Sollyy

The Generations Fellowship connects artists with established industry experts and mentors to pass on intergenerational knowledge and create pathways in the music industry. While in residency at Powerhouse from April 2024 – October 2024, Sollyy worked on new music including tracks for his debut EP.

Sollyy is an upcoming artist, producer and DJ based in Western Sydney. Working with some of Australia and New Zealand's most exciting acts such as Onefour, 1300 and Pania, and through his DJ sets, Sollyy is building an audience of people that aren't just fans, but a community. His work rate and talent has already seen him produce a rap project alongside DXVNDRE and his first solo work, contributing to him being crowned Producer of the Year in the Acclaim All Stars Class of 2023.

2024 Generations Fellow Sollyy shares his creative experiences at Powerhouse Ultimo, which included exploring the First Nations and Pacific collections and Sounding the Collection.

Listen to the conversation between Powerhouse First Nations Pacific Program Curator Thelma Thomas (MC Trey) and 2024 Powerhouse Ultimo Generations Fellow Sollyy below.

MC Trey We're here on November 6th, 2024, with Sollyy on Gadigal land in Sydney and interviewing for Generations. It's Thelma Thomas, also known as MC Trey, with Sollyy. Thank you for being here. Introduce yourself and tell us what you do.

Sollyy My name is Sollyy. I'm an artist, producer and DJ based in Western Sydney, Australia. I make Hip Hop dance music. I produce as well for a lot of local collaborators also from the west of Sydney. I DJ quite a bit. I also have started and run my own events, worked at Triple J as a radio presenter and just recently finished up with Powerhouse Museum as part of their Generations Fellowship, in which they allowed me to work on my own music.

T So talented, multifaceted. I want to take it back to the beginning of your creative journey: tell us about your introduction to music.

S Music was something I had always grown up with. I grew up in church, and also, you know, in the Islander household, music is the unspoken language, which you learn to communicate with before you even learn English or Samoan or Tongan or whatever you speak at home. But it wasn't until I got into high school that I started to look at music as something I wanted to participate in, because I'd always grown up loving music.

The thought of ever actually being the one to do it myself didn't really come forward until I'm in high school and I meet other people that want to do the same thing as me.

I'm 25 now, so it's been about ten or so years that I've been making music, working with other artists, and also working within my local community, because music's done so much good for me. I recognise the power that music has and what it can do for others like me.

T It's beautiful. Was there a moment when you started making music when you were like, ‘Okay, this is it.’

S It was my first ever DJ set. So, I got booked for my first ever set from my good friend Yawdoesitall, who is also a fellow Sydney artist — really talented — and I got introduced to his world of things through uni. I was at uni trying to study audio engineering and my whole purpose was I didn't like the idea of having a backup plan, so my backup plan was to do anything that was music related. And to me, audio engineering was like the next best thing, that was also somewhat stable.

I ended up meeting so many different really cool people from various walks of life that I'd never been exposed to before, you know, living out west.

One of those people was Yaw, and Yaw had experience already running events and being within that system of the local Sydney music scene. So that was sort of my first time really seeing that there was a group of people, like-minded people, that all wanted to come together and enjoy music. And he gave me the opportunity to do that with my first DJ set, which was at this venue called Freda's.

He gave me the opportunity to play what I wanted to play, which was so interesting because coming into things as a DJ, like you're kind of told, ‘Oh, you got to play this type of music,’ or ‘You got to go do this’. And going there and having the time of my life and playing to all these people that were just there to listen to the music and actually, like, wanted to hear what I wanted to hear. So that was really that night. My first DJ set way back in 2018, that I was like, ‘Oh, this is something I want to do.’

T Sollyy was born.

S Yeah, pretty much, pretty much.

T What's your cultural background?

S I am part Samoan, part Tuvaluan and part Chinese.

T Has your cultural background influenced your creative practice?

S 100%. There's a very specific type of melody in Samoan music or Samoan pop music that they go for. And it's very inspired by Eurodance actually, like, you can hear in old Vengaboys songs and songs that Islanders make today that sound very similar. So I think I take a lot of that DNA and put it into my music. It’s also the attitudes, always putting your family first, moving with your ancestors on your sleeve. Not just towards that, but just in life I think is something I reflect back in my music. Slang as well.

I'm not super fluent in Samoan myself, but there are things I grew up with hearing in the house that my dad would always say to me that it was kind of like second nature now. So I put that back into my music. So even if it's just little words, I understand what just saying something in Samoan in a song does for the average Samoan kid that can grow up and listen to music and go, ‘Oh yeah, I know what that means.’ And it's cool.

I remember the feeling I got when I heard Savage on the Not Many remix and he's like saying, ‘South Aukilagi’. I was like, ‘That's mad’. I hadn't heard anybody say ‘South Auckland’ in the Samoan way till that time, which was sick, and so that feeling is something I always try to take and chuck it into my music.

