Chersea

CHERSEA: An Oh So “Classy” Love Affair with the BOSS RC-505

The RC-505 is one of my favorite products from BOSS since the release of the RC-300 Loop Station. This device has allowed me to express myself in a completely different way – using my hands instead of my feet! It provides me with increased mobility for my other instruments while enabling me to focus on my music from the waist up.
How She Uses It:
I use the RC-505 in a couple of ways. Firstly, I love to sing a cappella and layer my vocals into a doo-wop or scat-style, which acts as the foundation for my lead vocal-line. With the five adjustable tracks provided by the device, I can simply track and loop what vocals I want to control. I like manipulating the volume of each individual track as well. This gives me a natural sounding fade-in / fade-out effect.

I also use the RC-chersea-at-alibi-4-jpeg505 with several instruments. The easy-to-use interface of the RC-505 quickly and effectively indicates what tracks are active with a colorful array of movement on the board. The comprehensive color coding is a fantastic addition to this device! It makes the RC-505 VERY straight forward and esthetically appealing for me as a performer (as well as my audience!). Additionally, the effects on the RC-505 are completely customizable. I can change the tempo of the effect, the pitch, and how it is applied to each of my tracks via the different effects options.

Her Fav Features:
The Slicer: Creates a dancey, choppy vocal-line (you must talk slowly to get the words across!). Can also be used with different instruments to give a steady beat to a single note. I find this is best used in simple multiples of 4/4 timing.

The Classic Reverb: The reverb on this device has a very clean quality. The duration of the reverb’s ‘hold’ is customizable and can be used in combination with other effects.

Guitar to Bass Function: Can be applied to your vocals to make them sound low and bassy. If you have a higher-ranged synthesizer or a trumpet, you can lower the frequency of their sounds by using this function.

The Robot Effect: This effect is amazing and quite fun! With this effect, you can change your voice into a robot or create this monotone robotic phrasing with different instruments. You can also use it to create a “wind-down” effect for the end of your song.

Repeat Function: Try applying this feature to your tracks for an EDM-like build-up that would most likely be followed-up by a bass drop in a live performance setting. It is also great for repeating a phrase of music that forces the listener to listen to it. This may help you gain fans, or lose them – but that is the beauty of this product!

Closing Thoughts:
The BOSS RC-505 is unique among other loop stations because it makes looping accessible for every type of musician. It could be used by an a cappella songstress, an edgy rapper, an electro artist who wants to add live “acoustic” elements to his/her set, beat-boxers, or even the musicians who want to take their performances one step closer to that full-band sound. You can BE the band with this multi-faceted device; everything you need is at your fingertips! - Boss/Roland

Canadian Music Week offered up plenty of gems this year, but one of the most enjoyable finds for me came when I hit up Toronto’s The Rivoli to catch the previously reviewed The Lion The Bear The Fox and was subsequently introduced to Vancouver’s Chersea.

Chersea, who’s real name is Chelsea Laing, is a one-woman band thanks to her loop station and while she’s still routinely described as a newcomer to the music scene, she’s a classically trained artist who’s already taken home third and first at the Boss Loop Station Championship over the past two years. Her debut EP came out in April, right before she started a summer of festival bookings, and it offers up just a taste of her infectious live performance.

The nine months she spent working on Grey Matter also marked a time of growth. The version of “Chemical Polarity” that appears on the EP comes out much fuller than her winning submission from only a year ago. The song, like the rest of the EP, is full of extensive, rich layers—and the intensity of that has pushed Laing’s vocals to the forefront.

The album’s “Prelude,” a quick, Imogen Heap-esque minute sets up Laing’s flair for the electronic, segueing neatly into “I Could Lose It All.” Still, it’s Laing’s unaltered voice that becomes the most compelling element of the song. There’s a playful depth at work that sets Laing apart from her other female contemporaries, whose softer voices tend to blend more. The final minute, as she layers her voice over itself, is one of the fullest on the album.

“Grey Matter” comes closest to capturing the energy that comes with watching Laing perform live—though more stripped down than the first two tracks, there’s a bubbling drum that adds a sense of optimism to Laign’s repeated “I called home/you didn’t answer/The light shines bright/It doesn’t matter.” While that carries through “Chemical Polarity,” there’s another shift for “You Caught My Eye.” Echoing lyrics and added effects soften the poppy beat even as the song builds to a crescendo. Then again, ender “Requiem” packs nothing but punch—the kind of pulsating track that tends to indicate the night is just getting started.

