Category: Interviews
Sol 3 is true rock band. Solid guitar riffs laid down over a driving beat, and powerful vocals that grab you and shake your head around. The boys of Sol 3 are veterans of the music business. They’ve seen it all and aren’t afraid to tell it like it is with a smile on their faces. Youthful dreams of being a rockstar have been replaced by the pure joy of writing and playing music for a living. Experience, friendship and a cutting sense of humour keeps them together.
On any given night you will find them out at a club in Vancouver, supporting their peers and keeping the scene alive and well. The boys are on stage themselves at the Lamplighter on Friday, August 25, 2006. Check them out.
They took a moment to share their wisdom & humour with us.
Tell us a bit about Sol3: how it started, where you come from, who is involved?
Blair: Lou hates this story, but it's the honest to God truth. Lou and I first met in high school at a party at his place in St. Albert, Alberta. I was a long haired heavy metal rocker and he was an artsy, skater. We really couldn't have been any more different in so many ways, but we both dug music. Anyways, I saw him reading some of his poetry aloud to a group of young ladies who were all just hanging on his every word. I thought to myself this guy has got to be the most charasmatic man I have ever seen and his poetry would make for some great lyrics so I asked him, "can you sing?" That's when he turned to me very casually with his head slightly cocked and doing his best Jim Morrison impersonation said, "yeah man, I can sing". Of course he had never sang a note in his life, LOL. Luckily though, he really could sing. From there we started writing songs together eventually putting Sol 3 together in Edmonton in late 1997. After relocating to Vancouver, Lou and I hooked up with Rick "Grizzly" Adams on drums and Jeff Sawatzky on bass.
Lou: Yeah I think Blair’s got it right ... it WAS highschool, so my memory has faded, I still can't believe I was writing poetry. I never would have guessed the role Sol 3 was going to play in my weird and wacky life.
Rick: I met Blair in a bar. He said he had a band with his best friend a lead singer, they had a 3 song demo and needed a drummer. I said “sounds good”….and it still does.
You’re active on Project Opus, and we can usually find you out for the shows in Vancouver. You’ve probably seen and done it all, and you really support the local scene. As someone who has been part of it for a couple decades, what do you know now that you wish you knew when you got started?
Jeff: Cover your ass. Follow your gut and heart. Never sign anything without REALLY reading it first. Get the songwriting credit thing out of the way right at the beginning.
I know I may come across as a bit jaded. That’s because I am. Not bitter mind you.
But first and foremost, have fun. For most of us, the glory doesn’t last too long so have a great time doing it.
Lou: I wish I could go back in time and sit myself down to say... writing is everything. Holding a microphone and jumping around is nothing until you've refined your own artistic process of creating something worthwhile to listen to in the first place. Otherwise I would just be an actor, not thatthere is anything wrong with that...ha ha ha!
Rick: Music is a gift. It the best form of expression you could ever have.
When did you know music was going to be your career? Was music a part of your life growing up?
Lou: Music has always been a part of my life. It seems now that each year meant another era of rock n roll, I really ran the gauntlet of classic rock until the much needed grunge movement of the early 90's. I spent a lot oftime fighting my own development, I've always been a visual artist and performance art seemed like ego to me, not to mention boring...(I don't haveto repaint art, from two years ago, every week in practice.) however the further I went down this rabbit hole, the more I realized that the performance of Sol 3 music is the single most effective way to express my ideas as an artist, not to mention Blair was bred for this shit.
Jeff: I knew when I was eight. My brother was taking accordion lessons and Mom & Dad asked me if I wanted to play something as well. So I started with guitar then moved to the bass because it only had four strings. Yeah, my family still bugs me about sitting around the tank called “ElectroHome” and listening to 8-tracks with the headphones on.
I think my first 8-track was ‘The Bee Gees Greatest Hits’. Awesome.
Blair: I remember wanting to be a Rockstar from the time I was three years old. I have much older siblings and I used to listen to my older brother's Kiss records and imagine that I was the new, fifth member of Kiss. I also remember listening to other bands like Rush, The Scorpions, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden from a very young age, so yeah... music has always been a major part of my life.
Rick: When I was young I use to bang on the arms of the sofa, with whatever I could find. I still beat a mean sofa!
Where was the best show you’ve every played? (Why?) What about the worst?
Blair: Hmmmm... well, Sol 3 has played a couple of dives over the years. There's one show that comes to mind back in our Edmonton days where everybody in the bar seemed to just be there to play Video Lottery Terminals and the one guy who was paying attention to us kept yelling for us to play Lynnard Skynnard. That definitely stands out. Aside from one or two bad shows though, playing live is always a great experience
Lou: Wow! Best/Worst performance.... Worst? Legislative Grounds, Edmonton, Outdoor event with a ton of bands and terrible organization. I was quite sick and could hardly talk, let alone sing, hee hee, we did it of course and it SUCKED. Best? I'm going with the Edmonton Small Press Associations house party / fundraiser. They couldn't have raised a cent due to my presence, OH GAWD! I recall getting more than my fill of 'free' beer from that keg. I just wouldn't go down.
Rick: The best show we did as SOL 3 Vancouver was at the Roxy. It was our first full set and we packed the place with our friends, lovers, and families. The looks on there faces made all the hard work….FUN. The worst show….yeah like I’d say!!!!
Who writes the songs for the band? Is it a collaborative effort, or does one of you walk in with a song and let others fill in their parts?
Blair: In most cases I'll write a complete song on guitar from beginning to end. Lou is responsible for coming up with the lyrics and the melody and everybody else generally fills in their own parts as well. Lately we have been doing a little more jamming though. Plus Jeff is a great song writer as well so I expect that in the future we may see some more collaborative writing within the band.
