Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Tolan.
Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started playing guitar in 1995 while living in the Marietta area. My parents moved north of the city up to Cumming for my middle and high school years. I took private lessons at the music store I would eventually work at, and would spend the bulk of my checks on more lessons/instructional videos/gear. Marathon practice sessions of 8-12 hours a day were very normal, spending my teenage years completely obsessed with guitar and music. I competed in guitar competitions and studied all through high school, eventually getting a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. I graduated with a degree in Professional Music in 2009.
After college, I remained in Boston playing in a rock band called RIBS. We toured regionally, and performed well in the city; but I ended up departing that band after a series of personal setbacks. That resulted in a living situation change that led me to Charleston, South Carolina. While working a retail job in downtown Charleston, I started coming up with the idea of how to use my skills and taste to make something I wasn’t really seeing or hearing anywhere else. I bought a loop pedal in 2011 and started working on what would become Shredgaze. While living there I gave guitar lessons to a really talented young player named Se’nam Palmer. We grew a friendship that would ultimately lead to me asking him to work on a music project with me when the time was right.
Although I am native to Atlanta; I moved around to several places before landing back in Atlanta as a permanent resident. After leaving Charleston, I returned to Atlanta and met my future collaborator Bruther Brown. I was getting a tattoo at the studio he was working out of, and I wandered down into the studio after finishing getting tattooed. We made a track that night, and instantly had creative chemistry; however short-lived. I ended up moving from Atlanta to Denver, Colorado in the winter of 2014 to pursue a relationship I was in at that time. The relationship crumbled and by 2015 I was a stranger in a strange land with no band. After growing frustrated with Denver, I made plans to come back to Atlanta and finally start the band I had envisioned. I called up Bruther Brown and Se’nam Palmer to see if we could arrange a cabin recording trip. Bruther Brown called up his drummer King Fractal and Clint Loyd to form what would become my band Crispin Wah.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I had an injury on my right elbow when I was a teenager that affected the use of my hand in many ways, including playing the guitar. I fell at a skatepark when I was about 14 and broke my elbow very slightly. The doctor missed the break and I walked around with no cast on for months. As a result, my arm has calcification on the joint that almost looks like a 3rd elbow bone. This causes compression to my radial and ulnar nerve, making certain motions with my hand difficult. As a result, I had to relearn how to play the instrument using economized motion. In more recent years I have gained much of the function back to my hands as it relates to playing guitar. I still have good and bad days, but am fully capable of expressing myself through my craft.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am best known for an Atlanta-based subgenre of music called Shredgaze. It’s a style of music borrowing musical influence from rock/hip hop electronic/jazz/ psychedelic/ambient/film scores, all while being created from electric guitar and effects pedals. The goal was to take the technical aspects of shred guitar and repurpose them for creative application across entire tracks, versus only existing in guitar solos. Growing up, I always loved the samples I heard in hip hop and electronic music, and wanted to be able to make them using just my guitar. I started releasing music as Monochrome Sweatsuit in 2014, with that goal in mind. Between MCSS and Crispin Wah releases I am trying to create a lane for people that also have those interests.
If I have a quality that sets me apart, it would be pivoting into the world of live streaming over the past year. My girlfriend Frances Sasport was already working in the world of streams before deciding to try out starting her own network, called Curiolab. We currently stream several art and music shows every week on Twitch. I provide live ambient guitar loops for Paint Party Online, instrumental samples and commentary on Bruther Brown’s Baked Beats, and host my own show every Thursday night called Loop Room.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I am a pretty big Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts fan. I spent my 20’s training as a hobby outside of music, and have competed in tournaments before.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.monochromesweatsuit.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monochrome_sweatsuit/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/monochrome-sweatsuit
- Other: twitch.tv/curiolab