While Grey Matter can’t capture exactly what it’s like to hear and watch Laing live, the EP comes close to showing off exactly what she’s capable of. The poppy beats and vocal sincerity are what will stand out—an excellent sample of both her debut and performance. - Grayowl Point

It was a Wednesday night like any other. The middle of the week, relaxed. The doors of Granville Island’s Backstage Lounge opened at 8PM and the venue was at first, quiet. It was not clear what the turnout would be or the outcome of the evening. This was the first official showcase presented by Afternoon Delight Productions featuring Mike Edel, Chersea and Luca Fogale. Victoria native Mike Edel began the evening with a mellow set as attendees flowed into the venue. As the night wore on, people became more engaged. Mike charmed the audience with his laid back songs, (which included his love song “Two of Us”) and his good sense of humor. He asked the audience if they had any questions for him. When asked his favorite song of all time, he thoughtfully answered that it would be “Round Here” by The Counting Crows.

The height of the evening came when Chelsea Laing, who goes by the stage name Chersea, took the stage. Unfortunately, some sound difficulties occurred at the beginning of her set, but were soon resolved and as a talented artist through and through, Chersea kicked off her set with her song “Classy” and wowed the audience with her keyboard and trumpet playing and incredible singing voice. As Chersea performed, the crowd grew. She performed a number of tracks that will be featured on her upcoming debut EP release, Grey Matter as well as a creative cover of Imogen Heap’s “Just For Now,” one of Chersea’s favorite, influential artists. The announcement of her CD release party this weekend at Fortune Sound Club led many to eagerly purchase tickets to see her again. Needless to say, she hooked the audience with her originality and talent.

Finally, a kind-hearted and modest Luca Fogale wrapped up the showcase by playing his first few songs, including “The Way We Are” accompanied by his guitar before proceeding to the keyboard to play the second half of the set, which was even more powerful than his acoustic songs. Luca’s soulful voice and in depth lyrics were almost haunting. He silenced the house with his beautiful vocals while playing “What I Came For,” followed by an encore, which then led to impromptu collaboration between he and Chersea for a few more songs on stage just for fun. All the proceeds from the ticket sales went toward Music Heals Canada. The show wrapped up around 11:30PM and it is safe to say the night turned out to be a success!
A Night on the Docks // Mike Edel, Chersea and Luca Fogale // Backstage Lounge // April 16, 2014
Written by Gillian Dunn
- See more at: http://fistfulofsound.com/2014/04/review-a-night-on-the-docks-with-mike-edel-chersea-and-luca-fogale/#sthash.z96TN4ES.dpuf - Fistful of Sound

When I saw Chersea for the first time earlier this year, I noted that she might just be someone to watch out for this year. Well, at least a few other people seem to agree with me, because since then she has made it all the way to the regional finals in the CBC Music Searchlight competition, being one of the top ten artists in the Vancouver region of voting (you can vote here, until Monday at noon PST, if you are so inclined). And that was even before the release of her debut EP, Grey Matter, which she celebrated with a release show at Fortune Sound Club this weekend.

Opening the night was Coquitlam band Community Trees, a four-piece with an alt-folk sound and coed vocals. The mix sounded a bit muddy and off for the first couple songs, but they soon settled into it. They had some interesting and catchy songs, but maybe a little scattered, like they just need to tighten things up a little bit. That aside, they were a fine band to open the night.

After a quick turnaround, Chersea hit the stage behind a complex setup of instruments. Looping everything from keyboard to synth to drum pads to trumpets to bass guitar, as well as a vocal harmonizer, everything on stage came live from one person (with the exception of a couple more complex loops, which she admitted were built between sets, for the sake of brevity due to the curfewed show).
Chersea started with the title track "Grey Matter", the moody backlighting matching the tone of the song, and from there the set ranged from dark ambient-pop to the summery and upbeat "Chemical Polarity", to the straight up danceable and electro-tinged "Requiem" (which was one of three songs to feature backup dancers up on stage). She even kept the dance-party portion of the set going with a cover of Love Inc's "Broken Bones".
She harmonized with herself, showing off her strong voice, for the "last" song of the set, the single from the EP, "I Could Lose It All", but had time for one last song before the curfew. Not bothering to leave the stage, she encored with a new song called "Mr. Cullum", a poppy jazz tune named after and inspired by Jamie Cullum.

