Feature

Talking shop with Sole/mansbestfriend

cars & trains

I sat down and chatted with Tim Holland recently, better known by his rap moniker Sole. Tim has been steadily dropping music over the years through anticon. records, independently via his mansbestfriend outlet, and more recently his new label Black Canyon Records.

TF: So here we are, with Tim Holland/aka Sole down in the deep woods of Arizona. How you living, Tim?

Sole: Lavish. Winter is over, the spring is out, baby lizards are running amuck, the cycle of life has begun. Just got a new juicer, been doing it up on the ginger tip. Two words: coconut juice + ginger.

TF: That sounds excellent... our juicer has been just sitting around making dust juice... I should try that out. Maybe throw in some pineapple.

Sole: I use both. I buy the coconut nectar and cut it with a coconut/pineapple juice mix. The secret is to just squeeze a bunch of ginger once a week and store it so you can use it as a mixer. You dont wanna have to clean that motherfucker everyday.

TF: Oh yeah, good idea. Cleaning it off the juicer's blades is a pain...

Sole: No thanks, especially when you're the one who's home all day working on music while your girl is at a real job, you end up cleaning more than a man should... If you know what I mean. If you catch my drift

TF: Can't let the domestic-ness be bringing ya down. So you just got back from a tour with Myka 9, Ceschi, and Factor, yeah? How the hell was that?

Sole: That was really amazing. I had a blast with those dudes and the tour was amazing. I've been playing with a band and had stopped doing solo performances for a few years, and when I went to europe I started doing it again and I really enjoyed it. To me its like doing an acoustic set, just being up front, no distractions having to carry the room by myself. I really enjoy it. And of course it was unbelievable to tour with a man who literally changed the way I make music.

TF: I can't imagine.

Sole: I didn't know what it was going to be like touring with him, and although he's quite an eccentric dude, he's a real nice guy. I never heard him talk shit about anyone or anything, once. and for someone to be in the game as long as him, seems he just stays positive, which I thought was really interesting. Especially in the hip-hop world, people are so negative, but Mykah is a total hippy...not to mention the fact that dude doesnt seem to sleep at all on tour. He can be up all night, and still has the energy to put on a hour-2 hour performance.

TF: The show here in Portland was great. I would have been up there in that freestyle jam at the end if it wouldn't have been a total train wreck.

Sole: Yeah, that's kinda what I mean about Mykah being a positive dude, wanting to bring that cipher energy to every show, and involve the locals, and anyone who wants to get on stage. No one does that shit.

TF: I think the last time I saw something like that was.... a Murphy's Law show up in Poughkeepsie, NY... they invited some 14 year old kids on stage to play their instruments while they drank beer and watched.

Sole: I would have liked to hear you rap. One of the best moments of the tour actually was in Santa Fe...it was our last show on the tour, so we were celebrating. We bought about 150 $ worth of liquor for the 7 of us and got really smashed.

Sole: There was this dude love money on the tour, who I ended up battling a lot of the time, and talking shit back and forth when we'd get faded. So at the last show I wanted to battle him on stage, but he wasnt around. There was a cipher going on and some girl started rapping...so I started serving her. I was being really sexist saying shit like... "what are you doing on the mic, shouldnt you be home cooking dinner for your man" kinda shit. So she came back at me on some "man fuck you, you can't cook, you prolly need a woman to cook for you"...So I started rapping recipes back at her it was really hilarious. She was a good sport. I woke up the next morning like... "i battled a girl last night on some really sexist shit! HAHA"...as I was puking off the rails of the motel 6.

TF: That's probably a good motivator. So what's good on the Sole and Skyrider Band front? I know you've been kicking out some new stuff, and have been talking about starting your own label even.

Sole: Yeah, the new sole and skyrider album is done, its been done for a minute now. Its in the mixing phases right now, this guy Doc Harril who mixes all of Son Lux's stuff is mixing it. He's a really amazing engineer, which is what we need. We finished a 9 track album...it's a lot more sophisticated then the last album. It's more composed and deliberate. The rapping is a lot better, the songs are better, sonically its a really listenable record. It's both more gangsta, and more orchestral.

TF: Good to hear... That last Son Lux album was really tightly produced.

Sole: Most of it was recorded pre-Obama, but its not as gloomy as the first one. Not that the two really have much to do with each other. Not like Obama has brought a wave of enlightenment and we're all picking strawberries in our living rooms.

Sole: This album is cool also because I was more active in the production of it. The songs are longer for the most part, a lot more changes, a lot more dynamic, not as droney. I rap differently on every song. It's really good. And we're releasing it on Black Canyon, which is my new indie label.

TF: Nice, tell me more, why a new label?

Sole: I've decided to go back to square one with a lot of my shit. Partly for control, partly for financial and aesthetic reasons.

TF: It's important to keep things basic right now, to adapt to the constant kicks the industry is handing out...

Sole: My largest source of income and sort of the hub for my music has been my website soleone.org and having my own webstore, I have been able to have more DIY contact with people.

Sole: Yeah I mean, in the end its the artists who suffer... The idea for the label came about when I was looking around to get an mp3 deal for my indie stuff and I started talking to one company and came up with the name. But as I was about to sign with them I started thinking, well shit, if Imma go legit with my mp3s I might as well have a really solid setup for my physical stuff to, instead of just sell it on consignment. So I decided to do an exclusive mp3/physical deal with revolver, which is really a godsend for me. It enables me to have all the same distro outlets but maintain control over everything.

TF: A lot of places still aren't geared towards artists, so sometimes you just have to have that entity to present to them... pretty much the same deal for how Circle Into Square originally started.

