SolarsA Profile
Many people have found attending a festival to be one of a few things. A drunken blur of bodies and music, a chemical landscape of swirling possibilities, or an experience they will never forget. For Chris Neal, guitarist and one of the founding member of Solars, the festival experience would elevate his idea into a fully formed reality.
“….it had always kind of been an idea.as I’d always liked instrumental music a little bit….then in twenty thirteen I had the chance to go to the ArcTanGent festival….I got to see loads of great bands there, and the common theme was that they were instrumental, I think I saw one band with a vocalist all festival….” Chris
It was at this festival that Chris would witness a wealth of bands playing nothing but instrumental music and kick start the engine on his new musical venture.
“….I was in a, sort of standard rock band called ‘Midnight Convoy’ at the time, with our now drummer Jack Jefferies, and we wanted to do a bit more of that kind of stuff, we already had an instrumental track that I got on with really well, and me and Jack kind of said ‘we should do more of this’….” Chris
Sadly, with this change in direction would come a change in line up.
“….our guitarist at the time didn’t really feel happy with it, but he was the vocalist too, so in hindsight I can see why he felt that way….as we progressed it did get a bit weird and was clear that we were all wanting something different….” Chris
So, just before Christmas 2015, Midnight Convoy detached themselves and went their separate ways. Almost immediately Chris and Jack threw themselves into their new project and began to search out other like minded musicians to complete the set.
“….I was in touch with a guy, for years, from my old, old, old band, we used to play with a metal band ‘Start the Hour Glass’….their guitarist Dave Everitt, who I used to talk to about these instrumental bands, was like ‘lets start something man’….” Chris
Newly acquired guitarist in tow, the three lads took themselves to the now closed Hockley Studios, and began to put down some sound. It wasn’t too long before they had a few complete songs in the bag.
“….we never actually intended to play anything live, and it was almost a year before we did our first live performance….” Chris
Despite being an exciting step for each of them, gigging live was not without its issues as an instrumental band on the circuit.
“….we knew that as we had got rid of the singer, we would need something else, so we took an idea ‘Nordic Giants’ do, obviously not at their level, but what they do is have all their music pieced to film….so we sort of cut together bits of film and have a projector on stage with us….” Chris
Method decided, the band took to the stage for their first gig and not only got their first show jitters out of their systems, but acquired themselves a bass player.
“….it was a friend of Dave’s, Andy Lee who had played in the same band ‘Start the Hour Glass’ and came up to us, and was like, ‘I notice you don’t have a bass player, do you want one?’, so we said yeah, come down, then we sort of put him through the ringer by telling him we had a gig in a month, but he grafted, did it, and was in….” Chris
The quartet complete, Solars was born. As they continued to write songs and perform they started to notice that their style had its limits when it came to getting bookings.
“….I started to notice that even the bigger bands on the instrumental circuit, like ‘65daysofstatic’, and ‘Russian Circle’, even bands like that had a ceiling to their success with live shows….you’ll never find them headlining Download or an arena….but for me I liked that as it meant the majority of people who came to the shows, liked what they heard, and would keep coming back…..” Chris
Despite this limitation, Chris, Jack, Andy, and Dave continued to perform and write songs.
“….we’d keep it mainly instrumental, but every now and again I’d feel something bubbling up and I’d feel like I had something to say, so Id ask my friend Ben to come in and write something for it….he is one of best and poetic songwriters I know, so whoever something like that happened we’d just tap him and get him in….” ChrisAs the band began to develop as a group they began to move away from the trappings of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, that are a hangover from writing rock songs for several years and into territory they hadn’t even thought of. Even pulling inspiration from some of the great classicists like Bach and Mozart when it came to arraignments.
“….i came in with like a four minute song, and we all got involved playing through it….by the end of the session the second half of the song was unrecognisable….” Chris
Evolving as a band, Solars began to drop a few singles into the ether and try to book more gigs in and around Birmingham with varied success.
“….you had the sort of promoter that didn’t care who was on the bill, as long as you brought people in and could sell tickets, these sort of worked in our favour, as we stood out as the band without a singer….” Chris
After a while though the band got tired of being told that all they were missing was that singer and so reached out to Birmingham Promoters in hopes of booking something that would bring them to the right audience.
“….they got back to us, and were a bit like, ‘we like to keep the same sort of style on the bill, and I don’t really know many bands like yours’….so this opened up the opportunity for me to chat with other instrumental bands in Birmingham and get them on board….” Chris
It wasn’t too long though until this new community went national, creating a space in which instrumental bands can be a shoulder or a helping hand to each other.
“….I was able to reach out to bands from up and down the UK and met a band called ‘Fort’, great group of lads from Wales….we were able to bring them down to Birmingham last year….then we were meant to be gigging with them this month in Cardiff, obviously not now….but its that kind of you helped us, so we’ll help you attitude that I really like about it all, we’re just here to support each other….” Chris
Though the opportunity to perform is no longer there due to the current crisis, Solars are continuing to be an influential and positive presence on the Instrumental scene.
During the lockdown, that has had a knock on effect with every band/artist across the world, Solars are still finding ways to be creative and make music. Once again proving that a passion and willingness to create, can’t be stopped by anything.
As of Friday, 5th June, they will be releasing their new single ‘Brexriff’. Here the full track, plus the story behind it from Chris Neal by listening to Barstool Airplay 05, out now.
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