For years now, I've loved watching loopers play live; watching them single-handedly build layer upon layer to create rich soundscapes in real time, and Chersea does a fantastic job at that. I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the beginning for her. - 3am Revelations (Kirk Hamilton)

This is a recorded documentary.

Interview from 25:10 - 28:14 - Tom Ravenscroft

Songwriting With The RC-505

The BOSS RC-505 Loop Station is for more than just beatboxing! Read on to see how CHERSEA used the RC-505 to write her latest masterpiece “Wolf”.

Start with a beat

I wrote “Wolf” using the RC-505 the day before shooting the video (see video below)! I first started with a beat – a feature that can be easily played when pressing the start/stop rhythm button. The beat I used was the most basic beat function on the RC-505, which was perfect in creating this minimalist song. I then began to write lyrics over this beat, while also fooling around with my Lucina AX-09, trying to add a comprehensive yet simplistic bass line.

Add in effects

To give it texture, I decided to add another effect from the RC-505, known as a slicer. In using this effect, you are able to choose the tempo at which you would like your note “sliced”, giving it a choppy, single, quantized note for as long as you play it. While layering this over the original bass line, I found there was more texture and made the line more interesting, especially when it came to pulling the phrase in and out of the song. After having both a leading bass and vocal line, I decided to use the VP-7, (my absolute favourite vocal product!) as it has up to 8 options for midi-controlled vocoder, and created some “backing vocals” while addressing the pre-chorus.

Layer, Layer, Layer

Heading into the second verse, I decided there needed to be more rhythm. Using my terrible beatboxing skills, I was able to mouth some noises and blur the lines of my beatboxing frailty with the reverb and delay features. This made the rhythm sound like an effected shaker, which added nicely to the simplicity of the original beat. I also incorporated the VE-5, another vocal processor, that is used primarily for affecting a lead vocal mic. Although there are many amazing effects in this device, I chose to use two: the basic Echo function, which makes you sound like you’re singing in a cathedral, and the third harmony voicing, which allows you to choose what key you’re singing in. Although I only have two hands, I had four devices that needed activation/deactivation at different times. It was very easy to prop the RC-505 right in front of me so I could centralize its location and press the tracking buttons at my convenience, while having my hands alternate to do the other work.

Now it’s your turn!

While writing a song with the RC-505 may appear difficult, the possibilities are endless and you are truly able to do anything if you put your mind to it. If I wrote this song in one day, I am frightened and excited to see what people can do if they spend a little time on it! For example, check out my friend KRNFX doing a cover of “Get Lucky” using the RC-505. Songwriting can be hard, especially with new devices, but think of it like baking a cake – it’s not the quantity of ingredients, it’s the quality of them that truly makes the cake (e.g. Callebaut chocolate versus store bought Hershey chocolate – sorry Hershey!). You can make a minimalistic, beautiful song using multiple instruments/devices on a unit that was originally directed towards an EDM and beatboxer audience.

Anything is possible with the RC-505; let’s see what YOU can create! - Boss/Roland

Recorded review - aired live on CBC radio.
Interview: 44:45 - 47:00 - CBC Radio

[...]Chersea opened up the show by herself: a funky, alternative one-woman band. As a multi-talented musician and loop artist, Chersea used everything from trumpet, tambourine, keyboard, bass, drums, shaker, and a percussion instrument that resembled a metal coffee thermos. She incorporated snapping and clapping and clicking and clucking, and added layer upon layer of angelic vocal harmonies. The crowd was completely captivated by her quirky stage presence and intensity, and by the detail and complexity of her music coming to life on the stage. From her fingers to her toes, her singing to her clothes, her performance was unforgettable; her voice, beautifully distinct, and her passion, both alluring and contagious.