Sole: I really like how all the circle into square stuff is panning out, its dope.

Sole: The cool thing also with going DIY was I now handle my own bookings, I run my own street team, I do my own radio and press; I'm working for myself. If I fail, it's on me.

TF: That sounds awesome, to hit the ground running with great distro.

Sole: If I win I keep everything, it's fun and fulfilling. Plus lots of people who are making really great music have already wanted me to put their stuff out, but im trying to take all that slow. I gotta focus on doing right by Sole and the Skyrider Band first before I take on any more responsibility. It's just more fulfilling. I really enjoy that stuff. I enjoy getting the feedback. talking to people, instead of sitting around waiting. And who knows what the future is of record labels. They go bankrupt left and right...you can sell 10,000 copies of a record and break even.

TF: Yeah, that whole thing with Touch and Go a week or so ago... damn.

Sole: After a while record labels are gonna be like... "time to sell dog food"....this week its Virgin...and the whole thing with people buying records in this "Recession" they got a good excuse to not buy shit anymore. And after the recession is over, people will be so used to not buying anything, that they won't even buy records. Which is why a good live show is the most important thing. That and a good record.

TF: Exactly... and a good act for bar mitzahs.

Sole: I was asked to play a birthday party, this summer. I'm getting paid my usual club fee for it too. Fuck it.

Sole: I might even start doing shows where I have a webcam in my living room and I broadcast a live performance to Tokyo me sitting on the couch doing acapellas or some shit. Who knows, maybe airplane flight will be a thing of the past?

Sole: the key is to make music you love, and keep it fresh, and if you got the time, the knowhow and the energy do as much as you can on your own.

TF: Damn straight.

Sole: I've got all these notebooks from ten years of touring, with email addresses I've been taking down and I never entered them anywhere. I've begun digging through them to create a mailing list. I have no idea how many thousands of email addresses there are. But it costs nothing to have an email list.

Sole: I'm working on a lot of new music right now

TF: Yeah, some solo stuff perhaps?

Sole: There is an album that Jel is producing, and Pedestrian is writing. Kinda like johnny cash's "ten" album

Sole: Jel's been making really dope beats lately. Not sure when thats gonna be done. it could take a long time. but I'm psyched about it.

TF: That sounds killer, I don't think I've heard too much with you and Jel together, but you and Pedestrian are a great combination.

Sole: The main thing I'm working on right now, now that the Sole/Skyrider lp is done, is solo stuff. I've really fallen in love with ableton in the last year. I've got a really cool setup in my house and i've been going crazy.

TF: Oh yeah, you know how I am with that program... I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the new version.

Sole: Got an 8 track tape machine, lots of great records, cool synths, and no pressure/time constraints, so I'm just taking it one song at a time trying to make really great songs.

Sole: I'm still using version 5. Fuck it. I've used 7, I dont like the time stretching in it.

TF: Oh yeah?

Sole: I'll probably get 7 at some point. Who knows. 5 does everything I need. I'm vintage.

TF: Interesting... I don't use the timestretching really... I don't do much production in Ableton.

Sole: plus I only had to pay like $350 for it when I bought it from ableton. I'm using ableton to record my vocals, so I'm recording vocals and cutting them up and reworking the songs like that. It's really fun. It gives me freedom to really fuck the vocals up.

Sole: The main thing sonically I've been messing with lately is this fucked up rocktron compressor, my dr sample and my analogue 8 track, I usually run everything through that stuff as a preamp.

TF: Sounds crunchy.

Sole: Yeah, I was gonna do this whole solo record on tape, but then I realized I can still get all the organic/noise stuff I like and then bring it into ableton. as long as it sounds warm I'm happy. Don't like my stuff to be too clean.

Sole: As soon as I pay off the IRS im gonna buy a nice compressor though. I think I want something with more meters and blinking lights. I want to see the little arms waving around and shit.

Sole: Ok. My girl is done with soccer practice. It's hike time. Oh, hey man... I wanna throw in this vegan dog food recipe

TF: Do it up!

Sole: I've stopped feeding them store bought dog food and they can't get enough of this food.... it's more a style than anything else, but figure since you got a vegan cat and this is a cultural kind of website imma throw it out there. My dogs are vegetarian and have been since I got them. they are incredibly healthly and vibrant. The word is that, vegetarian dogs live the longest. I used to buy vegetarian canned/dry dog food, but felt their diet needed some diversity so I have begun with the following recipe, which I vary quite often. I make this mix about once a week and the dogs can't seem to eat enough of it. I store it in the fridge, its inexpensive and very healthy. In one pot I cook about 2 cups of lentils, red,yellow, brown, and throw some split peas in there too, cook that shit up. Throw some barley in there too. In another pot I cook about 2 cups of rice (with some veggie boullion or something salty). When the rice is about done, I mix in a bunch of spinach, frozen peas, carrots, green beans, garlic and corn. Stir that shit together, let it all cook, add the lentils too. It's a perfectly balanced and extremely healthy meal for the dogs. I heat it up on a pan with a bit of earth balance or oil, just enough so it don't stick, sometimes so it gets crunchy, depends on what the deal is. Sometimes I just give it to em straight out the fridge. When I serve it to them, I mix it with a PINCH of organic cheese in each one, sometimes not, but I like to give them a bit of cheese for flavor's sake. They eat this like there is no tomorrow, if it's an active day they might have 3 bowls of this shit. I eat it too sometimes.

Sole: Peace tom! Blessings!

TF: Awesome, thanks for sitting down and talking, Tim... take care!

Sole: thanks for the interview and have a good night. peace!

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