Lou: Yeah Blair is the composer of this band. My role is to take what he's written and create the vocal melody and lyrics. Thank god for Blair, I am in this for him. If he stopped, I would retire as a serious vocalist, and do Raffi on weekends at the local Legion.
Rick: I keep the beat. Does that count for anything?
Where do you find the inspiration for the songs you write? Does Sol3 have a message in their music?
Lou: INSPIRATION!?! You bet! Being in this band is not a static expression, we grow as people while we write and perform. Things happen in our lives that are incorporated directly in the lyrics. This can't be helped. We are reflecting life as artists. The MAGIC happens when a song creates itself! That's right, some songs start out as a :'wouldn't it be neat if Sawney Beane was explained in a song?' Then it seems out of the void comes a song. The cool part to me as the lyricist is when I write out the words later on, and new dimensions are revealed to me, I sometimes feel that as an artist I am simply a tool used by the universe, my own purpose concealed. There are messages in everything.
Blair: For me, even though we're a loud, hard rocking band, I feel inspired to make music that I think is beautiful and I guess that if there is a message in my song writing (keeping in mind that I don't generally write lyrics) it is just to enjoy the beauty in art and beauty in music. You don't have to sound ugly to be heavy and that is something that I think a lot of these young Rockers just don't seem to get.
How would you describe your sound? Is there one song on the new CD that you are particularly proud of?
Blair: I always tell people we're a Rock n' Roll band. We definitely owe a debt of grattitude to a lot of classic rock bands like Kiss, the Who and Led Zeppelin for their influence, but I think we still manage to sound relevant to the modern age of music.
One song on the CD that I am particularly proud of is a song called Residential School. For those of you that don't know, the Canadian Government and the Christian Churches have a dark history in Canada of tearing Aboriginal children away from their homes and families to try and assimilate them into white society by placing them in Church-run residential schools. In these residential schools, Aboriginal children were forbidden to practice their culture and were often abused physically, emotionally and sexually. Residential schools no longer exist, but the pain and loss of culture that they caused has had a profound and negative impact on the Aboriginal community to this day. I have family that are residential school survivors, so this is an issue that definitely touches me personally and I'm glad we got a chance to tell the story in one of our songs.
Lou: Our Sound is rock! We love guitar. The one song on the new disc I enjoy the most is Beta Video Tape Head. One of those songs that suddenly appeared, I still have no idea how it happened. I almost feel like we're ripping of higher powers with that one.
Rick: I call it Rock’n’Roll mixed with some Grunge/ Punk and a bit of Blues to keep the soul alive. I like Beta Video Tape Head…because it came so naturally to us.
Jeff: I would have to say ‘Crayola Boy’ because…. No wait, wrong band.
Playing live or recording in the studio. As an artist, which do you prefer?
Lou: Being in the studio is fuckin' boring. Working with Larry at Turtle was THE BEST time I have had with a producer... heh heh, Larry rocks, what a legend in my mind. It must be done and I treat it as a tunnel with a distant end, if you’re lucky you can play GALAGA all day between your parts in the arcade. Playin live is the experience. You just can't fake it.
Jeff: Gotta love them both. There’re both exciting.
Blair: I agree, they're both exciting, but nothing beats the high you get from playing live!
Rick: In the studio you have to act like you know what you are doing. Playing live you realize you don’t.
What can fans expect from seeing Sol3 live?
Blair: A high energy rock n' roll show with some great tunes.
Rick: Four misfits. I mean that in the nicest way guys!
Lou: WHEN you come to see a Sol 3 show, get ready to hold your piss in, cause your not going to the bathroom. We are very comfortable up there, it comes naturally now.
You’ve been in the business a long time, and have seen plenty. You’ve been very active on Project Opus almost since the beginning, and you also maintain an active presence on MySpace. Would you say you have to embrace the Internet to build your fan base these days? Does this level of exposure help you, or create a whole set of different challenges for a band?
Lou: The Internet is a tool, it sprinkles seeds all over the globe. You can't expect the Internet to make you a rockstar, there are more seeds now and the same amount of water. It seems the easier we make things the easier it is to get looked over in the billions of bits of art online. Angel or Demon? Neither. Like everything in life it's what YOU make of it.
Jeff: For me, I just love the Internet. It is, bar none, the best way for anyone to get their music out there and be accessible. As for a fan base, being a fan myself, I think the net is an amazing tool for actually connecting with the real people out there. It’s a thrill to think that maybe Roger Hodgson actually took a small amount of time to write a hello.
And Project Opus has been amazing, not just for being able to hear some great new music from Vancouver, but from around the world. And making some new friends, to boot.
Rick: The Internet is a Godsend. Musicians in Turkey and Brazil can hear what we Canadians are all about…and us them. Gotta love it!
What’s next for Sol3? Will we see you out on the road to support the new CD?
Lou: NEXT for sol 3? Isn't it obvious? Real artists create art. We don't expect or reject. We simply cannot shut the tap off anymore. Others may talk and discuss what to do, our philosophy is to keep on keepin’ on.... the secret has not yet been revealed, for some reason these things MUST be done. I quit this band once, a long time ago. It was like transporting from the middle of a vibrant city into the open ocean. Sky and water as far the eye could see. Nowhere to go to and nothing to do on planet 'sol three'.
Blair: The opportunities are limitless. Hopefully you'll hear us on the radio, see us on TV, see us on the Internet, and yes, see us on the road in a city near you!
Rick: We are looking forward to building a fan base in Vancouver now. We also have another CD worth of new songs to record. Come down and give us a listen.
Thanks Guys.
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