Caspian Coberly Discusses His Inspirations and New Album ‘Starlight’

You might refer to Caspian Coberly as a rock n’ roll purist. Not that he isn’t up for different styles and sounds, but in his own songwriting, he shows great dedication to the customs and traditions of rock n’ roll. You’ll observe that on his new single “Shepherds delight,” a groovy, classic ’70s rock-influenced song with a tinge of British blues. The song is from his upcoming new record, Starlight. The album will act as the ideal introduction to Coberly’s solo music. The album is defined by its timelessness, a set of songs that could be equally enjoyed in any era.

As he has evolved as a musician, Coberly has learned some valuable lessons. One that really stands out is that despite the continued popularity of post-Invasion British rock, nothing coming out currently shares those same qualities. With Starlight, he has done well to capture that essence and those timeless qualities.

Even though he is new as a solo artist, Coberly has a lot of experience and credibility within the industry. He has been playing guitar in drummer Matt Cameron’s Wipers tribute band Is This Real? He has learned a lot from playing with Cameron and it also speaks to Coberly’s abilities that a legend like Cameron would entrust Coberly to play guitar for his band.

Coberly joins us today to discuss influences, new music, collaborations, and the state of rock music.

Who are your biggest influences?

Caspian Coberly: “My all-time biggest influences are John Frusciante, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Sly Stone. While creating my upcoming album, Starlight, I was listening to the All Things Must Pass record, the Imagine record, Band on the Run, and a lot of post-Beatles members’ stuff. Also, I got into Clapton while making this record and learned how to play with controlled bending vibrato on the guitar, a technique I hadn’t really explored before due to the fact that many of my main guitar influences, like John Frusciante, rarely make use of this technique. I also primarily used a whammy bar for vibrato prior to this record.

“I got heavily into the Eat A Peach Allman Brothers record while making Starlight. Then Play On by Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green was a huge influence and I got into Deep Purple with In Rock while making this record. There’s some Cleaners From Venus influence there too, and all-time favourites like the early T. Rex records. Thin Lizzy Vagabonds record, the Snow Goose record by Camel record, ZZ Top Tres Hombres, James Gang, Mountain, this is all stuff I was obsessed with when making Starlight. I really got into that early-’70s hard rock. Some Aftermath-era Stones influence on there too. I was just trying to make something of the caliber and aesthetic of those records.”

Caspian Coberly ‘Starlight’ album artwork

Tell us about your new music. What was your experience of making it? What went on behind the scenes?

“For ‘Shepherds delight,’ there’s a whole lot of lead slide guitar on this record, and I was primarily influenced by George Harrison’s solos on the Imagine John Lennon record. Many of the songs on Starlight were composed and recorded in parts over a long period of time, but ‘Shepherds delight’ was totally finished in a week or two during summer. There are many complicated interweaving musical ideas in this song and the drum part took quite a while to nail perfectly, as did figuring out how to get a complex slide guitar lead to fit underneath vocals and not sound too busy. The bass riff was quite fun to record as well. This is a track where if you solo out what each instrument is doing, it’s very interesting.

“There’s a lot of communication between instruments on this song. I was kind of going for a Zeppelin-y, solo Lennon, T. Rex, ZZ Top fusion on this track. I also double-tracked the vocals and panned them, which I rarely do. Mellotron and string sounds are kind of a signature of my work, those were essential in this song. There’s also an acoustic guitar layered in there as well.”

Caspian Coberly, photo by Travis Trautt

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

“I’d love to record some music with George Fludas playing drums. Ty Segall is amazing, I would love to record with him. I think me and Connan Mockasin could make some cool stuff. It would be cool to produce some stuff for Jimmy Paige, like a solo guitar record. I would love to collaborate on something with Steve Lacy. Maybe having PinkPantheress sing on some ethereal guitar stuff would be cool too.”

Who would you be most amazed to see front row at one of your shows?

“Maybe like Glenn Danzig or Paul McCartney.”

What’s next for you?

“Starlight new album 2025 #DiDiTMYWAY (and playing a lot live, especially benefit shows in the Pacific Northwest).”

What is the story behind the name of the new record?

“Starlight is kind of a perfect, timeless title and it makes me think of like Greek mythology and the space race between the Russians and the Americans. I’m into that whole early-’60s space age thing, I love the design language of Pan-Am, the Sputnik, and like ’40s movies with Orson Welles like The Lady From Shanghai. The original Star Trek show from the 1960s is great too, some of the best stuff. I just wanted to pair my British ’70s rock record with more space-age aesthetics that pre-date the time period the music on this album was influenced by. I love the music, but I’ve never been too crazy about the full-on George Harrison-style hippie vibe.”

What has been the most memorable moment of your career so far?

“One of the most memorable moments so far was opening up for Pearl Jam this summer in Portland with my Is This Real? project with Matt Cameron. That was my first time really playing on stage in a proper stadium and it was amazing.”

Caspian Coberly, photo by Travis Trautt

What do you think of the current state of the rock n’ roll genre?

“I don’t really know what the current state of the genre I play in is because I mostly listen to older rock stuff. I think to push this ’60s and ’70s-influenced music forward and make it relevant and interesting to people like me, it shouldn’t be done as a gimmick or like a tongue-in-cheek novelty thing that’s fully banking on cheap nostalgia. It should be taken seriously and treated as a craft that people have their own take on, like how there are different types of impressionist painters and even though it’s not the dominant visual art form anymore, people still make serious impressionist paintings.

“I view this period of rock as its own specific art form. There were certain techniques, instincts, tones, and songwriting styles that were popular during this time that people rarely use anymore. My whole reason for making this kind of music is because it represents a skill set I possess, and a style of music I love that isn’t represented in the market currently. It’s kind of my responsibility to continue this craft.

“The thing is though, I grew up on like idolizing RZA, J Dilla, Madlib production, and so I also have that sampler’s ear. And that sampling of ’60s and ’70s records that these specific producers do isn’t relying on gimmicky throwback stuff like the sonic equivalent of bell bottoms, it’s not Grease. The reason they sample stuff from this era is the style of performance, songwriting, and recording from this era is magic.”