Interview: An Introduction to the Courtney John Project

The Courtney John Project may be new to most, but they definitely aren’t new to music. The group’s frontman, Courtney John, was formerly a dominant force in Jamaica’s lover’s rock subgenre, and his producing cohorts, The Wizard and Lenky, are highly renowned in their own rights. Despite being veterans in the industry, however, the music they’re making is quite new and like nothing we’ve heard before. Dubbed “Rootstronic,” a blend of euro-electronica, reggae, and lover’s rock harmonies, the music is creativity at its finest. We sat down with Courtney John himself to get some background on how this all came about.

So, I was listening to some of your previous work and it’s very different from what you’re doing now. What prompted this sort of evolution?

Well, we started out in a genre called lover’s rock; lover’s rock is like soul in America. But I got the urge to do something different. I wanted to push the envelope. Things almost happened by default. We came together and did some stuff for Oliver Stone. We worked on the Oliver Stone movie [Savages] and I said, “Damn, this is pretty good!” (Laughs) and we came together from there. The Courtney John Project is made up of The Wizard (Nastassja Hammond), who is the foundation of everything, Lenky (Steven Marsden), who produced Sean Paul’s big hits, and myself.

How did the project begin?

Well, I got the call that they were looking for a track for this Oliver Stone movie. The Wizard and I worked on a record together, which happens to be the project’s [Future’s] first single “Soul of a Man”, and we reached out to Lenky to do some additional keyboarding. When the track came together, we recognized that there was a great energy and that we had really built a new sound. We eventually tagged that sound “Rootstronic” and the group was formed.

This new project is called Future, and has a very futuristic sound. Tell me about this new sound you all are sort of pioneering.

Well, the progression of Jamaican music… it started with ska, and ska evolved into lover’s rock, lover’s rock or rocksteady, then into reggae and reggae evolved into dancehall. The evolution of Jamaican music is dancehall, you know? So what we’re trying to do now… I wouldn’t say we created anything new. I mean, a new car isn’t really a new car. We’re just trying to get back to the element. We labeled it “Rootstronic” because we try to keep the formula of what is traditionally Jamaican, whether it be reggae or dancehall, and then we slide in that futuristic, electronic sound, you know what I mean?

How would you define the Courtney John Project?

Roots is the foundation and Tronics is the innovation. We always want to stay indigenous to our roots and play with the elements, but fuse it with different sounds.

How do you want people to feel when they’re listening to this Future project?

We want it to hit them in the head.

I know where that’s coming from because that’s the impression I got listening to it.

Yeah. We want to be able to give people the ability to escape for thought. We want people to stop and say, “Oh, what did he mean when he just said that and didn’t say anything else?” We want people to think. People often tell me… I mean, people listen to their party music, and that’s good too, but we want people to be in a deep state of thinking. When you’re listening to the song, you need to be seeing images.

You can find The Courtney John Project on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.