Chersea was definitely a hard act to follow, but Sorry Buttons took on the challenge and managed to get the crowd up on their feet and dancing within the first few songs[...] - Vancouver Weekly

Vancouver-based one-woman DJ/wonderwoman Chersea played an incredible set of tunes from her recent release Grey Matters. The EP is full of ambient pop tunes with dark pop and even Caribbean flavours. Those in the crowd for the music (and not just to exchange cards) were in awe of this bare feet songstress re-creating the complex sounds of the EP LIVE and her piercing vocals, that were a huge delight during her cover of Love Inc’s “Broken Bones”. How can one human have this much talent? [...] - Ride The Tempo

Anyone who hasn’t watched a “loop artist” at work is missing out. “Looping is basically a form of live DJing,” summarises local singer-songwriter Chersea, whose unique technique of manipulating live music through electronic equipment won her the BOSS Loop Station Championship last year. “So you take an instrument, or you take a signal from a piece of digital or analogue equipment, or whatever it is; you run it through the loop station, you record it, and as soon as you hit the pedal again, it plays back to you.” But trying to explain its complexities doesn’t do justice to the elegant simplicity of looping when seen on stage. A performance by Chersea is practically sleight of hand. It is almost impossible to see the subtle ways she controls sounds through her loop station; they build layer by layer as if attuned to her thoughts, and then all of a sudden, they amass into an immersive, hypnotic harmony of spellbinding music.
While playing a live show, Chersea records her own percussion, melodies, and vocals; she alters them, merges them, isolates them, halts them, and rearranges them in myriad combinations as a part of each song, effectively becoming a one-woman band. In the end, she epitomises the term “technical wizardry.” “I’ve always been inter-recording my own music; when I was ten, I won a composition award,” she recalls. “I was playing a digital piano with a floppy disc. So essentially, I recorded all of these nature sounds on this floppy; I put it in, and I’d be playing a live classical piece while pressing buttons and triggering these sounds.” Chersea laughs to herself. “It’s hilarious that that’s when this started — I mean, with completely different technology.”
Chersea has been a multi-instrumentalist since childhood. She started tinkering the piano keys as a two-year-old, and began formal lessons around age five. In grade six, she picked up the trumpet and clarinet and played both until grade twelve; a rock band programme in her middle school also acquainted Chersea with the guitar, the bass, and the drums, though she did not take up guitar seriously until she was nineteen. “My parents played a lot of classical music, so I fell in love with classical music at a young age,” she says. “I’m classically trained in the sense that I started taking piano lessons from age five all the way until I was about fifteen years old, and then I just quit because hockey took over my life, and I actually got a hockey scholarship to UBC.”

While rewarding, university was a taxing time for Chersea; playing varsity hockey, working three jobs, and taking enough courses to earn a double major was difficult, and distanced her from her musical passion. “The third year of university, I had a really great hockey season, and my coach was just like, ‘you got to choose between music and hockey;’ so then I chose music,” she explains. But shortly after making this critical choice — which Chersea commemorates as being the best decision she’s ever made — a series of health complications compelled her to drop out of school. “I was on all these medications, and my life had been completely flipped around,” she says. Finally, she quit the medication altogether in order to regain a sense of stability in her life; the gambit paid off, and after three months she completely collected herself and composed all the songs on her first EP within three weeks. “I know how to deal with all my situations now,” Chersea says with a smile. “So it’s good. And I mean, music’s just the best outlet for that, and I guess suppressing that also contributed to a whole bunch of issues.”
Regarding her music, Chersea says, “Some people describe it as experimental. Some people describe it as ambient. I tend to describe it as ambient, dark, world pop.” Her songs are profoundly personal reflections on past experiences, but the stories are told through metaphor and allegory, symbolism and romanticism, so that the audience can extrapolate their own subjective meanings from the words. “I’ve always loved poetry. I’ve always loved music. I’ve always read into lyrics. And music is just another form of storytelling,” she explains. “I write all of the music, and I get a vibe from the music. And honestly, I just write all these lyrics that I feel; it normally takes me five to ten minutes. I rarely change them because I like the lyrics to stay very true to how I was feeling that exact moment.” After she wrote her album’s worth of songs in January 2013, Chersea played gigs at several local venues using a simple loop station with her guitar; her semi-professional debut took place in May 2013, at Montreal’s One Man Band Festival.

