Check out the video below:

Alex (interviewer): Last time we spoke you were getting ready for the Curlys Jewels tour. How did that go?

Coridian: It went well. We got to play in Porirua, in an industrial warehouse. Napier was quiet but we got to have an impromptu roof party with the other bands. And in Auckland we got to hang out with all our friends who came out to see us, which was great.

Alex: You guys have been doing a lot of one-off shows as opposed to tours. Any reason for this?

Coridian: We are trying to stay relevant, bridging the gap between recording and other tours. We get bored if we aren’t playing, and tours aren’t always feasible. Often we are simply invited by other bands and it’s humbling to be able to play with them. We have many mini yours planned over the weekends.

Alex: You guys are doing a mini tour for your upcoming “release”?

Coridian: We aren’t calling it an album or EP, as it’s in between. We wanted to do an album, but it’s really expensive and has a lot to do with timing, trying to release at the right time. Once this has some support and demand we can release something bigger, that won’t just disappear. With every release, we have been adjusting our style to create the “Coridian” sound, and everything from now on should be pretty consistent with how we are planning to go forward. We would have loved to release an album now, but we don’t feel it would have been received well enough. Just because you can do it, is not a reason to do it. The release Caldera covers tour last year of work, it includes the last few singles released and all the other songs that we still currently perform live. For the rest of the shows for the year, we’ll be playing our release Caldera in its entirety with a couple of new songs. We are excited.

Alex: Tell me about your logo, and where Caldera came from

Coridian: A caldera is a formation that comes about from the reclamation of a force of destruction. Whether that destruction forms a lake or oasis. The ideas or rejuvenation, alchemy, symmetry and sacred geometry. The bird logo is something that I (Dity) put together as the Coridian symbol, inspired by the Ravens (Nick, Kris, and Mike are the Raven brothers), and the “C” that goes around it, I added some symbols from my Indian culture that brings it altogether representing us. It’s the same symbol on our first EP and all of our t-shirts. We are planning on all four of us getting it tattooed on us at the NZ Tattoo festival in New Plymouth. Not too sure how drunk we’ll be but it’s only costing us $25

Alex: The three Raven brothers have been making music together for a while now. How well have you fitted in with them, Dity?

Dity (vocalist): Really easy. It’s probably what made this an easy decision. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get back into music, but I used to watch these guys play live as the Chuck Norris Trio, and I loved the synergy that they had. It’s what made their music so tight; three brothers, they could read each other so well. Being brothers as well, they can give and take a lot of sh*t, which is good when it comes to touring and spending a lot of time together. Nick does get the most sh*t, being the youngest. Sometimes I find I am like the mediator as I’m not a blood relative

Alex: You have a new EP coming out October 25^th, Caldera, how is it being received by reviewers?

Coridian: It only has the one review so far, but a lot of the radio stations are picking it up, such as BayRock, Paul Martin, and Kingsley Smith. We have a few mentions coming up on a number of websites, it’s a long process.

Alex: How about live? How are the crowds reacting?

Coridian: We’ve had people start requesting songs, and Nonetheless is doing well, getting everyone amped. We had interesting feedback from a friend after we played Seed at the Auckland City Rock Fest, who described having a skin orgasm upon hearing the song. So she had goosebumps. The coolest surprise when the latest edition of NZ Musician came out and Paul Martin of The Axe Attack came out and listed his five favourite songs of 2017 and put us on the list. To get that kind of praise that we are doing it right, from someone that we believe is also doing it right is immense.

Alex: So you guys are playing the Tauranga Rock Fest?

Coridian: We’ve had a great relationship with the Mount. Each gig we play there has been amazing and have a good following there. Apart from Auckland, we always get a good show at Tauranga, and get good feedback. We were glad to be invited, Kingsley Smith is organizing it, with all profits going towards the Cancer Society, and we’ve grabbed some great Rock Fest shirts. We are one of the headliners, so we’ll have a pretty long set, and we’ll bring out some tracks we haven’t played in a while. Some bangers for the fans. It’ll be a good few weeks down there, as we have Devilskin the week before, which will be one of the biggest gigs we’ve ever played. And then we start the tour, which will be crazy.

