Exposed Vocals interviews Sol Figure
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
Paul (Drummer from Sol Figure)
(Paul) Solfigure: You guys hit us up on Twitter. You were like “hey, want to do an interview”, and we were like “Yea, that sounds cool”. So thank you!
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
(Paul) Solfigure: We grew up in a small suburban city outside of Los Angeles called Pico Rivera. No one, I mean no one, ever knows where that is when we answer this question. They’re not even sure it exists, or they just want to simplify it for themselves and say “East LA”. But that doesn’t quite feel right either if you know this area. I guess it’s more marketable to say “LA” and leave it at that. But true locals know this county is bigger than the skyscrapers and lofts seen on KTLA.
The love for music began when we were kids. The decision to pursue music professionally happens as an adult when it’s the only job you’d give your entire heart and soul to. As kids, we were fortunate to have family members who were aspiring musicians as well or simply loved music as much as we would. For me, I remember when I was 7 or 8, my older cousin would bump the metal classics like Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer. The thumping of the toms and fast strumming of the guitars was like a machine gun to my ears that left me in awe. I was hooked, and later on I sought other genres of music that moved me in that same way.
Fast forward, and the actual playing of instruments began in high school for us. Trying to mimic our favorites and develop our skills, our style, and our taste. Honestly, it’s been a long journey to where we are now. We started bands, then quit bands, then got together again, then lost members, got new members, and finally refined our sound & style to the band you see today, Sol Figure. But without that experience, we wouldn’t have the confidence and well-rounded repertoire of music that influences our sound today. It takes patience, but today it’s completely rewarding!
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
(Paul) Solfigure: Well, we originally had a name that was stolen so needed to come up with a new one. Our singer Mario and I got together at a café in DTLA, and honestly just tried to put a cool name together that we thought would be more unique than our last one, and therefore less likely to be stolen again haha. After a some coffee, Sol Figure was born. We liked the imagery, we liked the tie to our classical musicianship learning (Solfege, Do-re-mi-fa-SOL) and also the slight nod to our heritage, Sol being Sun in Spanish. It just fits us and has more personality than our previous name.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
(Paul) Solfigure: Our original self-recordings we did in our garage, we gave away and maybe asked for just an email online. At this early stage, you just want people to give your music a chance. It’s hard, because art is subjective and some people are reluctant to try new things until it is already popular. We knew if people could just see us live, they’d have a better respect for our musicianship and hard work we’ve put into our songs. If you really like a band, you’ll buy the music or their merch. If people get your music for free, well, at least they’re fans and hopefully will come to your show to support. It’s like, be grateful someone wants your music at all. I know we all got to make a living, but to some artists it’s like “aren’t you guys already rich and famous, selling out stadiums?” There are plenty of us local bands that are working hard for that opportunity.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
(Paul) Solfigure: Keep practicing, keep writing, keep recording, keep sharing, keep promoting. Don’t get discouraged, and be friendly to fellow bands at gigs, promoters or anyone you think can hook you up with a show. Don’t get us wrong, you will put up with bullshit from egotistic assholes and wannabe artsy dicks who can’t get enough of the smell of their own farts. But keep cool. Because there are those who are cool like you, see your potential, and want to help. We’re thankful for those folks and hope to meet more. And just reach out to people, radio stations, etc. with your music and press kit. What are they gonna say “No”. So what. Everyone tells you no until they go “oh shit, they were awesome after all”. How many times has that story been told? Just fuckin’ go for it and see where the chips fall.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
(Paul) Solfigure: For sure, and it’s pretty funny sometimes. It can actually make the performance better if you can arouse a laugh from the audience once the song is done. But, if you practice well enough before a gig the mistakes are usually minimal or never heard by fans but only by you because you know exactly how everything is supposed to sound. It’s simple. Keep playing the song. The worst is when you stop. DON’T STOP. We people have short memories so continue the song. Everything else will continue sounding awesome and only snooty musicians like ourselves will later on go “did you hear the guitarist from Bloc Party miss that chord in that song?” At the end of the day, normal fans don’t care and you just want them to have fun.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
(Paul) Solfigure: Haven’t toured yet (but hopefully coming soon J). One of our best shows was actually at a house in Riverside in a hot, sweaty garage where they tried to cram what felt like 50 people inside. No lighting but some DJ disco lights and a projector playing trippy ass images behind us. Tall cans of booze…yes of course haha. My shirt ended up coming off somewhere in the middle of our set. The guys broke their strings on the first couple songs, but we kept playing. And finally the cops broke it up, after our set fortunately, but felt bad for the band after us. It was chaotic. It was a humid hell-hole. But the energy was fucking awesome! And the people were amazing as well. I can only hope we have more like it in the future.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