Also, just like references to old Samoan culture, like I put heaps of references to DJ Tikelz and his mixtape series. DJ Tikelz was a really famous mixtape DJ that most Islanders know of, and so he put together these mad mixtape series way back in the day.

DJ Noiz, also another really talented producer in his own right. I reference them a lot. The Manu Samoa team, the Toa Samoa team, all these different cultural things about Islander culture that I think I don't hear enough. So because that's what I grew up with, I try to put that all into my music. I wouldn't be the artist that I am today without Samoan music.

T And so, you produce music. Tell us about how you started, your favourite programs and equipment — that production journey?

S That was cool. I pretty much started production because I liked the idea. I used to see DJ Noiz do these remixes where he would put different acapellas over the top of different beats, pretty much making mashups. And I thought that was pretty mean. Like, I was like, Ooh, that's gangsta’. So I got started with Audacity, which is this free program that you can just download and pretty much would try and grab different acapellas, just a vocal track isolated and put different acapellas over different instrumentals. I think one of my first early ones was I put this Mobb Deep, I put the Shook Ones acapella over the MF Doom Doomsday beat and I just wanted to hear what it sounded like. Then over time, I would make all these mash ups in the vein of trying to follow DJ Noiz, where that's what he would do, and he would put them out and be like mad successful. Then I started really clocking like, ‘Oh, maybe I could try and make these beats or try to be the one to make the beat that the acapella can go over, and so I got started on a copy of FL studio.

That was the first production software that I really started to use and really engage with and start really understanding what it means to really make a song and what it means to not just write a song, but to produce, arrange the layers, sequence, writing chords or programming drum parts. I learned all of that on FL. Then I upgraded my laptop to a MacBook, and then with MacBook, the main sort of production software that you could grab at the time, because FL wasn't on Mac, it was Logic Pro. And I still use it.

But now, because most of my friends use Ableton, I ended up getting a copy of Ableton, just to make it easier because controls are different everywhere, like on every DAW. So, it's been a mean journey learning these different programs, because I find that you tend to produce a bit differently in a different program just because of how the software is organised or the keyboard shortcuts or what type of sounds they have. So, I've been able to combine all of these different things into this universal way that I can formulate my expression no matter what the program is.

T Interesting. It's a great approach. Learning the basics and then applying that to whatever. Do you have a favourite piece of equipment that you like creating on, or an instrument you like playing?

S I think it's guitar, because guitar I learnt before anything. Guitar was my first introduction to music. My uncle taught me how to play guitar. And so obviously guitar is amazing. If you were to strip away all the gadgets and all the fancy devices and the technology, the guitar is the thing that was always there for me when I was upset, or I'd be sad or I wanted just to play and just express myself. A lot of my songs start off that way, where I'll record something on guitar first, but sometimes I won't keep it in guitar. I'll record something on guitar and then figure it out on the keys and play it like that. But as far as my main choice of weapon when I need to get this feeling out, I need to get this idea out, it's always been the guitar.

T Beautiful. So, you were a part of the Generations Fellowship here at Powerhouse. What was that like for you?

S Just to be able to get given the resources to fund my creative practice or not even just that, but to feel like my creative practice is something worth being funded. It's still a bit of a funny thought to process: people really believe in me enough that they want to support what I'm doing. There must be some type of merit in that. It's very validating. I wouldn't have been able to make a lot of the songs that have come out this year if it wasn't for the resources that I was provided by the Generations Fellowship. Not just to do with making music but being able to fund myself to go on tour in another state that came because of the Generations Fellowship.

I wouldn't have been able to get that opportunity to do so without it. I've been freelancing for the past two years now. So something like the Generations Fellowship is another positive reinforcement that you're doing something that is viable. Because that's the thing growing up in Islander households, like this thing doesn't make any money. It doesn't generate anything. Not that that's the reason I do it, but it definitely goes a long way in helping me be able to express myself the way I know how to, and to also then go on to inspire hopefully the next generation to look at this and say that, ‘I don't have to follow this path or that path, this guy Sollyy won a $25,000 grant with Generations Fellowship. Oh, mad. Like I'm an Islander kid from Mount Druitt. I can do that, too.’

T What have been some of the challenges in the residency?

S One of my biggest challenges was finding a creative routine when it comes to music. Because my process when I actually make stuff it’s pretty disjointed. My inspiration kind of comes in spurts. So I had to really try and sit down and really figure out, okay, there might be days where I might not necessarily feel super inspired to make a song but I know that ultimately, if I just sit down and commit my time, if I say, ‘Y'all got to take two hours to just sit here and come up with anything, just anything, it doesn't necessarily need to lead to something important.’ But if I just sit here and I just come up with anything, that does more for my psyche than sitting around waiting for the inspiration to come.