Alex: How has the “Chuck Norris” sound changed since the addition of Dity?

The Ravens: I guess it’s calmed down? We were trying to fill a void and trying to make it more interesting without a vocalist, so we’ve tried to uncomplicate it a bit to allow room for a 4^th instrument. The old stuff, Dity could still sing over it, but we went through several phases to become Coridian.

Dity: I used to see these guys perform live, and I’d think to myself how I could add vocal melodies to the tracks. They have kept as much of the core sound as possible, but the sound has naturally evolved anyway as a natural progression. But there are still elements of Chuck Norris in there. With the three of us performing together, it will always be there.

Alex: Is your sound influenced by the music you were brought up with?

The Ravens: I listen to all sorts of music; hip-hop, rock, rap and pop. Not too much metal, but a lot of grunge, like Tool, Nirvana etc. but I never went too deep into underground stuff. I dabbled in a bit of everything. Being a singer, I enjoy good vocal melodies. I did lots of karaoke in my early 20s.

Alex: Top karaoke choice?

Dity: I think it was an *NSYNC song, some Dr Dre jams and Snoop Dogg tracks.

Alex: And the Raven boys had heavier influences?

Coridian: Kris and I listen to really heavy music, but I was also influenced by the blues. Nick is influenced by a different set of groups too. Collectively it still comes together. We grew up in a rock and roll household; 70s 80s and 90s. Especially the 90s. Can’t get enough of Limp Bizkit. Kris is probably a punk drummer that wanted to be a heavy metal drummer but was never that good, so that has influenced how we play. Never been a massive double-kick guy.

Alex: Any guilty pleasures?

Kris: I love Crazytown – Butterfly

Dity: Pop music in general. Not now pop, but 90s pop. No making fun, but we all love Backstreet Boys.

Kris: You get to a certain age that you realise that you don’t care anymore. You’ll sing and drink along with anything.

Dity: I’ve found music more as a mood setter. Not so black and white.

Mike: I’m a huge Rudimental fan. Went to see them live once and they blew me away

Dity: I appreciate music for what it can offer. The spectrum has given me a greater appreciation of what’s on offer and will draw vocal melodies from different genres. Don’t pigeonhole yourself.

Mike: Seed was a recording that Dity had first done several years ago with his acoustic. I took that and pulled it apart. It was essentially the same, but we’ve Coridian-ized it. He came to me with a 3 or 4 chord pop song, and we came up with a crazy song.

Alex: Favourite tracks from the album?

Dity: Biased. I like Seed. It’s different, moody, emotive, and the build-up is great. I love singing it and performing it. I still get goosebumps performing it with the guys. Nonetheless would be a close song. They’re all good. I love them all equally.

Mike: I’d go with Pride. The closest to my writing style, with clean verses and heavy choruses. It’s a hard choice, but Birth of Symmetry is another that I wrote that I like. More of an intro or interlude, but at our live show, it will be playing before we come out on stage.

Kris: Nonetheless live is great, I can play loud and smash everything, and has a great bridge an ISIS feel (the band, not the terrorist group).

Dity: We give Nick sh*t, but he writes really nice bass lines. He’s a really big part of Coridian.

Mike: Reflections and Blind Faith have been remixed. We weren’t collectively happy with the mix, so on the release, it has been remastered to fit in better with the other tracks. So there are differences between the single releases and Caldera.

Coridian: If everyone could go on TheRockFM and request our songs. Come to our shows and support us. Thanks to everyone that has come to our shows already. Tour in November to look out for. We’ll be playing at the NZ Tattoo & Art Festival in New Plymouth with Curlys Jewels, AnimalHead, and The Eternal Sea. If you’re still recording, keep an eye out in December for a massive announcement. Maybe two! But probably one. Three would be amazing. Definitely one.

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