“I still have my first guitar. I’m looking at it right now,” shared Trinidadian producer and musician Chryston Floyd, as he described the quarter-sized instrument hanging on his bedroom wall. It was a gift he had received when he was just five years old. His parents had recently migrated to the Bahamas by this time, and even at that age, he felt the strong pull of his musical calling.
“I was always asking my parents for a guitar, begging them, begging them to get one for me. One Christmas came and they got me a toy guitar. You could press the buttons and it would light up. And I don’t even remember this, but apparently I looked at it and said, ‘I didn’t want that. I wanted a real guitar!’” he recalled amusingly.
Credit to his parents, who were both teachers securing new work opportunities in the island’s capital of Nassau, Chryston was able to have a genuine model, and even started fingerstyle guitar lessons soon after. “I really started learning classical music and that was the only type of music I listened to or played for years,” he noted. Thanks to this classical training, when he moved back to Trinidad at eight years old, he was already a budding maestro.
Chryston attended Presentation College San Fernando, where he continued to hone his skills – performing in school musicals, the orchestra and a band called The Entourage, with lead singer Christian Kalpee, who went on to sign a global distribution deal with Sony Music in 2017. The group, which included drummer Azriel Bahadoor, keyboardist Antonio Achee, sample tech Jean Pierre Camps and bassist Justin Sinanan, became quite popular and their outstanding talent presented opportunities to grace big stages, such as opening for Kes’ Tuesday on the Rocks, a premium carnival concert.
As a teenaged student, Chryston also had a chance to study music at a tertiary level. In 2012, he took part in a weeklong retreat at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. When the event concluded, scholarships were awarded to outstanding participants, and fortunately, he was deemed an eligible recipient of a full undergraduate scholarship. However, since the offer coincided with his second year of CAPE studies and his parents had reservations about music as a career, he decided to forgo the program. Nevertheless, the achievement is still significant and meaningful for him.
While Chryston’s secondary school life entailed full immersion in the arts, providing him with a platform to sing and act, and practise his songwriting skills with Kalpee, his university experience strummed the wrong chord; He was in the final year of an Engineering degree at UWI, St. Augustine when he realised that he wanted a different life path, to the displeasure of his concerned parents. After dropping out from the program, he pursued an online bachelor’s degree in Psychology, which he believes is more in sync with his interests.
“I think you always know. As humans you have an intuition, and some people choose not to listen to it, but deep down, I always knew that I would be successful at whatever I choose to do. Even though I am a musician and producer right now, I can still see myself being a psychologist,” he said, explaining the motivation behind his bold move.
Musical Growth
Chryston has managed to etch out an impressive music career, but this feat was not without challenges and sacrifice. There was a time, for instance, when clients would visit Chryston’s home and record in his closet. However, using accumulated savings, he was able to create a home studio, equipped with studio monitors, audio interface, headphones, mics, keyboard, soundproofing foam, and other essential recording tools.
“…Apart from my first guitar, everything that I have was bought with money that I saved up doing gigs and from producing because I’m really smart with money… I don’t really care about trying to look fancy or buying fancy clothes or expensive brands and that kind of stuff. The most I would splurge on is food. Apart from that, I spend all my money on my gear,” he said.
Chryston remembers performing solo gigs in restaurants and renowned hotels, eventually landing a regular stint at Freebird Restaurant. For a brief period of time, he also taught guitar lessons to 20 students at its peak enrollment, and held a Christmas concert at the Gulf View Community Centre to show parents what their children had learnt.
Milestones
Chryston’s creative process differs with each project – sometimes it entails “workshopping beat after beat” or it might start from a drum loop or guitar loop. But, once in this state of flow, he would unfailingly produce a masterpiece, which was often met with a favourable fate. For instance, when he produced the “One Link Riddim” in 2020, it unexpectedly spurred a collaborative project, involving singer Aisha Noel, producers KVG and Xplicit Mevon whose idea it was to make it a riddim, and artistes Preedy, Mica Teja, and College Boy Jesse.
Chryston was also the guitarist on a 2020 song by College Boy Jesse called “Good Energy”, and the following year, he produced for a girl group called Sun Divas. He is also proud of his work on the 2022 Kerwin Du Bois song “All I Need”, which was another unforeseen opportunity; Chryston said he was invited to play guitar at Kyle Phillips’ studio one day, when Jelani “Pops” Shaw visited and proposed a project that needed “some guitars”.
“I just ended up playing on it, then I just forgot about it. Then months later it came out, and Kyle was like ‘Yo, you’re on the song and it’s coming out tomorrow. It’s Kerwin Du Bois’ song. That’s something that I’m proud of too,” he said.
Embracing Caribbean Beats
Chryston has always been a fan of classical music and pop, and still loves musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer and One Republic. It’s therefore not surprising that he is inspired by producers Max Martin and Ryan Tedder, who are masterminds behind hit songs for pop stars.
“You see, many people wouldn’t know about the behind the scenes, but Max Martin is one of the biggest pop producers and writers in the world. He made “Baby One More Time” for Britney Spears, or “I Want It That Way” for Backstreet Boys, and up to today he’s working with Ariana Grande and all the big pop stars. I really admire him and also Ryan Tedder. He wrote “Halo” for Beyonce. I like his writing style,” he noted.
The 29-year-old musician first performed genres such as soca, reggae, and dancehall in The Entourage band. Then, while working on Princess Cruises ships in 2022, he observed the powerful global appeal of Caribbean music, which deepened his appreciation for the genres. For a year and a half, he travelled to places like Alaska, Europe, Australia, and all over the Caribbean with a band called Cruise Control, which was led by Jeanine Ruiz, the keyboardist for artiste Nailah Blackman. He would witness the international passengers requesting hits like “Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot” by the Merrymen and “Jammin’” by Bob Marley in awe, surprised that they knew many of the Caribbean’s popular tunes. As huge fans of the island vibes, he said the guests were dancing, sharing hugs and kisses, or crying depending on the music being played.
Based on these enriching experiences, Chryston is now inspired to incorporate Caribbean beats in his compositions, whether it’s reggae, soca, or a mixed genre such as “island pop.”
Currently, the young creative is focusing on his academic studies, producing and performing live, but remains open to new fulfilling opportunities, including a possible return to the stage as a singer.
