Exclusive Interview: Solcura talk writing and recording “A Eulogy For Wasted Time”!

How much do we love Metal? Enough to be writing up an interview with Dan Rowe, hero, legend and riff master of Bournemouth Post-Grunge collective Solcura while on the beach drinking a can of Brewdog Lost Larger. The weather is almost as scorching as the bands latest EP “A Eulogy For Wasted Time“, which surfaced gradually from the blue lagoon in follow up to debut album “Seretonin” and continues their ascending trajectory nicely…

How did your previous experiences writing and recording help to smooth the path of the new record? “I think we had a much clearer understanding of the recording process this time round, how to optimise the sessions to get the most out of our time and how to capture the sound we envisioned for the record. We don’t use any plug ins or re-amping during the process, everything is captured organically so getting the sound right up front takes a bit of time and I think we managed to improve on our last record in that regard. In terms of writing the material, we had a clear focus for capturing a harder hitting sound and dialling up the hooks, whilst pushing the boundaries to incorporate more experimental aspects. I think we achieved what we were after”

How does the writing process of a new track start? Melody, riff or rhythm first? How does it evolve from there before you consider it the finished article? “Often it starts with the guitar parts or melody lines and builds from there. Having said that, “I Am Weak” is a true pastiche of ideas that came from guitar, bass and vocal parts written entirely separately, before we were even a band. Despite being one of our longest and most varied songs to date, the whole thing was written in 30 mins in one rehearsal. It just popped out the ether! “Panacea” was also written quite quickly, despite its proggy nature”

“A Eulogy For Wasted Time” was mixed and mastered by the expert hand of Paul Visser of Black Orchid Empire fame; how did you come to choose to work with him and how did you find the process? “Paul and Dave at The Recording Studio London were recommended to us by our manager at the time during the mixing of the first record. When we heard Black Orchid Empire’s music and the quality of Paul’s work, we couldn’t believe that we’d be able to harness that experience for our own material and jumped at the chance to have him on board. We’ve gone back to them ever since as Paul understands our sound, always adds great input and insight and unlocks the full potential of the music. Applying great mixing and mastering is like night to day, 2D to 3D”

If you had the opportunity to work with a guest in the studio next time around, who would you like to work with and why? “Great question, hard to answer! Obviously if a genie could grant somebody famous, we’d probably jump at the chance to have any of the legends behind our influences guest – varied names like Maynard James Keenan [Tool], Josh Homme [Queens Of The Stoneage], Jerry Cantrell [Alice In Chains], Eddie Vedder [Pearl Jam], Jaco Pastorius and Les Claypool [Primus]. 

Realistically (and seriously) however, we’d love to involve musicians who can play different instruments to complement ours, such as harmonica, keys and stringed instruments. We’ve got some acoustic material in the works so it’s likely that’s what we’ll be looking to do on that”

For us gear nerds out there, can you tell us what you’re using gear wise (pedals, strings, drums etc) to get your sound? “I only use analogue guitar pedals currently for all my sounds, and play Peavey Classic 30 amps as they are loud and go to 12. The secret sauce is a Ibanez TS9 coupled with a ProCo Rat 2 or EH MetalMuff, plus any amount of time based effects as desired.

Sam plays a sweet Stingray 5 string bass which has an immense tone and cuts right through the mix even on the low B string. He adds a bit of spice with a Boss distortion when it’s needed. 

Jacob plays a variety of drums, Tama Snare and Zultan cymbals.

Harry could sing into a baked bean tin and it would still sound good. In fact, we might just use that on the next record…”

What difference would it make to you as a band if you could land an endorsement from a gear manufacturer? “Man it would be huge, from a promo and keeping us kitted perspective. I mean basic guitar stings are like £10 a pack nowadays, and I go through them like socks so that’d save me a packet! New Bass strings require a bank loan these days haha. Jacob also destroys a small forest of drum sticks every year so if anyone’s reading from Zildjan or Vic Firth please get in touch!”

“A Eulogy For Wasted Time” by Solcura is out now and available everywhere you’d expect it to be (and a few you wouldn’t…).