(Paul) Solfigure: At this point, and as cliché as it sounds, we pull inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. We really do love music and so many genres that don’t even sound like our music at all. But I think that’s what makes it more fun, and exciting about the possibility of what a new song will become. It starts with the melody of course, then we put a rhythm to it, then build a song structure that is tangible and tasty. We can go nuts and experimental with our ideas, but we usually try to keep it simple. Basically, turn a cool sound, beat or riff into something we would want to hear for 3-4 minutes haha. We try to keep it interesting, and make something that moves us emotionally. Not hard, right? Lol. And usually, we all contribute in some way to the music. It’s not really a band to us if one guy/gal is making all the music from his or her brain. Might as well just call it Me and the so-and-sos. It’s pretty cool to have numerous perspectives because then someone else can see things your brain can’t and that makes the music truly original.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
(Paul) Solfigure: You know it! I’ll just list em:
https://solfigure.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/solfigure
IG: solfiguremusic
https://twitter.com/solfiguremusic
https://soundcloud.com/solfiguremusic
(We have YouTube, Google Plus, linked in and I think even Myspace lol. Anyway, you’ll find us. Google it J)
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
(Paul) Solfigure: Damn, gonna put us on the spot like that huh? Lol…um I may have some Dr. Feel Good Motley Crue in there, and some gangsta rap I might not play on a date haha.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
(Paul) Solfigure: Producing content. Record albums, buy merch, make a music video or two and continue sharing our content to get our name out there. Update any equipment that needs to be updated, and buy any equipment we need. Honestly, this might sound boring but putting a good portion of that money in investments to continue growing the money for future expenses would probably be a wise idea too.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
(Paul) Solfigure: At some point we will need to upgrade just due to space alone. We outfitted our guitarist’s garage into a studio with soundproof foam and cement board. It gives us a space to practice and work on things like timing, and prep for a show. But eventually we’ll need to improve the acoustics.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
(Paul) Solfigure: Playing shows and social media. The more shows we play, the more people we can physically reach out to with our music and make connections with them too. They can see our songs live and we can pass out our music too. Our instagram and bandcamp pages are big tools for us in sharing photos, updates and new music we release. YOUTUBE!
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
(Paul) Solfigure: We would love to play festivals like FYF, Coachella or Outside lands and get a chance to play with bands like The Strokes, Kooks, Neon Indian, Phoenix just all those bands or artists that typically play and be apart of that whole event would be a dream. I think playing at the Staples Center would be an awesome experience as well. I want to know how loud my drums would sound in there haha.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
(Paul) Solfigure: Currently we are promoting our new single “Cold Eyes”, in which all sales proceeds from the song go to benefitting the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. Save The Music has been so gracious enough to help promote our efforts through social media, and really just trying to show you don’t have to be famous to do something good with your talents.
We are working on our first full-length album which hopefully will be out by the new year, and once again start playing shows!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
(Paul) Solfigure: Something creative, whether writing stories or building things. But definitely something creative. We just can’t help being those type of people. It’s more fulfilling than anything else to see your creation come to life.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
(Paul) Sol Figure: The first album I bought was a Pennywise album back when I was playing punk music. As a drummer, I really liked the style of Byron McMackin and used the album to learn how to do fills and play with fluidity. Those drum sounds helped me to make the type of beats that make people dance.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
(Paul) Sol Figure: It’s not easy for sure. With jobs and school all of us have a challenge juggling our responsibilities. We try to just prioritize the things we feel need to be done sooner than later, focus on that and move on to the next to-do. Biggest thing is to always see progress, stay positive and don’t quit. Good things happen with persistence.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
(Paul) Solfigure: We’ll be releasing our new album, no title yet, but it’s going to showcase all our music to date AND some new material as well. Keep an eye for it, and come check us out at a show! Our music is a new execution of the familiar, a hint of experimental, and a sound you’re gonna want to dance to and be energized by. And thanks to all who have supported us and come to our shows!