Just after returning from Montreal, a friend told Chersea about the LAUNCH Festival and encouraged her to apply; although Chersea doubted that she had the experience or credentials sufficient to be accepted, she submitted an application and was surprised when the Festival approved her. “LAUNCH does exactly what the title suggests. It opened so many doors — a ridiculous amount of doors,” she says emphatically. A head producer for brand.LIVE saw Chersea’s performance of her original songs “I Could Lose It All” and “Mind Porn” at LAUNCH, and got her an opening slot the Khatsahlano music and art festival. “So this is me being brand new, already hopping into Khatsahlano,” Chersea remembers. “When she asked me to play for her I burst into tears. And this is the same day as LAUNCH, and I’m just crying my eyes out at the social. I was so blown away, I had goosebumps. Just from doing two songs.”
After Khatsahlano, Chersea had a lot more work, including being invited back by SFU to perform at their 2013 Public Square Community Summit and their Week of Welcome in Fall 2013. She got involved with Project Limelight, a cause that she is still committed to. And following the LAUNCH Festival, Chersea competed in the Canada-wide BOSS Loop Station contest, which she won nationally, and found a producer with whom she recorded her first full EP, “GREY MATTER,” released in April 2014. “After winning the Loop Station, I got sponsored by BOSS-Roland as one of their musicians,” she says, “and through the Roland sponsorship, they got me a job at Science World AMPED. There was a VIP party that I played for some of the biggest music professionals in BC. So that’s how I met the Bob D’Eith of Music BC, that’s how I met some festival coordinators, that’s how I met people from The Peak, that’s how I met some members from Hedley, that’s how I met Hey Ocean!, that’s how I met all these people.” The industry professionals from Music BC would later receive Chersea’s application for Canadian Music Week, which she was subsequently selected for. “I represented BC as one of six musicians that they sent to Canadian Music Week, which is the biggest festival of its kind in Canada. And I just came back from that.”

One of the best things about the LAUNCH Festival, according to Chersea, is the opportunity to make contacts and connections with other artists who are starting out. “Dancers look for paying gigs. Musicians look for paying gigs. Videographers look for paying gigs. Artists look for paying gigs. Everyone’s looking for the same thing, and because we’re starting out and we have no money, why not work together so our names all go together, and we push each other up?” suggests Chersea enthusiastically. “And I think that’s what LAUNCH is, I think it’s deeper than just ‘here’s a launching pad, you’re just going to get famous,’ because that’s not realistic; that’s not what happens. It allows you to network and delegate and help each other out.” As Chersea notes, “We need that base where we’re all interconnected and we all use each other, but in the best way; to self-promote and co-promote. So that’s what’s great about LAUNCH. It’s amazing.”
The other great thing about the LAUNCH Festival is the feedback. Chersea describes how music professionals were present during the workshop to provide her with constructive criticism. “They weren’t harsh by any means; they really wanted to give me boost. And so I took it and ran with it,” she says. “As soon as I did that, I started getting people who wanted to film me live, who wanted to shoot videos for me, who wanted to do all these things, because all of a sudden my set grew to all this digital pop ambient sound that I could make with my drum-pad.” The LAUNCH Festival is a chance for artists not just to prove themselves, but to improve as well. “You know how the cliché is ‘take it with a grain of salt?’ Don’t do that! Take this information, really really use it, and care about it,” advises Chersea to this year’s participants. “Take every moment you have available to you through this festival and go at it head-on. Because there’s going to be a sh*t-load of people in the audience that you had no idea existed. People that really matter.” Chersea laughs. “Don’t underestimate the ‘small’ second year of a festival. The first year was crazy. And I can only imagine it’s getting bigger and better.” - VANDOCUMENT

See video for details - Roland Corporation

Chelsea Laing couldn't bear to be there.

Last Wednesday, when the Vancouver radio station 102.7 The Peak and Music BC announced on air the Top 12 finalists for the Peak Performance Project, the Port Coquitlam resident stayed at home, ordered a pizza and chilled with a glass a wine.

She made a conscious effort to pull herself away from the hype and be happy with the results — no matter what happened.

She has plenty of friends in the music industry who also want to succeed, she thought.

But she also didn't want the public humiliation.

The year before, Laing had applied for the contest and, while at the live announcement, had "a couple too many drinks" and got upset when her name wasn't called. "I didn't make a scene. I left. I was fine later," she recalled.

This year, however, her method worked.

