Introducing: Solko

Before their gig with us at The Sunday Joint, we had a little chinwag with Solko, a dub-rock outfit on the move and on the rise.

 

Tell us how Solko formed. How did you all meet, and where are you from?

We all grew up together in Suffolk and attended the same school. One year we got together especially for a battle of the bands and played a few originals. It went down pretty well so we decided to make something more of it. The rest as they say……

Would you say that dub and rock are two very contrasting genres? How do you make the two work together?

Yeah they are! It’s just the way we have evolved as a band over the years. We started out playing more funky, maybe even dare i say it,’ Indie’ type stuff years ago. Then other influences gradually started creeping in from all of us and this Dub/Rock thing is where we are at now, and it feels like what we’re meant to be playing. Luckily we don’t have to think about making the two work together, it just kind of happens.

Why do you think your sound is as such? What sort of music were you listening to growing up? Are there any artists that stand out as being very influential?

In the case of me (guitar, vocals) and my brother Jord (lead guitar) we have always been massively influenced by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Radiohead. Jimi is my main man!

Our drummer Mikey has been influenced by drummers such as Stuart Copeland from the Police and i think you can hear that clearly in his playing.

As individual musicians we all have quite contrasting influences, which all add to the mix to our sound.

How has your summer been so far? What have you been up to?

It’s been good. We’ve been laying low a bit more than usual so we can focus on recording and writing however we played at Eden Festival and Secret Garden Party and of course are playing at Leeds Hi-Fi on Sunday.

You have played for Chai Wallahs this summer. Is that a nice community of artists? At festivals and on tour do you get to hang with other artists?

Yeah they are a great bunch of bananas. It’s always nice to work with such a high standard of production and musicianship at a festival. Yeah, you get to know bands on the circuit over the years, and it’s always great to catch up at the festivals.

Would you say your music is intended as party music, or is that a by-product of other motives?

We don’t write with that in mind however if people feel they can tap or toe or two it’s always a bonus.

With seven of you in the band, is the process of writing and then realising a song difficult? What is the dynamic like?

I (Ash) tend to come up with an idea which we then work through together as a band. Over the years we’ve always jammed together to develop things, which I think has helped learn to play so well together and understand each other musically. The dynamic is cool, we’re open to everyone’s ideas and move forward with what we consider best as a band.

Your video for Dog is really well produced. How did you make it?

There’s a crazy cat in Suffolk named Jason who we’ve known for a long time. We were trying to sort something together for ages and it finally happened with Dog. He’s really good so we are really happy with the result. We basically made a tower of amplifiers and weird bits of technology and made a video!

More projects are in the pipeline so we’re excited to work with him again.

What have you got lined up for the near future? Will you be recording more?

We’ve just got back in the studio to record and are planning an album. There’s no date set but watch this space!

 

Oliver Walkden