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Paul Solecki was born on January 2, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Before that day, Hawaii was known as a tropical paradise, but from then on it was known as Paul's birthplace. The next few years are a blur, not because of the usual rock star drug stuff but because of his young age. His family moved to Rhode Island, California, Japan, and finally Kansas. Most historians believe that Paul's musical career began in Kansas, but it is a little known fact that while living in Japan at the age of 9 or 10, Paul formed a rap group and recorded the now-infamous Let's Go To The Circus, which unfortunately never charted.
But it all changed that fateful day in 1992 when Paul's neighbor Drew Cooper knocked on his door one day. Drew's family was moving, and they didn't have room for a classical guitar, so they asked if Paul would like to have it. So now that Paul had a guitar, he might as well become a rock star. Paul's teacher Mr. Birt helped him learn a song or two, and the next year Paul wrote a song for Mr. Dinkleman's social studies class when he had to make an art project. When No Shelter became a big hit around school, Paul quickly released the full album version and formed a band, Urine Sample, with Jim Kelly and Peter Davis. Wising up and dropping Peter, Carnivorous Grass was formed on May 18, 1993, when Paul and Jim played two of Paul's songs together in public at the school talent show.
Paul and Jim stayed together as Carnivorous Grass for four years, first as an acoustic duet featuring guitar and mandolin, and later "going electric" with Jim switching to bass and adding trumpeteer/keyboardists Ryan Griffin and Jeff Mitchell and drummer Dave Perdaris. Their live shows were full of surprises and were a lot of fun, and they now regard themselves as legends. Who can blame them, they were legends. Legends among themselves.
On May 18, 1997, Carnivorous Grass split up and Paul and new CG drummer Ben Champion formed The Vetivers, soon joined by bassist Pat Danko. Jimmy March joined on guitar and Paul took up keyboards and accordion, and the band released a CD. Two bassists later and one Jimmy less, their second CD was released right before Paul and Ben decided to dodge the draft early just in case by emigrating from the USA, Paul to Cork, Ireland and Ben to Oxford, England. It was in Cork that Paul started seriously pursuing his solo musical career.
After a couple of years writing songs and having fun in Cork, Paul began recording sessions with Ray Barron's students from St. John's College. About a year and a half later he had enough material to release his first album since 1993! During the recording process he also formed a new band called The Great Egress, also featuring Kalle Ronkainen from Finland, Jon Clark from New Zealand, and Mick McLoughlin from Cork. Paul is enjoying balancing his two musical careers and exploring the pubs of Cork and beyond!
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