Meet Shane Soloski

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shane Soloski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shane, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
When I get to the pearly gates and I’m allowed one question, I suppose it would have to be “just how delusional was I? Was I even close?’

More than any other place on earth, Los Angeles is truly the land of the dangling carrot. And that carrot is always right there in front of you, and just like in a cartoon, most of the time it’s ever so slightly, and incredibly painfully, barely out of our each. To add to this cosmic cruelty, nearly every time you consider giving up, almost without fail, fait steps in and allows you to ever so briefly grab a tiny piece of the carrot. From personal experience, it is always the bare minimum needed to keep you in the game. Los Angeles always seems to just somehow know the perfect amount to fuel your dreams, delusions or both. To make your personal struggle even harder, especially if you are in the arts in L.A., you are constantly seeing others around you who have somehow managed to grab a bigger chunk of the carrot than you have. Sometimes they have even managed to snatch the whole thing, and depending on the neighborhood you are driving through at the time, it could be someone who has both hands full of carrots. The proximity to those who successfully obtained success only makes it even more enviable. Thats the most surreal thing about living in Los Angeles, things that anywhere else in the world things only exist in the realm of fantasy are actually reality here. And nothing is harder than seeing others around you, some more talented and some less who are actually living the life you have always fantasized about. I say this knowing that there are musicians in small towns or even here that would be envious of things I’ve gotten to do. There’s always something bigger, something better.

My first day in Los Angeles, and more importantly the very first person I met here was the embodiment of this. Hours after arriving in town, my first venture out into the city was to visit a friend I knew from my time in Miami who was working in town as a bartender. And I know it sounds like the set up for a joke, but the bar was empty except for me and another guy, and he was a a real old timer. My friend said he had to run in the back room to set up a keg of Guiness for the nights festivities, and that he would be right back. When I turned around the old man had pulled up a bar stool and sat right beside me. He apologized for ease dropping in on our conversation, introduced himself. He then added that he overheard it was my first day in LA and asked if I was an actor. I said “no, I’m a musician.” The old man told me that he could see I was some type of entertainer, and then proceeded to tell me his life story. He was eighty six, and five years earlier his wive had died. In his youth he was an actor, and being rather pragmatic, she made him give it up so they could have a more traditional lifestyle and try to raise a family, So at eighty one, alone for the first time in over five decades, he decided it was high time that he got to it and pick up where he had left of nearly sixty years earlier. He told me of little roles he had gotten on television, the highlight being the love interest of one of the main charachters on the “Golden Girls”. After he recounted his accomplishments big and small , in a moment of deep and lucid self reflection, his voice got soft deep and serious and he said to me, “television acting is good and all, but I really want to do a major motion picture. I figure I’ll give it a few more years.”

I didn’t grasp this first encounter while living in Los Angeles was actually the most amazing introduction to the city I could have asked for. And Herb, the old man I met that first day provided me with an amazing life lesson I that wouldn’t hit home until years later. So as far as keeping going or giving up, I have to say do whatever makes you happy. From my experience there isn’t much fun in giving up. No one likes a quitter!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Well, I do a lot of different things. I tour as a bassist, I’m also a songwriter, a producer and the owner of a recording studio here in Los Angeles. I’ve been threatening to finally record my own record for years, and I’m actually about to embark on that journey in the coming months. It will be a bit strange as I’m always the one guiding the bands or artists that I’m producing, Being my own guide will be a bit harrowing, as there is no one else to lean on or in this case blame ha ha, but years of doing it for others has gotten me to the point that I can finally listen to myself like I’m another person. And that’s a really hard thing to do without beating yourself up. Lets face it, we all want to sound like Freddy Mercury or Adele, and when we hear reality coming back at us through the studio monitors, it’s hard not to beat yourself up for not sounding like our heroes. It becomes a daunting task to listen lot yourself like you are someone else, without judgement and with brutal honesty find where your strengths not just your weaknesses actually lie. Most people don’t possess that ability, and it’s the reason that the overwhelming majority of artists need a producer to get them over the finish line.

I think the one thing that sets me apart from many of the other producers out there is that I actually care. I’m truly a foundation up sort of guy. It starts with the song. Both the melody and the lyrics have to be absolutely bulletproof before I’ll start recording. It took a long time really understand this, I’ve gotten to work with some legendary writers like Desmond Child, Mick Jones of Foreigner. Richie Supa who has written a lot of songs for Aerosmith, Billie Mann, and Jodi Marr just to name a few. And a lot of what they do as writers has found its way into the workflow I seem to stick to. For example, sometimes there’s a two syllable word that means the same exact thing as the two syllable word in your lyrics, but it has a different or deeper connotation. That kind of commitment to the smallest of details is what separates the great from the merely good. And the same bullet proof mentality goes for the rest of the recording process as well. I like to say that the final version of the song on the record needs to sound like it has always existed. Every part, from the drums to the guitar solo needs to be subservient to the song. It needs to be presented as simple as a thought that has jumped to life and started floating around in the ether, and most importantly like no work went into it at all. Of course the greatest irony of all is that it takes a lot of work to get it to sound that way.

When it comes to my music career, there has always been a fair amount of “always’ the bridesmaid but never the bride.’ Not that it’s a bad thing, the constant trips in and out of the orbit of the super successful has kept me grounded in a way. I’ve literally played music to ten thousand people on a Friday night and then played to six people in an empty bar on Saturday. It’s the yin and yang of being a working musician. And to anyone who assumes the life of being a musician is all about fun couldn’t be more misguided. And to make it perfectly clear, no it most certainly isn’t easy. I’ll always remember getting fired from my first big tour and going to the bank to cash my final check. I had no money at all, maybe four or five dollars in my pocket and that was it. The girl behind the glass told me they were putting a five day hold on my deposit. I begged her to please let me at least get twenty dollars released to me so I could eat. I even insisted she get the manager over to see if they could bend the rules for me, but of course the answer was no. And befitting of the greek tragedy my career can sometimes seem, the whole time I was literally begging for my own money, the hit song of the band I was just on the road with was blasting away over the sound system at the bank. Thats what a career in music is really like.