It ended up doing me really good because I never really made music like that. The Fellowship made me give myself a routine, which I think made me be more creative. I ended up coming out with heaps of beats. Writing is something I still haven't figured out as much yet. My writing kind of comes in spurts, but as far as, my actual production skills, I feel like I got provided a really cool challenge in that I had to give myself a routine when it came to just making music for the sake of making music and ended up sharpening my skills.

T Great to hear that it helped with your routine and you were able to create a lot out of that. So you've completed the residency. Anything you want to share about what you've discovered or learnt in your time here, whether it's with Powerhouse or via your creative practice or the business side?

S One of the things I've learned is, have grace, because there'd be times where, I would sit down and make myself make that music, and that was good to do. But there is a certain point where, if you're not enjoying it, you need to take that time and space away to recalibrate, and come back so you can enjoy it, because that's the whole point.

You're supposed to enjoy what you're doing, you know? And there were times where it'd be enjoyable for the first sort of four hours. And then I'd start getting a bit tired or running myself out of ideas or my brain would start getting fried. And then I realised it's okay. Just take a deep breath and hit the idea back. Or if you still want to keep your brain going, engage in something else. I'm grateful I learned that lesson within the Powerhouse, because I feel it's a healthy lesson to learn in general, and I'm grateful I was able to learn the lesson in a controlled environment.

I think I kind of saved myself a lot of stress doing that, not worrying about things that are out of my control and also having full confidence in the things that are within my control and that stretches to the music making and it also stretches to the not music making. I definitely learned to have some grace, have patience. And to also trust the process and learning that — discipline is caring about your future self.

T What's the most important lesson you've gained from someone at Powerhouse?

S I think the most important lesson I learned from someone at Powerhouse, the first time me and Trey and Kase were speaking, and we were talking about Pacific Archives, and it occurred to me that a lot of my family's history just hadn't really been documented. I sort of had been thinking about that for a while. And really clicking for me: my archive is there, you can see where my birth certificate is, things you take for granted. I know my passport or I know what time I was born, I know how much I weighed. I know my family moved to Australia when I was six months old.

All the knowledge of my entire life I know that people will be able to find it, and from there they can draw out history. I sorta clocked that within the Powerhouse, and I was talking about the Pacific Archives. My ancestors just don't really have a lot of history. I really think it's important to know your history and also to be prioritising that archive of the history itself, especially for Islanders like me. I could barely go back to my grandpa's history because unfortunately, my pa’s suffering from dementia at the moment.

But, damn, there are so many things I wish I was able to ask him. But unfortunately, that knowledge is now forever locked off. There's so many things that I think we'd gain from learning about our ancestors that we can apply to today's knowledge, in the sense that we're not about to repeat past mistakes, also strengthens our cultural fabric. We have more to go back on.

It really sort of clicked to me when we were talking about how there wasn't much of Tuvalu in the Archive, and then I think to myself, ‘Damn, like, that's something I want to be able to inspire within my own music and my own artistry and my own life.’ These things are important. Preservation is important.

I'm not necessarily saying that we need to act all traditional from here on out, but it is more or less like if we have knowledge of what the old ways were, we can move forward with our new ways, taking that inspiration and what we've learned from the old ways into the future. So, I think the most important thing would be to preserve my history and to protect it and make sure I understand it as best as I can.

T So we talked about archives and you visited the collections in Castle Hill. Was there a particular object that resonated with you, either from the music collections or the cultural collections?

S We went to Castle Hill and we picked out, the Indigenous art with the satellite dishes. I thought that was really cool because it showed, this really ancient tradition of Indigenous folk telling their story over a satellite dish — a modern invention. Indigenous folk have the same understanding about the stars and the moon and the constellations. Then you look at something like the satellite dish and how they carved their stories into something that modern, it goes to show cultures before us existed the same way we did and had that same knowledge that we do now but expressed it completely differently. That was really cool to see.

It goes to my point of trying to preserve our history because I always think like, Polynesian seafarers globally circumnavigating the world with just boats, and they did that by judging where the positions of the stars were.

So, there is so much knowledge that I wish we were able to have access to that our ancestors had, swaths of knowledge, and would be great to learn nowadays, but unfortunately, that's kind of how time passes. I feel, seeing that item in the collections and having those conversations, we can all as human beings have our role to play, and just because you're one person doesn't mean your role is less significant to somebody else. I think we’ve all got an equal part to play in making sure our histories are preserved, making sure our ancestors’ stories are told and making sure we're able to glean the wisdom that they gleaned from it 50,000 years ago when they told those stories for the first time.

T Thankfully, you make music.

S That's it. Exactly that.

