Diving into the Soulful Tunes of Solwater: An Inside Look

Hi everybody, today is the time for Solwater’s debut album “Feel It All The Way” to finally set foot for the airwaves on March 1st, 2024. The music of Solwater isn’t just about having a good tune but is about mainly having those intense feelings that all of us have, right?

Lukas Anderson takes on the lead vocals and guitar for the band. They are supported by Jared May on bass, Jakob Pek on lead guitar, Salif Bamakora on Kora, and the matching voices of Aea Luz on backup vocals. The album is a real team effort. And to complete this picture of a behind-the-scenes mastermind, there’s John Alevizakis who has collaborated with several pretty famous artists.

Solwater’s music has nothing to do with only creating sounds; it’s all about narrating stories. Through his lyrics, he explores the more profound feelings such as adoration, bereavement and thankfulness.And hey, his inspiration? It follows from being in the woods and feeling the rhythm of life, but it also brings with it a reasonable quantity of what’s going on in society.

As he grew up, Solwater developed his talent on a trombone and in the process, he also learnt how to play the guitar. However, music was not just a hobby to him but it was his getaway from the rut of school and a way of expressing himself.

So, why music? Let’s face it, Solwater thinks it is about being alive and having a connection to others. Last but not least, in addition to all of that, he wants to remind us that it’s essential to slow down, get into the moment, and, above all, feel the gift of life.

To mark the beginning of Solwater’s musical journey, he plans to hail his fans and fellow musicians. You lot are the ones without whom we wouldn’t make it!

Therefore, turn on the music, crank it up, and let Solwater tunes get you to a journey. Finally, I have come to the conclusion that there is no point in not living life fully “Feel it all the way.”

Listen to Feel It All The Way below

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What is your stage name
Solwater

Is there a story behind your stage name?
water is prominent in my music – from the rippling fingerstyle way I play my guitar, to the themes I include in my lyrics. I believe humanity needs to offer more respect to the water element – and by that i mean literally – taking care of our oceans, rivers and wells and also figuratively. Grief is a theme i write about often.

It’s something we all experience and yet many of us resist it, try to bypass it, push it away. But grief is a gift. It deepens our humanity and humility and opens the heart. As one of my teachers once said, “grief unresisted is grace.” In the song ‘belonging’, which is the opening track of this album, the chorus is “Grief like a river, teaching me how to feel. In a world on fire, how are we going to heal?” Humanity seems to me to suffer from too much fire, too much anger, too much violence.

If we grieved more, and felt our feelings all the way through, I believe humanity would be less inflamed and we would see more connection and less aggression. So the name Solwater is a prayer for balance, a balance between masculine (Sol/sun) and feminine (water) within and without. Sol also comes from the root of the ancient latin word solum which means ground or foundation.

I aspire to bring through music that comes from a grounded creative source, with the hope that it supports listeners to open to a deeper sense of belonging – belonging to themselves, and belonging to the earth.

Where do you find inspiration?
I live deep in the forest at the bottom of a canyon and I draw inspiration from the stillness and wild beauty here, and I draw inspiration from the crisis of our times which has me want to dig deeper and deeper for creativity and healing.

There is so much tragedy in the mental illness of humanity and our matricidal behavior toward the earth and this inspires me to listen more and create more

What was the role of music in the early years of your life?
I was sent to a boarding school in England from the age of 7 and my family were in Hong Kong. I was there til I was 18. The school environment was very grey and disciplined, with little space or allowance for feeling and music is one of the only places i felt like i could actually express myself, my feeling, my vitality, my yearning for connection.

At the age of ten I started playing the trombone – and played it in a jazz band until i was 18. At 15 picked up the guitar and within weeks started writing my own songs. One of my favorite things to do as a teenager during school vacations was to hitch hike around the UK and busk on the streets to earn enough money to buy some food and keep on traveling. It felt like freedom to me.

I busked with some of my original songs and also a lot of blues and covers from the 60s – the Doors, Hendrix, Dylan etc. I was deeply drawn to west coast California psychedelic culture even then and it’s wild to me that decades later here I am living in the foothills of the northern california sierra mountains.

Are you from a musical or artistic family?
My father used to love making up stories to me as a kid – and I feel that helped me understand that creativity comes through if we’re willing to just be in the present moment, without having a plan of what is going to happen. My uncle is an actor. And my grandfather loved to sing.

My son is a drummer. He’s 17 now and playing in several bands. He played drums on the track ‘Courage’ from this album. I’m really happy that he has a creative discipline that he is passionate about.

Who inspired you to be a part of the music industry?
I felt the longing to have music a big part of my life since as long as i can remember. But I used to compare myself to other musicians – and figured that there were so many better musicians out there than me so probably i should just play for friends and family. Then starting a little over a decade ago, things started to change. Creativity started pouring out of me and I just had to write and play music more.

My heart demanded it. It was how i made sense of the world and my human experience. And I began being asked to play music at meditation and healing retreats of various kinds and doing that became a big part of my work. Increasingly people started asking me when i was going to record an album and that inspired me to prioritize it.

