Must Read

CRSSD Festival Artist Spotlight: Solardo

August 23, 2017 By Brian Schultz

One half producing and traveling the world as the dubstep extraordinaire MRK1, and the other half on the opposite side of the booth, dancing and partying with the best of us, Solardo is an unlikely combo. Mark Richards started off as a big name in dubstep around it’s time of inception, and James Elliot was attending events and festivals to hear and support the music he now produces and spins.

With dubstep no longer feeling like his calling and after a small bout writing trap music along with signing a deal to write tracks for other artists, Mark had had enough. He move backed to Manchester where he happened across James, who he’d known from the scene while touring years prior. The two got to talking, and agreed upon starting a new project together, working on producing house music infused with tech vibes, which they called Solardo. It was something much different than Mark was used to, but none the less, with their powers combined, the boys hit ground running. The two spent a lot of time not just making house music, but getting the sound just right. They wanted their own specific sound, and after some hard-pressed time, they hit the mark.

Once they were ready for the masses to listen, Mark hit up an old friend, Skream, who played one of their remixes on the radio, and no more than 10 minutes later, the two received a call from a booking agent. From there, Mark and James focused on social media, promoting themselves on multiple platforms. If they knew a particular DJ was into their tracks, they’d follow said DJ to a festival or show, record a video of said DJ dropping their track, and then post it on their socials. Wheels started turning rapidly throughout the electronic community, from behind the scenes, and in the crowd. They started seeing their videos and tracks popping up on their social feeds from Facebook to Twitter. Skream even did a live stream of a b2b that they did together, which garnered over 100,000 views. Soon enough, DJ’s were playing a plethora of Solardo tracks across the globe. Pushing out summer anthems that stayed the whole season in places like Ibiza, they created a sound that filled the masses’ ears and got their feet moving.

Solardo has releases on labels including Jamie Jones’ Paradise, Skream’s Of Unsound Mind, Steve Lawler’s ViVa Music, and Green Velvet’s Relief among others. The pair will soon start championing their own artists and music that they love on their own newly created label Solä. From house music to techno, the pair have certainly left their blood, sweat, and tears in the electronic music record books, and are steadily adding pages as they progress.

Check out some of our favorite tracks and sets from Solardo below, and be sure not to miss them at CRSSD Festival this Fall on September 30th and October 1st at the Waterfront Park in San Diego. Mark and James will be playing The Palms stage on Saturday, September 30th with a set that you don’t want to miss. Two-day and single day passes are still available here.