Introduced by Monk
We ourselves were first introduced to these Northern Ireland alt-rockers when they forced us into musical #Servitude with their debut EP nigh on 18 months ago, subsequently going on to give last year’s Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses competition a fair oul rattling with a trio of highly impressive performances. Although on the outside they have been relatively quiet in the interim period, they have been beavering away behind the scenes, and this past week came crashing back over us in #Waves with a tsunami of a new single.
So, I thought I would take the opportunity not only to reacquaint myself with the band’s music but also to find out a bit more about its creators and what makes them tick, which is how I found myself hooking up with vocalist Ryan Adair, guitarist Dee Cleland, bassist Ross Hunter and drummer Marty Elley to delve deep into their collective and individual back stories and also explore their future plans. As usual, a very good place to start is at the beginning, so I asked the guys how they had come together as a band…
Ryan: We’ve all been involved in the NI music scene for years, either playing in different bands together or just knowing of each other through that process. But the real spark for Solothurn came during the Covid pandemic.
Dee: Yeah, like a lot of musicians during lockdown, I found myself writing and recording just to stay sane. I was cooped up at home, nowhere to go, and the world was in chaos. I ended up with a handful of songs and thought, why not see where this could go? So I got in touch with Ryan to put vocals on them.
Ryan:Once we got started, it was obvious that the songs needed a proper band behind them. So I suggested bringing in Ross on bass, who opportunely had played together with Marty over the last 15 years or so.
Ross: The funny thing is, in the beginning, it was all done remotely. We were sending ideas back and forth on Dropbox, fine-tuning things before we ever set foot in the same room. But once we finally did, it just clicked. There was chemistry from day one, and we knew there was something worth pursuing.
Is there any significance to the band’s name (given that Solothurn is the name of a city in Switzerland whose only musical credentials are the Eighties rock band Krokus)? Or did you just like the word?
Dee: Yeah, it was totally the Krokus thing! [laughs] No, in all seriousness, I’d been diving into all sorts of themes, stories, and words when I stumbled across Solothurn. At first, it was just a name that sounded cool, but the more I looked into it, the more it just fit.
The town itself is fascinating – stunning Baroque architecture, a strange obsession with the number 11… I mean, they’ve got 11 museums, 11 fountains, 11 chapels, 11 churches, and a clock that only has 11 hours on its dial. Even their beer brand is called «Öufi» – which literally means “eleven” in the local dialect.
And as a lifelong devotee of Nigel Tufnell, how could I ignore that? Solothurn goes to eleven. It just felt like it was meant to be.
Music is categorized into various genres and sub-genres. How would you define your sound? What individual and collective influences do you draw on for your sound?
Ryan: How would I describe Solothurn? Heavy, groove-laden, alternative metal… kind of blending that ’90s sensibility with a heavier, more refined metal palette. Imagine Soundgarden, Tool, and Quicksand jamming Sabbath covers. That’s the kind of space we’re in.
Marty: Yeah, we’re all kids of the ’90s, so that era definitely shaped how we approach heavy music. It was a melting pot – alternative, stoner, progressive, grunge. That was a time where it felt like bands weren’t afraid to experiment. They weren’t just following the “heavy metal playbook,” they were twisting it into something fresh. That’s what makes that period so inspiring for us.
Ross: Beyond that, we all pull from a pretty broad range of influences. Obviously, there’s rock, metal, and alternative, but we’ve also got those left-field influences that might not be as obvious in our sound but still creep in.
Dee: There are certain bands we all universally love like Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Tool, Deftones, Maiden, Earthtone9, Pantera – those are part of our foundation. But then each of us brings in our own thing too. One of us might be really into Rush, Blue Murder, or Crowbar, another into CoC, Mars Volta, or Russian Circles – it all seeps into what we do in some way, even if it’s just in the attitude or the way we structure a song. It keeps things interesting and stops us from falling into any one formula.
The reason for us chatting is because you’ve just released your new single… can you tell us a bit about it?
Ross: Strangely enough, ‘Waves’ was actually the first song we ever wrote together as a band – born straight out of a jam session. It started out as this really intricate, almost restless track, full of push-and-pull rhythms and shifting time signatures. It was fun to play, but after sitting with it for a while, we realized the real magic was in the groove. So we stripped it back, gave it more space to breathe, and let the song find its natural flow.
Ryan: And it’s been just over a year since we last released music, and ‘Waves’ has been opening our live set for a while now. Every time we played it, we could feel that connection – it just felt like the right time to finally get it recorded and released.