Hers was the second name announced at the Fortune Sound Club — and her phone immediately lit up with congratulatory messages from well-wishers. "When I found out, my jaw dropped. I thought, 'How am I here?' There are so many top level bands and with tons of experience."

Laing, who works under the band name Chersea, is not only the sole Tri-City musician on the coveted Peak roster, she's also the only woman.

On July 11, Chersea and the other finalists — Little India (Langley); Smash Boom Pow (Vancouver); Jesse Roper (Victoria); Find the Others (Bowen Island); Mindil Beach (Vancouver); Bed of Stars (Abbotsford); Mike Edel (Victoria); Windmills (Vernon); JP Maurice (Victoria); Joy District (Comox Valley); and Van Damsel (Kamloops) — will formally launch their campaigns with live performances at the fourth annual Khatsahlano Street Party.

And, later in the summer, they'll converge in Princeton for a boot camp.

The prizes are good for the winners: $102,700 for first place, and $75,000 for second and $50,000 for third spots. Still, all the Top 12 bands get a $5,000 base camp boost to help with career development.

Now in its seventh year, the Peak Performance Project has seen such bands as The Matinee (of Coquitlam), We Are the City, Kyprios, Current Swell, Dear Rouge and Said the Whale break out from emerging to professional status.

Laing, a Minnekhada middle alumni who graduated at North Burnaby secondary (she transferred for the hockey academy), said she's got a lot to accomplish over the next few months including releasing a new EP or LP and flying to Toronto to pose nude in a calendar for a charitable cause. She also plans to shoot some videos with kids from the downtown eastside charity Project Limelight, of which she is music director.

Laing said she's also getting lots of support from her co-workers at Tom Lee Music in Coquitlam.

After all, music has become her passion. She plays trumpet, clarinet, bass, guitar, drums, piano and banjo and combines her sounds into what she describes as an "electronic tribal pop."

"If you think Imogen Heap, Grimes or Enya, those are pretty good comparisons," she said.

The final showcase for the Top 3 Peak Performance Project finalists will be Nov. 19 at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.
- See more at: http://www.tricitynews.com/entertainment/laing-is-the-last-woman-standing-1.1954765#sthash.zYskFZt8.dpuf - Tri-City News

G: You've now released your first EP, how was it received?

C: It went over pretty well, I got some radio play and people liked it. For my debut, it was good.

G: Was it hard to get reception in Vancouver?

C: Yes, for sure. It's all about who you know in Vancouver, and who respects and appreciates you as a musician. Breaking into that sphere is hard, definitely, and gaining respect from your peers is difficult. That being said, the scene in Vancouver is very welcoming, and if you're social you shouldn't have any issues breaking into it. I've been pretty lucky in that respect. The hardest thing is getting people to come out to your shows.

G: And to move at them...

C: Yes, totally. I see my show as a three-show act. At the first show the audience will just stare. No movement, just looking. At the second show they understand you a bit better, and might recognize a new song. They'll groove to the few they remember. By the third, they'll know you and finally be dancing.

G: Do you have a favourite venue to play at in Vancouver?

C: Fortune Sound Club. It's an awesome place. They have all the tech-support and everything you need. The people who work there really care about the sound and the integrity of the music.

Geyser: What do you believe your role as an artist is in society?

CHERSEA: What I hope I can develop my role into, and become, is an inspiration for kids, and the next generation musically. I want to help instill the values of learning, and things like being able to read and play from notation. I think music is the best foundation to learn many other skills, it gets your brain working and thinking creatively (which in turn helps with other areas of life). It helps with the development of children's brains.

I work with kids a lot, and I feel I've developed my set to work for everyone, but to have the most impact on the next generation. I want to help them buy their equipment, figure out funding (grants), and realize that there is so much possibility with music right now. Music is moving toward being and independent industry, and it is possible to have a career in it. If you work really hard, you can get it.

G: Have you had a particular experience with kids that was inspiring to you?

C: Yeah, there’s a couple of people who’ve really taken what I’ve done and made it their own. I have a lot of younger fans that contact me through the interwebs, like YouTube or SoundCloud or whatever it may be, and they tell me they’re inspired by what I do and ask about my gear. So I try to help them build their own set-up, so it’s different from mine since we’re all unique, but I show them which gear is the best, what’s the cheapest. I worked with two girls specifically who are 10 and 13, teaching them how to home record using just what you have. We worked together on some stuff, I helped them with the writing and arranging. I’m not the best at that, of course, but I was able to help them grasp the basics and they’re flying with it now.