Music like any other business, is all about relationships. You aren’t going to find the jobs playing for big artists in the classified section of the paper or on indeed.com. All the calls come from someone you know, or someone who got your number from a mutual friend they trust. Social skills are just as important as ability for a musician, and on top of that you have to always come in prepared. In a town like LA you have to treat every gig no matter how small with the same respect you would if it were a big artist who called you to play for them. You never know who may be playing with you, and surprisingly almost every big gig I’ve gotten is because someone was impressed with me at a small seemingly insignificant one.

Producing is the same for me. If someone wants to work with me, I don’t care if they have had a successful career or are barely the level of an open mic night singer, everyone is worthy of the same respect and commitment to making the best record I can for them. And it’s ironically the lessons I’ve learned working with artists of lesser ability that have made me much better at my craft. Anyone could produce an amazing talent, but learning how to pull a performance out of someone who is barely capable of playing their instrument or singing involves a lot more ability as a producer. Its equal parts psychology and tutelage. And yes getting a novice recording artist to perform above their ability is rewarding, but more importantly those same lessons can be applied to getting a master of their craft to dig down deeper than they would have on their own to create some truly inspired art. Its all about pulling the best performance out of whoever you are working with,

And it seems to be working. Over the past few years some of the records I’ve worked on have been listed as a'”must listen song” by Rolling Stone, been voted one of the top 25 independent records of the year by Music Connection magazine, been nominate for Los Angeles Independent Music Awards, and reached the top ten on the iTunes rock charts in the US and UK and even reached number one in Canada.

When I work with someone, the first thing I do is ask them what their goals are for the record they are about to do. It’s up to them of course, their vision, dreams, plans and their budget constraints, but the sky is the limit. Where do you want to take this? Is it just for you to show family and friends? Is it a demo? Is it a record? Do you want it to sound major label quality? Part of the job is to put their expectations in line with reality. The reality of their ability and budget and the reality of the fact that it always and I mean always takes way longer than they think it’s going to take to get the results they want. Nobody wants to hear that news, but at the end of the day matching expectations with reality is incredibly important. It’s a small community when it gets down to it and protecting your reputation as being honest goes a long way. If someone’s expectations aren’t in line with reality, its only going to make you look bad. So I’m always upfront what its going to take time and budget wise.

In the old days record companies would actually put money into artist development. There is none of that anymore. They want you to come in with a record that’s already major label quality. Up until the late 90’s they didn’t even expect the bands they signed to reach that point until their third record. But nothing is the same anymore. I think thats where someone like me comes in. I’ve played with rockstars. Ive recorded with legendary musicians. And I know what separates them from you. Sometimes it’s a way larger gap than an artist would hope, and sometimes it’s far smaller than they imagine. Doing what I’ve done, I know how to get you from where you are to where they are, and I know what knowledge I share with the artists I work with cuts years off the learning curve. The first hurdle is knowing what you are up against. A lot of inexperienced bands come in thinking small while saying they are thinking big. They compare themselves to friends or other bands trying to get to the next level of success. No one ever tells them that the real competition to be successful isn’t everyone else trying to get there, but the people who are already successful. Taylor Swift and Coldplay or fill in the blank are doing 150 shows a year getting all the more experienced on stage as a performer, working with the best writers, producers, musicians, booking agents etc. How are you going to compete with that? You have to write and record a song that is every bit as good as the world’s top artists are, while simultaneously being able to perform it live at the same level these massive artists would. The cards are stacked against you, you are the little fish, and if you want to play with the big boys and girls, you have to find someone to work with who knows exactly what it takes. Thats where I come in.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I mean you have to go to El Matador beach, it’s where they shot the original “Planet Of The Apes”!!! Let’s face it, the world has become a rather precarious place lately, and if the world did fall apart I would find it comforting to be in a place that gave me the sense of having been through such tumult before. It’s one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, cliffs, rocks and pounding surf. Plus you can’t help but be reminded that it’s got just the right vibe to start a post apocalyptic society.

Other than that, when I travel somewhere, I really like to see what real life is like for the locals. Traveling as a musician I get to have locals show me around their town and I really like real life things more than the touristy stuff. Maybe a valley dive bar, a really bad comedy open mic night where the cities delusion is on full display. Thats what I love most about this place.

And as far as food, I’m gonna go with a real dark horse sleeper, for me it’s got to be the Zankou Chicken in Hollywood. It’s so amazingly good that the family was literally murdering each other to get the recipe. I read an incredible expose about it that you can find online, I really want the movie rights to that one. It really is to die for.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have so many friends that I admire for their abilities, some have achieved massive success, some have been to the top and back again, and some have been completely unheralded, which I will never understand. Eric Dover has one of the best rock and roll voices I’ve ever heard and his guitar playing is on par with his voice, and when it comes to creativity he’s on the mad scientist level. And then there is another real favorite of mine ,Andrew Cole, who might have my all time favorite voice. These are two musicians who deserve to be house hold names. And when it comes to my recording career I have to say Doug Messinger has shared so much of his knowledge with me that I can’t imaging being able to do what I do if it wasn’t for him. He played guitar for some of the greatest names in rock and roll like Van Morrison and Al Green. And as an engineer, he went on to record some amazing records at his studio as well. Doug is another guy who should be widely known but isn’t.

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Image Credits
Andrew Cole