is definitely going to be a huge feature of it because it goes up/down up/down push/pull push/pull and the tempo changes. We lined up the album to make it very, taking your emotions through a roller coaster. That's kind of what we're going for, and because my music is so eclectic it's cool to draw from all of these resources while having my voice be the carrying piece, the torch carrier through it all.

Jess: So Vipera is out, but what about the rest of the music? Are you planning on releasing that by the end of the Peak?

Chersea: No, we actually planned to release an EP this summer which, clearly, fell through. But the reason why it fell through is for a very good reason. It's just... we want to make this album as good as we can. And I had this dream, it was early June, and in this dream I was holding my album and I had these two songs on the album that I'd never considered for the album. I looked at the album and saw these two songs and the next morning I called up my producer at like 8:30 a.m. and I'm like 'Cody, I had this dream, we have to add these songs!” So we started co-writing a bit more and then we decided to make a 10-track, so now we're making a 10-track instead of a 5-track. So it's going to take a bit longer. I've spoken to a few people who want to co-arrange and help and it will be the next big release for me. It's really cool to have the people on board help make those changes. Definitely waiting until the spring for that, but sometimes waiting is the best game.

Jess: So is that story the first time you'd really followed up on a dream?

Chersea: I do that a lot.

Jess: How does that work out for you?

Chersea: Sometimes I feel living day to day is a dream. There's certain things you can connect with in your sleeping consciousness that you were never really presented in your waking consciousness. I'm not one really to delve into it and talk about spirituality or dimensions or anything like that, but it's just, for me I feel like it's a sign and the way I felt in my dream, the excitement I had, those emotions for me are so significant. For other people who maybe don't have biploar they maybe think “Oh it's a dream, this means this...” but for me it sticks. I wake up and I feel that again and I feel that for days until I address it, so I was like 'this is a sign and I think I'm going to go with it.'

Jess: Have you ever written music based on a dream?

Chersea: Almost half of my songs come from dreamscape. I'll wake up, record a melody or write it in my book beside my bed, and the songs come from that. That's why my music is pretty ambient, kind of dream-scapy.

Jess: So you're in the music 24/7.

Chersea: I love it. It's my life. It took me a long time to find it. I've already been through university. I was the varsity hockey player, and I've been a whole bunch of different things but I reconnected with music and music saved me really through my healing with bipolar and coping with new mechanisms that I have to understand and I have to learn, being one who is diagnosed. There are two worlds, there's the non-diagnosed world where you are like 'I'm just crazy as-is, that's the way it is,' and then they tell you that there's an imbalance and I take that and I'm like 'okay, now this is my new world.' There's a change, there's a shift, there's a new dynamic.

Jess: How is music different for you in terms of healing than sports or academic?

Chersea: It's freedom. Music is freedom. It's the freedom to create.

Jess: What's your plan if you win the peak?

Chersea: It's developing. I think the big thing is getting into the states. Getting out of Canada. Expanding. I'm very, very fortunate to have a couple of international sponsorhsips so I've already been exposed to other parts of the world. It's really honing in the Canadian market and how I can be so successful here that I can take it and branch out. I am a Canadian through and through, I love Vancouver and I don't want to leave this place. I really think that we have such an incredible hub here, there's so many talented and wonderful people who are all amazing contributors to society for different associations like the Downtown Eastside, or like me for Project Limelight which is a huge thing for me, especially being the music director and vocal coach for that, there's just too much going on here for that. I know that a lot of artists leave, they go to Montreal or Toronto. I'm not going to leave, I’m going to stay here, but I'm going to do my utmost, my best to expand where I can and also bring this culture here to the next level. Being in the last year of the Peak, us artists are kind of on the frontier of Vancouver being something wonderful and something beautiful. We can do it, but people need to stop leaving. We've got to stay and we've got to commit because Vancouver's just the best. If we expand that culture it will make Vancouver a better place and a happier place because we're surrounded by talented people and inspiration and creativity.

Jess: What's your fundraiser for the Peak this year?

