Photo: coreyprimus.com
Finding a balance between a day job and a career in music can be a common struggle, but thankfully for alternative-folk singer/songwriter Corey Primus he was able to strike a balance between the two worlds.
Primus was a nurse specializing in long-term care for many years as well as a director of care at a nursing facility in the Fraser Valley.
“They say don’t quit the day job, but I did quit the day job. I wanted to just focus on music and I went along for about a year,” Primus said.
During that year he worked with his musically inclined son, nieces and nephews in his hometown of Prince George on his 2015 album Something’s On Fire, dubbed his “semi-retirement” project.
He gathered his admittedly large family together in a house, accompanied by a film crew to document the work on the album, which culminated in the YouTube series The Making of Something’s On Fire.
“It was amazing. There’s this certain energy you get from making music anyway, but then to bring in all of these — I’ve got quite a big family. It was an amazing experience to just get together every day in this house,” Primus said. “We’re recording, filming and just eating together every day, just an amazing experience.”
However, Primus’ semi-retirement had to come to an end.
“After about a year I realized I probably need to keep my foot in the nursing door,” Primus laughed.
Contacting some of his old colleagues and found an opportunity to work in music therapy.
“I kind of fell into it, had a bit of a knack for it and kept doing it,” Primus said. “It’s tough to make any money in music, so you’ve got to figure things out as you go along. This is a nice little way of continuing some regular income so I can keep working on original music and all of that.”
Primus’ latest work, Lateral Possibilities, a four-song, pop-oriented EP, is a bit of a change in tone from his previous folk-oriented albums. It was produced by Alan Poettcker of bassist for Chilliwack pop-rockers These Kids Wear Crowns.
Primus’ son was familiar with members of These Kids Wear Crowns, and connected Primus with Poettcker and lead vocalist Alexander Johnson. The three got together and wrote the song Rain on Me.
“I really had the itch to continue a project that was more pop-oriented,” Primus said. “I kept bringing them these songs I had tracked at home, bringing them to Alan, and he’s a really good producer,” Primus said.
He continued to work with Poettcker as a producer on the rest of the songs that form Lateral Possibilities.
“It’s interesting because I haven’t done a lot of collaborating. It was a fun experience,” Primus said. “It was a good experience working with guys together to write a song, very positive. I don’t do a lot of it but I’m happy to do a lot of it. I just tend to end up working in isolation most of the time, at least for writing.”
Primus comes to Jojo’s Café on Sunday, June 23. Tickets are $20 available at Jojo’s or online by emailing [email protected].