G: What made you develop such a passion for helping kids with music?

C: The reason why I want to help is because if I had that support at that age, that leadership and guidance, who knows where I’d be now? I didn’t have that, so here I am now at 24 playing the catch-up game, and make something of myself and my skill-set. I hope that helping these kids can bring them there faster, and inspire them at a younger age, so that by the time they are my age they have a career started and stability.

Learning music helps you not be so defeatist all the time, because it’s such a hard thing to learn. You get used to failure, and having to try hard. Music is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also the most rewarding.
“Learning music helps you not be so defeatist all the time, because it’s such a hard thing to learn. You get used to failure, and having to try hard. Music is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also the most rewarding.”
G: Since you started music later in life, what helps you to keep going? And what advice do you have to people starting music later in life?

C: It’s been a challenge. I’m lucky because I have the energy, I’m really positive and I bounce around and so it makes it easier at my age. Everyone assumes I’m 17 anyway. For someone starting out, just know it’s never too late to start and to learn. If you look at half of the people that are getting any sort of Hollywood notoriety, they’re all in their late 30s and 40s now. It’s a long haul. It’s going to take 5, 10, 15 years for me to get to where I want to be, so just don’t worry. Age is just a number. If you’ve got the song, if you’ve got the music, people are going to love it. To have the mental barrier of age, that’s just silly.

G: How do you feel the Canadian music scene is seen around the world?

C: I don’t think Canada has really made its mark on the map, at all. We have so few acts, Arcade Fire, Neil Young, Bryan Adams... Then you think about the United States, and you can’t even begin to name all the artists.

However, the underground scene is growing. Despite the lack of international support Canadians get, we do have this wonderful underground scene. The support is coming to musicians from industries, with things like SOCAN. We are really lucky to live here, we have so much support. But, then we try to go to the United States and they charge us to play down there. By the time you’ve paid the fees, it pretty much is your whole paycheck. It’s asking a lot. So little things like changing that could help.

That being said, we do have a lot of new festivals and programs starting up, they'll help put Canada on the map. With time, it’s going to get better. Right now it’s a lull, a bit of a musical purgatory, but it will get moving.
“Get to know people. Go out of your way to make people feel good. Be positive, be happy, support your peers.”
G: Is there something specific you'd like seen done to support artists?

C: Six degrees of separation is kind of the rule. If someone hears your name they might not do anything until they hear it from like five more people. Once they hear your name those other times, then they'll reach out. If we could turn that into three, instead of five times, that would help.

It’s a lot of politics as well, it’s who you know and who is putting your name out there. The problem is that I think it’s the same circles getting the same people involved, and I think it needs to expand.Artists need to get more weight in society. When demand for industry goes up, the demand for music tends to drop. People need to work, and people need to live. A lot of people here, in Vancouver, aren’t even making enough money to live so why would they go and drop 20 dollars on a show? They just worked all day to barely make their spending money. We can’t control the economy, so it needs to start with people. It needs to start with networking.

As an artist, you need to be social. It’s so hard to sit at home and make all this wonderful music and get any recognition. People want you to perform. They want you out. They want you at other people’s shows. If they see you at other artists’ shows supporting other musicians, if they see you play and like what they hear, even if they don’t see you again the next six times you’ll still be in their minds as a positive influence on the community. That’s how you make your mark, and I think that’s how I’ve made mine. By being present, and so social. Get to know people. Go out of your way to make people feel good. Be positive, be happy, support your peers. Then your name gets out there, and other bands hear about you and ask you to be on their bill. If you’re complaining that things aren’t working for you, you aren’t working hard enough.

G: Any last words? Shout-outs?

C: Shout-out to Cody Taylor of Fiend Recordings, he is my producer and my partner in crime. We do everything together, musically. He’s the best guy, if you like my work and you want to work with him he’ll give you everything and more.

Shout-out to my pals Lovecoast. And my parents, they’re the best ever. They drive me places and help invest in my career, I couldn’t be more lucky. Mummy, Daddy, you’re the best.

G: Thanks for the wise words! - Geyser Music

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 vary, 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. - 3am Revelations