Chersea: My fundraiser is for Project Limelight which is free performing arts group for kids on the Downtown Eastside. I've actually been working with them and raising money with them for quite a few years already, it's been about two and a half or 3 years that I've been the musical director for the program. I do all of the live music [for shows], the live folley for the plays and I help vocal coach and pick the songs and organize the children and it's just the best time ever. I love it, I love them, I love them like my own family. It's just such a great group and that's the fundraiser. I'm calling it Chersea and Friends Talent Show Fundraiser. I want to keep it really cutesey because it's an all ages event until 10pm. So kids can come and I'm actually going to have a child from Limelight perform with me. You'll get to see how well they do and how well they're progresisng. And it's going to be a glow in the dark party! So we're just going to get the kids out, I have a whole bunch of door prizes. The event is mainly sponsored by Nimbus School of Recording Arts and Roland Canada. We have two big, amazing sponsors and I can't thank them enough.

It's Chersea and Friends – it's literally my friends, some of my closest friends in the music industry are coming out. Since there's so many changeovers we're doing smaller, acoustic sets, but I even have Yvette Lu from BTV who is a doctor, she's going to come out and talk about how to stay healthy as an artist and have a poet coming, a couple of duos, two loopers coming which is paying homage to my own craft, one is Druiz which is Daniel Ruiz, drummer of Bestie, and the other one is Waldron who is Tegan Waldron who is doing almost that Hannah Epperson thing, kind of edgier and kind of more medieval sounding. It's really beautiful. Gina Loes is going to be there, I just love her to bits, we've got a really good group of people coming. I hope the kids are going to love it, they'll all have glowsticks. I've got Sticky's Candy from out in Coquitlam who donated stuff. It's super family oriented but for the adults it will be a glow in the dark karaoke party from 10pm onwards.

Catch Chersea with pals Mike Edel & Little India TONIGHT at Fortune Sound Club for the Peak Performance Project showcase! Tickets & details here.

Who are Joy District & what are they up to?

If you've been following this year's Peak Performance Project BC at all, you might have seen some band names you recognize, and some that seem to have appeared out of nowhere. The PPP is a great opportunity for bands who might not have been terribly active lately, or who have gone through member changes or other circumstances, to firm up their acts and get their schnitzel together.

For Joy District, that meant shedding an old band skin and taking Julie Andrew's advice to start at the very beginning. They got a new band name, new songs, and started fresh after some old projects wrapped up - leaving us with a band that few people knew entering one of the most popular and rewarding band contests in Canada. Jess chatted with Eli of Joy District as they were getting ready for the next day's 2-ferry journey from their homebase of Denman Island to Vancouver for their PPP showcase, and this is part of their conversation.

How's the music scene on Denman?

For how small it is it's sactually not too bad. There's quite a lot of local talent, but it's kind of a one or two show a month kind of deal. There's definitely nothing really going on for young folks.

How did you end up on Denman?

My family moved here when Iwas 6 and our drummer Keelan grew up here his whole entire life, we've been neighbours. I moved to Victoria when I graduated and we all spent a few years in Vancouver and we've all moved around the west and BC a bit.

How was Joy District born?

We've been playing music together, some of us , for like 10 years now. We were a different band called MCM which stood for Multi Coloured Mischief. That was a party band kind of in the genres of latin, reggae. punk - we were flailing about musical genres. It was pretty Peak-oriented that we reformed and rebranded under some guidance from a bit of a mentor. We came up with a new name so we could shed that old skin and pretty close to the beginning of the Peak we put it all together.

Who was your mentor?

Ryan Guldemond from Mother Mother. Actuall our guitar player, Lenny's sister is Jasmine Parkin.

He hepes us a lot, he produced the two tracks that were in the application and he got us a ways along in becoing a marketable band and he's an inspiring guy.

Do you feel like you got a lot of support from the Denman locals, like they rallied to send you out for the PPP?

Not too much of a rally, everybody in the whole community is very supportive but there are guys that are like 'Oh, we hear dyou're in a battle of the bands,' and they don't understand exactly what the deal is but they know we're up to something. We've been playing together and know we're in the local scene and people are like 'You guys are doing so good, I saw your website!' so it's funny how simple things like having a website make a difference.

How would you describe music, and what do you want your music to sound like as it evolves?

Now I'd say we're kind of like if TV on the Radio and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Bee Gees had a pissed-off, emo, younger sister with a dark edge, who would be kind of like hard rock and have fun and try and get everyone invited to our party kind of deal.