Ross: Then, just to throw a curveball into the process, about two weeks before we hit the studio, we brought in Mike Andrews on lead guitar. The timing of this meant that he was thrown into the deep end, but he absolutely nailed it. He added so much depth and texture to the track in such a short space of time. His playing really locked into the vibe we had in mind – somewhere between Black Sabbath, Down, Thin Lizzy, CoC, and Earthtone9, and it just elevated the whole song.
Are there any particular lyrical themes/personal issues you are addressing in the song? Are there any particular issues/subjects that are important to you that you like/wish to address in your material?
Ryan: ‘Waves’ has been a concept in my head for a long time. Lyrically, it’s rooted in my experience of having a panic attack… and in that moment, the only way I could describe it was like drowning at sea… wave after wave crashing over you, the panic, the confusion, the helplessness, that complete inability to breathe. That feeling stuck with me, and it naturally found its way into the song.
In a broader sense, my lyrics tend to reflect the world around me – the inner city of Belfast, with all its contradictions. Addiction, mental health, violence… all playing out against this backdrop of a desolate city, crumbling structures, and broken systems. But despite all the negatives, there’s this undeniable resilience in people, a refusal to be beaten down. That tension, between struggle and survival, finds its way into a lot of what I write.
To bring that vision to life, we put together a lyric video. It really ties into the song’s themes, both visually and emotionally, so if you want to dive a little deeper into the meaning behind ‘Waves’, that’s the place to start!
You first came to our attention initially through your debut EP but more significantly through last year’s Metal 2 The Masses competition. In my review of the final, I commented that you had “bulldozed” your way through the competition and were many fans’ favourites to win it… What did you take away from being involved in that process?
Ross: The format was both challenging and refreshing – it wasn’t the typical BOTB competition. The talent across every heat was insane, and the bar was set high. Not just in terms of the music, but also performance, stage presence, and even things like merch and overall presentation.
Ryan: Coming into the competition, Solothurn had never actually played Belfast before, the first heat was only our second gig as a band – so we had no idea what to expect. Obviously, winning would have been incredible, but for us, the main goal was simple- get our music to the masses.
The biggest takeaway? It was an incredibly well-run competition, and while it wasn’t our “first rodeo” as individuals, we learned a lot as a band. For most of us, it had been 10-15 years since we’d last played Belfast, so getting feedback from new faces, old friends, and fellow musicians was invaluable.
Marty: It also really helped shape how we approach our live performances – especially when we’re playing alongside heavier bands. That experience pushed us to refine our setlist and how we present ourselves on stage. Some of our songs even evolved as a result, including ‘Waves’ – so M2TM didn’t just introduce us to a new audience, it also helped shape some of our sound.
Dee: Yeah, sometimes you need to play material live and revisit, refine, before it’s actually “finished”.
Quite a few bands return to the competition for a second, and sometimes, third time. Is there any particular reason why you didn’t decide to give it another go this year?
Ross: There were a couple of reasons. First and foremost, balancing personal lives with everything the competition deserves was tough. Last year, we were juggling a lot – preparing for each round of M2TM while also trying to write and record new material. We usually get together about three times a month, which isn’t a huge amount of time when you’re trying to do all of that. And in a competition like M2TM, there’s no room for error – you need to be “on it” every single night.
Dee: We had originally planned to release new music last year, but the competition took priority, naturally. So for 2025, we made the decision to shift our focus back to what we’d set out to do – getting new material out there. That meant stepping back from M2TM this time around.
Ross: The other big factor was that we didn’t have a second guitarist until literally the last days of 2024 by which point the deadline had closed. It just didn’t feel right to dive back into the competition without having the full lineup properly locked in and ready to go. When we do things, we want to do them right, so the timing just wasn’t there for us this year.
Back when I started in the music business, we relied on word of mouth, the very rare radio rock show or magazines such as Kerrang! and Sounds (who had their own agendas anyway) to discover new music. As a journalist, I relied on hard copy press releases and albums being sent through the post. Now I get 200+ downloads a day and I’m bombarded with Bandcamp, Deezer, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, TikTok, YouTube and X feeds and recommendations. While you’re all too young to remember that “old school” way of doing things, do you think that things like social media platforms, streaming services, etc., have made it easier for fans, and media outlets, to discover new bands, or has it led to an even more competitive marketplace in which you need that vital USP in order to get our attention?
Ryan: Well, I guess It’s never been easier to release music, but at the same time, it’s maybe never been harder to break through. Technology has made it incredibly accessible, as our early home produced efforts can attest – anyone with a laptop can record and distribute music worldwide, but that also means the market is completely saturated. With so much music out there, cutting through the noise and actually reaching people is the real challenge.
