The upcoming Corlyx album ‚Blood In The Disco‘ contains some surprises

She is the frontwoman of the dark wave, electronica, post punk band Corlyx and plays keytar for The Dark. We’re talking about Caitlin Stokes, who together with The Dark recently entered the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator Charts at number 22 and the Foundations Charts at number 7 with the song ‚Mr. Macabre‘. On March the 17th 2022, Corlyx released the song ‚Raindrops‘ which they recorded with Marc from Massive Ego. The third Corlyx album ‚Blood In The Disco‘ is expected to be released in autumn this year. Caitlin kindly agreed to this interview with me. What she revealed to me you can read below.

Corlyx (Brandon Ashley and Caitlin Strokes) Photo: (c) Caitlin Stokes

Interview by Christina Angrabeit

CA: ,,Hello Caitlin. Thank you very much for your time and this interview. How are you doing?“

Caitlin: ,,Hi Christina, thanks for taking the time to ask about me…doing great it’s been a really nice summer here in Italy.“

CA: ,,As an exclusive video you sent me the Corlyx performance from October the 9th 2020 at Elektro Vox Festival. There you presented your second album ‚Together Apart‘. It seems that you played without an audience because of the Corona crisis. What is it like to play without an audience? Did you miss the resonance and the applause?“

Caitlin: ,,That live stream was pretty interesting because I never did anything like it before, we had a professional sound guy and some friends helping with shooting so it was different but at least there were some people to sing to. I don’t mind performing in front of a camera as I’ve done some modeling in my past, which feels similar, but nothing like performing to an audience of course.“

CA: ,,The song ‚Take off Everything‘ probably doesn’t mean what you would think at first, but it is about self-love, is this correct? Please tell us a bit more about the song and how it came about?“

Caitlin: ,,Ah yes absolutely, most of my songs have at least two meanings, I love to use metaphors, even the stories I tell in some songs I think people can absorb in many different ways.“

,Take Off Everything‘ we actually wrote with a bassist who came up with the bass line, he’s got writing credits, and then we built everything else, I wanted it to be fun and sexy, one of my most light hearted songs to date actually. We worked out the whole track in a matter of a few hours, one of those times where everything was flowing great.“

CA: ,,There are already some new Corlyx singles (‚TheEcho‘, ,Take Off Everything‘ ) released so far. Your third album will be called ‚Blood In The Disco‘ and will be released in autumn 2022. What will the album sound like and what can the listener expect?“

Caitlin: ,,Yes we also dropped Raindrops as well, out of those three I think it gives a very good overall direction this record takes, it’s Postpunk on some tracks then more Synthpop on others, there’s also two songs on this record that are extremely different, more electronic rock actually, but sometimes that happens, I think it’s important to stay inspired, and if I follow a genre too closely on a record I can get quite bored so, I really am at a point where you can call us this or that, fine, but you might get some surprises along the way.“

CA: ,,On 14 May 2022 you performed with Corlyx at the Out Of Line Weekender Dark ’n Electro Festival in Berlin. What was your experience there? With Colyx you are signed to the German label Out Of Line. What do you associate with Germany?“

Caitlin: ,,Out Of Line Weekender Festival was the most amazing experience, was extremely wonderful of our label to include us. I think the show went great, I listened back to a lot of video and I’m really happy with our performance. I think I’m finally at a point where I’m performing my best work…took a long time to get here and loads of practice. I love Germany and the German fans, even though we were the only 80’s Postpunk influenced act there, we got some news fans absolutely. Germany is in my opinion the best place for darker bands to be accepted. And I love that.“

CA: ,,How did the cooperation with Massive Ego for the song ‚Raindrops‘ come about?“

Caitlin: ,,I met Marc through mutual friends and we ran into each other a few times at gigs, and chatted a bit on socials, then we found out we both lived in Brighton/Hove so we decided to do a song together. I sent him Raindrops and he loved it, he came to our studio and Brandon tracked him, Marc was so professional and warm, was the best experience. Super happy about that Collab.“

CA: ,,As you mentioned, you have a studio together with your husband Brandon Ashley. What is the name of your studio and which acts have you already recorded besides Marc from Massive Ego?“

Caitlin: ,,We have really invested a lot in this endeavour and had the wonderful opportunity to work with many artists, from tracking, producing, mixing or mastering, a few to mention; Ashbury Heights, ESA, NeroArgento, VVMPYRE, Bleak Soul, Moaan Exis, Red Industrie and many more. If anyone would like to work with us they can message me on my socials or go to our website www.dtunedbrighton.com.“