T In your application, you mentioned some creative goals. Were you able to achieve these?

S I got to formulate my first ever album with the time at the Powerhouse. So that time was really good because it gave me the space to sit and breathe for a bit. Up until that point, living the freelance life is not that stable. And I do music because I love it, so it sometimes comes at a price when you're trying to make a living. So, to just get given that time and space, now we've got time to really figure it out. It helped me collate my thoughts and define my mission statement more, so that now I have these songs. There's a purpose to these songs. Now, I've been able to define what my intent is, and it's revealed itself to me in the form of an album. I wouldn't have been able to do that with the without the Generations Fellowship.

T Any advice for musicians out there about improving creativity and then also pursuing a career with music?

S My biggest advice would be: don't stay inside. As musicians, you have to seek out community, seek out like-minded artists. I know a lot of people nowadays, they'll tend to do that on the internet, and they'll find like-minded producers which is still mad. It's still valid. But, at least for me, finding it within my local community, really helps move the creative economy along, because now you've got a group of people like me that want opportunities that people look at and go, oh ‘This is talented, these guys obviously inspire positivity and inspire people to want to do the same thing.

We need to foster this because this is obviously something this local community needs more of. So, my advice would be: go out and connect with people that see eye-to-eye with you when it comes to music that you make, because I think there is so much that you can learn from other people that you just simply won't be able to do by yourself. You can definitely do a lot by yourself, don't get me wrong, I think it's good to do as much as you can by yourself, but there is a certain point where you need to go, ‘All right, what's out there?’ I think as far as trying to make a career, like, I think it's really defining your skills. So for me, I think I'm pretty good with people. I think I'm pretty good at working in a collaborative sense production wise. And I can DJ and engineer, so I monetise my skills. And through that, I've been able to monetise my artist practice, and that takes time.

S So, if you're a mean designer, you can make your friend’s cover art. And then your mate puts out a song. But the difference is you really believe in your mate and you really believe in this song. So you guys sort of start off together. That goes a long way in just improving your skills itself, but also in you being able to monetise your career because then someone's going to see that symbol and go, ‘I want that artwork for my thing’ and then go, ‘I want to work with you’. And then it kind of leads into a snowball effect. But it also has to combine with you being the one to be proactive.

T Great advice. Why are projects like Generations important for the creative sector?

S I think they go a long way to inspire creatives in making sure that they do have this access, but also in providing them the space to create without strings attached, because I think a lot of people tend to go down that route where, labels will give artists money, right? But, labels have vested interests. Whereas something like Generations and Powerhouse Museum, their interest is in the process itself, that you are able to express yourself to the nth degree. So all you really need to do is to be you.

So to be able to consider your art as a part of this cultural historical fabric, that's super important. I think that's something that a lot of a lot of kids would benefit from hearing. All we ever want to do is make an impact. All you ever want to do is, is change our surroundings for the better, to leave this world a better place than we found it. And if an institution like Powerhouse Museum is going to do that for me, who's been around for as long as I've been, I can only imagine what it'd do for someone who's just dipping their toes into things.

T That’s great feedback. Thank you. Last question: what's in store for Sollyy — the next chapter?

S Well, it's to pretty much put this album out that I've been working on. I'm super excited for that. I think people have really started to become fans of my music in the past year or so, which has been dope to see because, I came into this wanting to just make music. So, it was dope to feel validated that my story is just as valid as other people's stories. And hopefully want to be able to inspire that in people that listen to my music. So, my album coming out fully furnished, and also just more work with other artists as well: that's sort of how I came into things working a lot with other artists. Powerhouse allowed me to release all of that energy in a safe and controlled manner. I'm just really excited for what's coming up.

T So glad that the Powerhouse could contribute to your process, and we're excited to hear the music and explore more of Sollyy’s world.

Sollyy is an upcoming artist, producer and DJ based in Western Sydney. Working with some of Australia and New Zealand's most exciting acts such as Onefour, 1300 and Pania, and through his DJ sets, Sollyy is building an audience of people that aren't just fans, but a community. His work rate and talent has already seen him produce a rap project alongside DXVNDRE and his first solo work, contributing to him being crowned Producer of the Year in the Acclaim All Stars Class of 2023, and now he’s gearing up to drop a debut EP.

The Generations Fellowship connects artists with established industry experts and mentors to pass on intergenerational knowledge and create pathways in the music industry. Established in 2020, this is a partnership between Create NSW, Powerhouse and Australian music management and touring company, Astral People.

Valued at $100,000, the Fellowship supports three early career solo artists or groups to carry out six months of professional development. Each Fellow is provided with $25,000 in financial support, and in-kind support in the form of studio space at Powerhouse Ultimo or Powerhouse Castle Hill, with industry mentoring and networking facilitated by Astral People throughout each residency.