Dee: For us, the focus has always been on the fundamentals of making music that we love, playing it with passion, and putting on a great live show. If other people connect with it, that’s amazing, but at the core of it, we do this because it means something to us.
That said, the ability to get your music out to a global audience, instantly, is something we don’t take for granted. Even if it’s a more competitive landscape, the potential for reach and discovery is bigger than ever. It just means you have to be genuine in what you do, because trends come and go, but good music will always find a way to the right people.
Given the fact that the financial returns for streaming can mean a band doing a lot of work for relatively little reward – i.e. you earn very small percentage returns, with the services themselves taking large chunks of your potential income – is it worth the effort, or is it a fact of the business that you just have to accept as a means to an end (ie someone maybe actually buying a physical CD or going to one of your gigs)?
Ryan: [LAUGHS] We ain’t doing this for the money!
Ross: Honestly, we never expect to see any real revenue from streaming. The way platforms like Spotify operate, the goalposts are constantly shifting and just to hit a payment milestone requires an insane number of streams. When stadium-level bands are complaining that millions of plays amount to pocket change, you know something’s fundamentally broken.
That said, for a band at our level, boycotting streaming entirely feels like missing an opportunity. Bands like BRUIT ≤ have taken that stand, which we totally respect, but for us, the reality is that Spotify is still the #1 way for most people to check out new music. With the sheer volume of bands and options out there, you have to make it as easy as possible for people to find and listen to you.
Our personal favourite platform is Bandcamp. It gives fans a way to directly support artists, and they do great things like waiving fees on Bandcamp Fridays. But it’s definitely not as widely used as it once was.
On the physical side, we haven’t done a proper release yet, and we actually put all our music up for free download. But I’d love to put something out on vinyl at some point… it’s definitely a personal goal for me as I’m a big vinyl collector.
Dee: Yeah, streaming is just the cost of doing business at this point. It won’t make you rich, but it’s part of the ecosystem, and for better or worse, you have to play the game.
So, after the release of the single, what is next for the band? What is the plan for, say, the rest of 2025 in terms of getting out there and bringing your music to new and expanding audiences in what we lovingly refer to as the Überverse?
Ryan: The main focus for the rest of 2025 is getting more music out there and hitting the road. We’ve got two more singles lined up, ‘Anarchy and Devilry’ and ‘Hollow’, which we’ll be releasing across the year. These tracks feel like the natural next step for us, and we’re really looking forward to seeing how people connect with them.
Marty: On the live front, we’ve got some cool gigs coming up, including playing in two places for the first time…
On 19 April we’re playing Skypilot’s 200th gig, at Voodoo in Belfast, which is going to be a huge night.
On 24 April, we’re supporting Hero in Error and Uragh at The Soundhouse in Dublin, with all proceeds going toward Adam Moore’s Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell treatment. Adam was a huge part of the Irish scene, playing in Hero in Error, and was someone who inspired us 15 years ago when HiE really were pushing boundaries as to what an Irish band can achieve, so it means a lot to be involved in this and supporting a great cause.
[Finally] on 10 May, at Fred Zeppelins in Cork, [we’ll be] sharing the stage with Lock Horns, Jenova and Tide7, which is shaping up to be an absolute monster of a show.
We’ve also got a couple more things in the pipeline for later this year that we can’t announce just yet, but let’s just say we’re not slowing down anytime soon.
OK, now a bit of fun, and a few quickfire “out there” questions to give us a wee bit of an insight into your personalities:
- Ice cream: vanilla or mint choc chip? VANILLA.
- Gravy or curry sauce on your chips? CURRY.
- Salted or sweet popcorn? MIXED.
- Pringles or Doritos? DORITOS.
- KFC or McDonalds? A KEBAB.
- Irn Bru or Red Bull? IRN BRU.
- Smarties or M&Ms? FRUIT PASTILLES.
And the two big ones… should you put:
- Beans on an Ulster Fry? NEVER!
- Pineapple on pizza? Situational, but yeah!
Final question: a promoter gives you your choice of a gig with any three other bands (signed, unsigned, globally recognized or locally underground or otherwise): who you would choose to play with and where would that gig be?
Dee: [LAUGHS] We’ll all have wildly varying answers for this! I’ll go – Mastodon, ZZ Top & White Zombie, in the Ulster Hall.
Ryan: I’ll go one of each, Tool, Earthtone9, Soma, again in the Ulster Hall. That would be some line-up.
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