Solstice

[Carnage]

Did  they have a girl singer for a week ?

About six months, while they were riding. Once that stopped she was gone. I spoke to a former band member a few weeks ago and heard a few stories, for instance: his 'health problems' during covid (remember his Gofundme?) weren't anything of the sort either. He was just skint and wanted easy money.

[Pagan Saviour]

Solstice are great but that Walker lad is a serious spastic. I've no doubt he's central to the high turnover of singers. Had a listen to that podcast with him, Dan Capp and Rob Miller recently. Absolute hokum, Rich Walker constantly banging on about his auld lad who used to work "down mines" before moving onto, inevitably enough, chemtrails. You really have to separate the art from the artist, otherwise you'd never listen to anything half decent

Spot on. Rich is indeed a dick. He's never come across as anything less.

I remember picking up New Dark age when it came out and reading the accompanying interview in Terrorizer on the bus journey home and thinking it was pure cringe. My young self nearly vomiting with Rich's elitism, it wasn't done with any sense of humour either. Here was a grown man wasting an opportunity to promote his record and preferred to whine that their lack of traction was down to too many "weak minded fools that listen to machine head" and so forth.

Caught them with Primordial in Slattery's was it that year or the year after? And sadly in the flesh he came across as a complete cranky rock star which was ironic given his waffling to the contrary in interviews. Anyone who knows what Slattery's was like would know how hard it was to move about when the place was wedged. He spent the entire Primordial set barging through the crowd from bar to stage for god knows what, wouldn't entertain anyone while he was at it either. Stark contrast to the primordial lads who were all sound. Solstice were great that night but Rich had loads of technical issues and couldn't get his gig going - was half glad for him.

After that you had his constant besmirching of Hamish's name because he went to My Dying Bride, and either Aaron or Andrew were constantly in the mix there. Coupled with the fact used to frequent the old board on a semi regular basis to threaten anyone that disagreed with him with a hiding I went off them totally for a while.

But you're right, within reason I usually separate art from artist, otherwise I'd have a very small record collection. New Dark Age and Halycon are stone cold classics, he's obviously a talented bloke when it comes to putting this stuff together.

I thought the stuff with Paul Kearn's showed promise but I don't think they quite delivered what they were capable of, some of the recording was questionable - demo quality and vocals out of tune and so forth, they were all capable of more. But no denying there's great material to emerge from that period. Think Death's Crown gets almost as much rotation as the earlier material despite the aforementioned gremlins.

Since then it's just been a load of horseshit, the announcements now seem to be just for lineup changes. Can't really get excited for any new vocalist when they seem to slip in and out without even recording a note. I think it's a shame Paul isn't still doing it - really thought he suited them perfectly.

Says it all really.......

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Solstice/718#band_tab_members_past

[John Kimble]

Yeah, I can actually remember the blurb for his fundraiser where the lad from Cruz del Sur more or less admitted that Rich was a dick...while asking for people to donate a few bob for some unknown surgery which he had to get, but wouldn't elaborate as to what is actually was.
 
"Maybe Rich hasn't always been the kindest person around. We all know his outspoken opinions and sometimes even more outlandish comments have created issues with some of you for sure. But we all have issues, haven't we? Maybe we act or react in different ways but we all have had issues with someone at some point."

Kind of a hard sell really. Wonder how it went in the end?

[Pagan Saviour]

He got 12k USD from it.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rich-walker-surgery-fund


I have to say, in general a lot of those metal go fund me yolks are a complete scam. Anathema, Gary Holt's and Obituary's  spring to mind.

[Eoin McLove]

Whatever about all of that stuff, I am looking forward to hearing new music. I have no interest in the things the lads were on about in that podcast- it just means nothing to me on any level - but the fact that they seem to share a common outlook may result in less friction for the current incarnation of the band. Solstice have been on the go for a long time now and the lineup has always been in some state of flux, so there's nothing new in that. As long as Rich is at the helm we are sure to be guaranteed a delivery of high quality doom metal. He has a really unique style of composing that is as thuggishly heavy as it is delicate and complex, and as long as the music continues to come every several years, and he has the right band of merry men around him at the right time to make that happen then I'm satisfied. They are a one in a million band in a doom scene that is 99% generic blandness. Rich is a character, no doubt, but he's a visionary. If he steps on toes along the way then so be it. Solstice forever! 

[John Kimble]

Oh without a doubt, they're a very unique band and if Rich's overall contrariness contributes to that, then more power to them. At the same time though, I always felt that a great singer as part of a stable line-up was the missing ingredient.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Aye, I'd be totally with you on that one JK.

[Eoin McLove]

I've accepted that singers come and go in Solstice and have come to enjoy the variety 

[locustfurnace]

Yer all wasting your time on that Solstice bollixs when ye all know this is the best shit he put out

[Carnage]

Average level singers are par for the course with that band, TBF. Imagine them with someone like Rob Lowe, jesus they'd be unstoppable.

[Eoin McLove]

Ah come on. I think the singers have been excellent, just not your typical metal wailers. That's part of what sets them apart for me. I'm not a fan of Lowe's vocals at all so you chose a bad example there 

I prefer singers with personality than perfectly trained ones in general.

[Carnage]

I was listening to New Dark Age the other day on a walk (edit: I have it on now, it's hitting the spot) and the thing that came to mind straight away was that it could have done with a decent singer. That being said, it wouldn't be the album I love so...

[Eoin McLove]

The vocals took a while for me to fall in love with because they are sort of quaint against the super heavy riffs. But that's exactly what I love about them now. That contrast is magical I think. Visionary, even! I think that having a "better" or more typical singer on the early Solstice albums would add nothing, and maybe rob them of a lot of their alchemy. Kearns is more of a belter of a vocalist but his voice worked well on the last album and EP. I think the production on that recent album lacks some of the heft of the early stuff but the songs are great. I hope the next batch of songs gets the proper full-heft production job of yore .

[Carnage]

Yeah, his voice was great but the music behind it was a bit flat. IMO he's a better singer than the bands he's been in.

[Eoin McLove]

Ah no. Solstice and Arcane Sun are well up there for me.