I’m grateful that I waited all this time though, because I matured as a human, as a lyricist and as a musician. Now I feel I can be truly proud of the music that comes though

How did you learn to sing/write/to play?
I took trombone lessons for 8 years as a kid, and guitar lessons for a couple years at the age of 15. But mostly my guitar playing is self-taught. I sang in church too, and was vocalist in a jazz band and rock band as a teenager. I have always loved words, and have been writing poetry and songs since i was a child.

Now i play many instruments, including guitar, ngoni, flutes, percussion and handpan. I usually find that i can just pick up any instrument now and find ways to create music.

What was the first concert that you ever went to and who did you see perform?
My first concert was age of 13 I was taken by my music teacher to see a British Jazz trombonist called Chris Barber. I loved it

How could you describe your music?
I think of my music as a journey home through the landscape of the human heart, an invitation into a more soulful way of being. I’m passionate about bringing through music as medicine for the times we are living in. I believe in the power of song to remind us of the way back a humanity rooted in wisdom, respect and compassion.

Describe your creative process.
Occasionally I’ll have a song come through like a lightning bolt, but most often my creativity is more of a process. For me creativity happens when I explore my instrument in a place of simple present moment awareness, from a place of curiosity, not knowing where I’m going. If I’m playing my guitar, if I just fiddle around after a while a new fingerpicking pattern will start to emerge.

I’ll keep on exploring that pattern and developing it over some days or weeks. For the lyrics I write songs directly from my intimate experience, whether that is my feelings about a global issue, a relationship dynamic, or an existential question.

I contemplate the topic over some weeks or more, meditating with it, feeling it in my body, and then once I’ve begun to integrate what I’m experiencing in a meaningful way, I find that usually a song bubbles up from the depths. It’s kind of like a gift that comes when I’m willing to sit long enough with difficult things.

What is your main inspiration?
I’m inspired by life. I love this planet and all her amazing creatures. I love human beings, and I love myself. What is it going to take for humanity to remember how to live as though we belong here on earth? What is it going to take for us to close the gap between the love that we are and the actions that we take?

What musician do you admire most and why?
When a musician is really plugged in to an authentic creative source, it can be felt. I admire artists rooted in deep ancestral musical traditions from all over the earth and the incredible beauty that comes through those diverse channels, I admire the jazz greats, I admire the psychedelic rock pioneers, the folk revolutionaries, the soul legends and the wild funk magicians, I admire so many.

I couldn’t pick out a single individual. I bow to them all. I admire anyone who is keeping it real and finding new ways to bring beauty and express that which is beyond words. I have a particular love for middle eastern music of many kinds. Theres something about the devotional yearning that comes through that feels deeply familiar

Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career?
I feel like I finally found my own style. It took me a while, trying on different musical hats over the decades. I like where I landed. It doesn’t really seem to fit in any particular genre, which has its challenges.

But I know that there are people asking similar questions to me in this life who love my music and really seem to get it and be moved by it, and even helped by it in some way. I’m grateful for the fulfillment that brings.

Who do you see as your main competitor?
my self-doubt, ha! Really though, I don’t see music as a competition. I’m more interested in rising together than competing.

What are your interests outside of music?
I see life as an opportunity to learn, and have spent several decades as a student of various wisdom and healing traditions. I love being with my son, being with my sweetheart, and my friends. I love living in the mountains and caring for land.

I love wild creatures, swimming in the ocean and alpine lakes, discovering new hotsprings, appreciating nature in a thousand different ways, and growing food and medicinal plants in my garden.

If it wasn’t a music career, what would you be doing?
If it wasn’t music as a career, it would be music for the joy of it. And probably I’d spend more time writing poetry and prose.

What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music?
I don’t know if it’s a problem, but it certainly took me many many years til I felt like my art had ripened to the point where I could really stand behind it in a truly authentic way. I’m grateful I didn’t completely lose faith in my music along the way.

If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be?
Less superficial commercial sh*t pumped out just for money please. More honoring of independent art that asks us to open our eyes and ears, allow ourselves to be touched and reminded how to listen.

Why did you choose this as the title of this project?
The album is titled ‘Feel it all the way’, which is kind of what I’m all about. Feel it all the way through. Don’t stop half way through the birth canal. Feel it all the way through until we can be thankful for the pain that opens our hearts, learning never to take for granted the gift of another moment to love.

What are your plans for the coming months?
I recently did a fundraiser from fans of my music and received enough support to get right back into the studio next month to start recording album # 2. I already have several album’s worth of songs written, as the last years my creative process has been super abundant, for a few years now I’m usually writing 1 or 2 new songs a month.

Do you have any artistic collaboration plans
I’m always collaborating. It’s one of my deep joys. On this debut Solwater album I’m joined by some masterful musicians: singer-songwriter Aea Luz, Guitar player Jakob Pek, Bassist Jared May, Kora player Salif Bamakora, Cello player Shannon Lee Hayden, John Alevizakis on a variety of instruments and engineer and co-producer.

I feel so fortunate and look forward to working with them and some other dear friends who’ll be contributing to my next album.

What message would you like to give to your fans?
What do you want? More than anything, in the deepest place of your heart, what do you really want? Death comes sooner than you think. This life is a gift. Give everything you are.