Solemn Sun [Interview]
Solemn Sun deal in expansive, hard-hitting rock – and with a set of festivals on their summer To Do list (including 2000 Trees, which will come as no surprise to those keeping up to date with TMMP’s ongoing Trees-related series of interviews!), they’re busy to say the least. Here, the band discuss festival crowds, motivation, and what happens during creative dry spells…
You’re hitting 2000 Trees this year. What’s the general feeling in the SS camp right now?
We’re very excited to get out and play some festivals this summer; we haven’t toured since our UK/EU run with Mineral back in February, so it’s been a long while off. We’re very proud of the set we have ready for them and Trees in particular has an amazing crowd – so looking forward to playing that one.
What happened at the first gig you ever played?
Ha! Our first ever gig wasn’t exactly the best start: a pretty tense load in and check led to us having a minor scuffle with the support band. It all ended well on the night though and was a solid turn out for our first show.
What’s your favourite part of the festival experience?
Definitely the set itself. A festival crowd is a great thing because everyone is already predisposed to have a good time and they’re always keen to get involved from the start. The usual reservations of not singing along seem to be nonexistent in that environment, and the feeling of being able to guide that energy throughout the set is like nothing else.
How did Solemn Sun come to be?
Solemn Sun started for us at the beginning of last year, but we launched the band publicly last July. Excusing the cliché, we came to a crossroads with our past endeavours and wanted to start a new project that reflected our input to the band individually, whilst having the freedom to explore any sound and texture we wanted to.
What’s your creative process like?
Our creative process is definitely a considered one, and that may mean we’re slower between releases than other bands, but if we’re not fully invested in a song it won’t make it into the set. We’ve always believed that if we’re not 100% committed to what we make then why should anyone else be – and I think that’s reflected in the time we spend agonising over guitar tones and drum sounds and switching arrangements around.
Someone once told me that you can’t be a great songwriter unless you can be a great rewriter, and that has always stuck with me – particularly in lyric writing.
What’s the toughest thing about being in a band?
I’d say that downtime is the toughest part, be that when you get back from a tour or during a dry spell in writing perhaps. It’s the lack of creativity and performance that’s a killer; that’s why you’re in a band, to create something and share it with anyone kind enough to listen – and not being able to do that for whatever reason feels unnatural.
What keeps you motivated?
Whilst this might seem slightly strange, self-betterment is something that drives us. With each recording we want to improve and we have an outlook that you’re only as good as your last show so to continue to strive to write better and play a better show keeps us going.
It’s not a question of needing to succeed as such but to see a growth in what we do. The people that come out to our shows give us that marker, as such; their reception and involvement in the show give us the motivation to move forward, knowing they’ll have our backs.
Beyond 2000 Trees, what’ve you got in store for the future?
We have a couple more festivals this summer, Truck and Y Not, then it’s back to writing and recording for our next release. Whilst we’re not 100% on the setup for this yet, the songs are coming together and when we feel it’s a solid cohesive work we’ll look to get that out as soon as possible.
What items remain on your bucket list?
As a band bucket list I think we’d like to do a festival tour like Warped. To be on the road for that length of time travelling the states would be a dream. Its certainly top of our list.
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