CA: ,,You are also a band member of The Dark and play keytar there. Their song Mr Macabre entered the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator charts at #22 and the Foundations charts at #7, congratulations. How does such fantastic news make you feel?“

Caitlin: ,,Thank you! It’s amazing really, I also write and produce for The Dark so it’s absolutely thrilling to have our hard work reach so many people. Both projects are our whole life, and I love being able to play keytars live now too, takes a lot of pressure off of me, since Brandon is the frontman, so I really just get to have a bunch of fun on stage…it’s definitely a different crowd, which I enjoy too because variation is the spice of life for me.“

CA: ,,What does the band name Corlyx mean?“

Caitlin: ,,Corlyx is just a made up word, but it means the world to me, it’s my word, from a dream I had as a kid, and I saved it for the right moment. Now I couldn’t imagine my life without Corlyx, and no matter what happens it’s my creation, part of my identity.“

CA: ,,You are 6 feet tall. Since I’m also about that tall, I know that there are many advantages and disadvantages to being a woman of that height. What are your experiences?“

Caitlin: ,,Oh wow! I love tall women. Ya know, I think when we are younger we hate it because we want to fit in, but I learned to love it, got my confidence. It can narrow your dating options if you are looking for someone taller that is, but aside from that it’s just all about loving yourself no matter what you look like and working your best assets, which for me, is my legs. Love to throw these thing around on stage.“

CA: ,,Your style of dressing on stage is very special. How long did it take you to find your individual style and what inspired it? Do you also wear this style in your private life?“

Caitlin: ,,I love fashion, love to mix vintage and gothic together, or whatever I can think of really. I don’t subscribe to one style, how boring that would be. I first started dressing gothic when I was twelve, there was only one other kid in my school who also did too. We ended up influencing a few other misfits to join us, then we had a proper group. We made our own clothes often, at the time there were no goth stores or anything like that, I got my first corset at a Renaissance Fair, still even so I never copied anyone else’s style, I always put my own twist on it. I started dressing more professionally however around 23 years old because of work and many of the men I dated didn’t really like me looking “weird” so I sort of lost myself for a bit, to try to fit in more, however it was fun to try other styles and in the end I grew my tastes and now I take inspiration from everywhere, high fashion, vintage, gothic etc and create what you see now.“

CA: ,,I have seen that you also take photographs. Among others, you have photographed the electro-rock band IAMWARFACE. It seems you have many talents. Do you have any other creative projects?“

Caitlin: ,,I got into photography because I realised I needed to in order to save money on release content. Where there’s a need there’s a way. So after a year or so of just shooting me and Brandon I started getting better and began working with other artists, then I got into music videos and editing and directing, it’s been wild, but I work really hard each day to get better, and I’m definitely on my way to working full time as a videographer/photographer. My latest video I Directed Chris Pohl from Blutengel side project ‚She Hates Emotions‘, that was a fabulous experience and I’m super happy with the way the video turned out.“

CA: ,,You live in Brighton UK, as well as Torino, Italy. You have also travelled a lot and lived in the USA. Where have you liked it the most so far and why?“

Caitlin: ,,Yeah we move a lot, I’ve lived in so many countries and cities I almost lost count. I love each place I’ve lived. They’re all different and offer new experiences and new friends. I really can’t say where is my favorite, I grew so much as person from each place, and each city has a good aspect and there’s always downsides, no place is perfect. So I’d say to anyone considering an international move to go for it, there’s only one life to live just go for it.“

CA: ,,Now it comes to a sensitive topic. You are open on social media about the fact that you suffer from Marfan syndrome. Would you like to tell the readers out there about your experiences? Only if you want to talk about it, of course.“

Caitlin: ,,Yes I have Marfan Syndrome. I’m very open about it as I think it’s my duty as a public persona to help spread awareness. It’s very rare and can be deadly when undiagnosed. We have shorter lives and a lot of pain and surgeries, but we are also very unique looking and have some alien qualities, I don’t think I’d be the person I am proud to be today without my disorder, so even though I suffer, when I have my good days, it makes me appreciate feeling okay even more. I also have to be extremely careful with myself, I injure very easily, so in a way it makes me careful all around in other aspects, a sort of self discipline, which I see as a positive. No matter what, no one should be ashamed of being born a certain way or living a life of hardships, everyone’s got their own issues, we all suffer in this life, finding peace with that is key.“

CA: ,,Caitlin, thank you so much for your openness and this in-depth interview.“

Caitlin: ,,Thank you for all these wonderful questions, a real pleasure.“