Salvador Jolly Interview

In this interview feature, we chat with Salvador Jolly about their newest project, what influences their unique sound, the digital music world and more.

Full Q&A along with links and streams can be found below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

We’re from all over the northeastern United States, which we sometimes call the Easy Coast, which also happens to be the style of music we play. For those not familiar with the term, it’s kind of like a tasty milkshake that doesn’t make you feel gross after you drink it.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?

Perhaps a neurotic sense of creative duty. Perhaps The Universe.

Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?

Salvador Dali, The Dalai Lama, Live At Pompeii era Pink Floyd, Kool Keith, Funkadelic, Frank Zappa, Walsh, old school video game music, and of course Tad Donley.

How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?

Jolly Lama is vastly different than anything we’ve created before. It’s our first full-length album, and our first of anything with “legit” vocals. The album was recorded in 4 states over 5 years, yet we never set foot in a “real” studio.

Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?

It’s still as hard as ever to cut through the noise and find the ears of the people who can appreciate what you’re doing. But we’ve had some cool stuff happen, like this video made for our track NITESHIFT by Cai Sullivan. We’ve never met IRL, but if we were ever in LA we could probably crash on his couch for a night.

How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?

Streaming services are a great idea, but we haven’t found the right model for them yet. We’re not analog snobs, but we do love cassette because we have the means to make them ourselves.

Where can we follow you online and hear more music?

Anything else before we sign off?

Jolly Lama comes out December 2 on Rad Donley Records as a digital download on bandcamp and a limited edition cassette. We will also be performing at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn at 9PM that night. The show is free and 21+