For the next phase it would just kind of be good to evolve and mature kind of as songwriters, breaking down and learning to fit into the genre of alt-rock. In some ways that gives us more creative to narrow it down and fit inside of a box. I think the main thing is going to be playing more shows and owning our live sound.

You did  a tour over the summer?

We did a bit of a little island tour.

Was that your first time touring as Joy District?

Yes, that was the first time under the Joy District band. Doing a circuit of shows.

How did it go?

It went really well. Being in a band with your best friends and your brother, when you're going out and playing consecutive nights in a row - it's an advantage to crash in the floor of a friend's place or whatever we need to do to make it work. Being new in the touring aspect is very exciting. We're going to kind of enjoy sleeping in floors and eating junkie dinners while we still can.

What was the hardest part?

I'd have to say the hardest part was keeping it together after we played and making sure we're alright. We did go off to a couple Gulf Islands, so making sure we're up and at em' and catch our ferry and not having too much fun on those crazy Gulf Islands.

You must take a lot of ferries. What do you do to keep busy?

We like to always be planning on ways to somehow avoid the full price ferry ticket. That's always fun. It can get quite creative. My guitar player is the only one who doesn't live on Denman and you've just gotta make the ferry time your time. Clean your car, catch up on your reading, we take a lot of ferries so I like to just nap personally.

Who are the members of your band?

The tall long haired man is the drummer, Keelan Gamble. He's me and my brother's neighbour on Denman from where we were raised, he lived 2 farms down from our parents. He's definitely the strong character in the group, he did real well at boot camp. He's a strong Leo, really driven. Without him around it would be a lot harder for us all to hit deadlines, let's just say that.

The other non-ginger in the group, in one of our pictures has really long hair too - Lenny Parkins, Jasmine's brother, he's quite the rock. I'm sure he's kind of the go-to for any venting. He's the emotoinal rock and we send him out to do business and meet people. Lenny's mom actually was the midwife at me and my brother's birth, we've been pretty tight.

Our brother Jodie is the bigger of the gingers, we were going to name our band for a long time Waiting for Jordan because in set breaks or waiting to start we'd always be looking for Jordie or running around and he'd alway be somewhere close by having a drink or talking. He's the best brother I could ask for and he's real sweet. Luckily we're really tight, best buddies. He plays the synth bass, singing a lot of bacup vocals and Lenny is playing the lead guitar. 

Is the live video for "Burned" your only video?

That's our only video because our Peak intro video is our other video - but we had to take it down off the internet because we had to do some reshooting and reediting. We had a few rookie mistakes there. We had a videographer but what we did was when we filmed, we kind of did it as a game of life and started going off rope swings on Denman and loading up gear and going to a little island and playing a show for friends. But the show was on BC Parks land and there were some noise complaints and BC Parks looked into it and contacted the Peak. There were some Parks reps there and we kind of asked them if it was OK and in the end it wasn't OK.

Super fun to shoot though. It was such a fun, fun day of... we've done a lot of different shows around here that involve an adventure. There's an awesome nonprofit festival we played and you basically have to load your gear into a 4-wheel drive and get there and we thought it was fun to include that adventure/show/playing/party that has been a part of our show live.

What are you going to do with the money if you win the Peak?

Well... if we win the Peak, I mean... for one, what we've already got out of the Peak is that it's so much bigger than we really realized in May what we'd gotten in. We were extremely excited but had no idea really what we were going to do and what we were going to take out of it. The bootcamp was really exciting and if we win the money we'll probably put it towards recording and touring. We've got a really great team that we were fortunate enough to start recording with, but unfortunately a great team costs a great amount of money so if we're getting 50 grand or 100 grand that would be sweet. Buy some new gear, and take over the world basically. It will be our kick off to taking over the industry and then taking over the world. It will all be a part of the excecution.

What do you want people to know before seeing your showcase?

Well... bring your party shoes and don't be shy. We kind of feel like we always have a big family connection witn our fans and anybody we work with. Don't be shy! During our set or after our set we'd love nothing more than talking to people who like our music. We're just really looking forward to playing our music.

Joy District play with Bed of Stars and Mindil Beach tonight at Fortune Sound Club for the 2015 PPP showcase kick-off! Tickets and info available at http://bc.peakperformanceproject.com/tickets