WILL HOLLAND, better known as QUANTIC, talks to JODY MACGREGOR about moving to South America for his latest project.

When Will Holland was working on the Quantic Soul Orchestra album Tropidélico he recorded most of the songs in Panama and Puerto Rico before bringing them to the Colombian city of Cali for mixing. The city obviously made an impression on him, because a year later he had moved there and was using it as his base, branching out to record in Peru, Venezuela and Brazil.

“Cali has a reputation as a Salsa city, so it was surprising to find so many strands of music outside of that. It’s been a blessing that through my wife (who is Colombian) and many of my friends I’ve been invited to many events and celebrations, therefore discovering new music. The principal source of my musical education though has been through finding recordings on LP from the late ‘60s till the present day. Now, the problem, specifically with the Pacific coast, is that due to the remoteness of a lot of the communities, the most rich and exciting music wasn’t recorded. It’s only getting recorded in the last few years.”

Although the Quantic Soul Orchestra had been a shifting line-up for a while, when Holland started recording with new musicians in Cali – trying to capture the rich and exciting sounds he was hearing – he decided it was time to retire the old name. “I felt it important to put a new project name to what I was doing. I found I was making increasingly more music like a combo, a combo being a group who plays a selection of rhythms: soul, afrobeat, salsa, funk, currulao, etc. Living in Cali and travelling less, for the first time, my band project has had more of a steady, fixed line-up.”

The new Quantic project is called the Combo Bárbaro. “Bárbaro, in Latin American Spanish, can mean two things, the traditional sense of the word being barbarian or person from outside of Europe. It can also mean, when referring to music, heavy or excellent. That’s why you hear somebody shouting ‘¡Que Bárbaro!’ in some recording of the ’60s and ’70s.”

As well as all of the new sounds he’s been exposed to, Holland says another advantage of living in Colombia is that he can record at home and nobody worries about the volume. “I always used to have so many noise complaints and not enough space to record in my house in Brighton. In Cali I have ample space and rent an apartment in a building that was originally designed to be eight floors high, but was only built to the fourth floor, so it’s got very thick walls! I very much enjoy cooking, so I’m often cooking and mixing at the same time, sitting at the mixing console in an apron.”

The only hard part about his move has been learning Spanish, but even that’s easier with musicians, he says. “Communicating with musicians is the easiest thing, often a common understanding is shared regardless of language barrier, the real trouble comes when trying to get your car fixed or fill out official paperwork.”

The QUANTIC AND HIS COMBO BÁRBARO album TRADITION IN TRANSITION is available now on TruThoughts. Will Holland plays a QUANTIC DJ set with Mighty Highness Sound System at The Step Inn on Friday Jan 15 (also featuring DJs Parika, Ben Osbourne and Barkin’ Soul). www.quantic.org

Be first to comment on this article

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*