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Get To Know: Solardo

Add these guys to your summer playlist NOW...

We’ve found your new favourite house music duo. Allow us to introduce Solardo - hailing from Manchester and comprised of Mark Richards and James Eliot, these party boys have been shaking up the dance scene with their relentless energy and hard work.

The pair joined forces a few years ago and went on an eight month lockdown in the studio, working day in and day out. When they emerged out of the studio, they had conjured up tunes that the biggest labels on the scene were eager to get their hands on.

Since then, Solardo has seen a meteoric rise on the scene: crowned as DJ Mag’s Best Breakthrough Act of 2016 and Best Duo of 2017, selling out a headline tour and serving standout sets at the best festivals and clubs…

There’s no stopping these busy boys so we were lucky enough to grab a moment with them to answer our questions. Mark and James chat to us about Arnold Schwarzenegger, their biggest influences and the busy summer ahead of them!

Get To Know Solardo

Solardo

Get To Know Solardo

1) For those who don’t know about you and your music, tell us a little bit about who you are and where you’re from…

We're Solardo AKA Mark & James from sunny Manchester! We've known each other for years, probably 15+ from the early party scene back in Manchester - but then we lost touch. Fast forward to 2015, Mark had just moved back to Manchester after working as an engineer in London for a bit when I randomly bumped into him. I'd just invested in some new studio gear and Mark was looking for a new project to get stuck into, so I said we should work on some bits! The rest they say, is history.

2) Describe your sound in three words…

High energy House.

3) Who inspired you to start a career in music?

The Prodigy, they were the guys back in the day who were making groundbreaking music and they infected us both.

4) Who are your biggest musical influences?

We'd have to say The Prodigy are one of the biggest musical influences for us both. I remember seeing them at one of my first ever gigs and being completely blown away! Also Danny Rampling and his legendary nights at the Hacienda, the Manchester scene in the late 90's early 00's was very influential to the sound we make now.

5) Tell us about the writing and recording process for your new single…

Someone who we've been playing quite regularly with is Eli Brown. We go back to the Drum n Bass days and we had been swapping some ideas around in the studio.... 'XTC' was born! We have been doing some good collabs lately (some massive ones pencilled for next year already)....it’s fun, writing tunes with others is great as you always get a slightly different sound. I think with this track in particular you can hear both our sound and Eli’s.

6) What can we expect from your live shows?

I think the main thing you can expect is good vibes and atmosphere. We always like to get fully involved wherever we're playing alongside the crowd. We tend to play a varied mix of genres, mainly tech house, but a bit of disco, house, techno and minimal too so right across the board.

7) What has been your biggest career highlight so far?

It's such a hard question to answer as it keeps changing with time! We're very fortunate to have held sold out nights at the legendary Albert Hall and The Warehouse Project in our hometown of Manchester, to having 10,000+ people coming to watch us at Parklife this year.

But for us at the moment, I think it would have to be holding our own residency BODYWORKS for the second year running at Hi in Ibiza. To think three years ago we were supporting some of the best names on the island and now we have our own residency at one of the best clubs in the world is pretty amazing.

8) Have you met anyone and been totally starstruck?

Yeah - Arnold Schwarzenegger. I met him in the toilets at the Empire Film Awards, he was stood next to me in the cubicles! I was absolutely bricking it.

9) What’s on your playlists that people wouldn’t expect?

We're massively into our older Rock n' Roll and Hip Hop. We listen to a lot of stuff like Guns N' Roses, Fleetwood Mac, Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man and Redman whilst on tour.

10) When can we see you live?

All over the place haha! This month we have 25 gigs across UK, USA, Spain, France, Belgium, Poland and Greece. Some of the highlights of course has to be our weekly residency BODYWORKS at Hi in Ibiza alongside CamelPhat and FISHER, you can catch us there every Tuesday. We’ll also be playing at both weekends of Tomorrowland. We’re back in the US next month playing in Detroit, Palm Springs and Las Vegas!

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