San Holo Talks 808 Festival, Live Performances, Wholesome Riddim & More

After a long-awaited return, San Holo is back in Thailand, ready to captivate audiences at the iconic 808 Festival. Known for blending heartfelt melodies with electronic beats, San Holo brings his unique artistry and passion for connection to the stage. In a candid conversation with Preetika, he opens up about his culinary adventures in Bangkok, the creative evolution of his music, and the magic of live performances. From introducing his guitar into sets to redefining genres with innovations like “Wholesome Riddim,” San Holo continues to push boundaries while staying true to his core message: it’s all about love.

So, San Holo welcome back to Thailand after a long time. 
Thank you very much. 

I see that you’ve been very happy to be here. I’ve been seeing your stories that you’ve been going on a semi-food tour. How’s that been? 
Great. I just love walking around and taking in the energy of the city. We’re staying at a hotel in the middle of the city. It’s really great. The food here is also really great, super amazing. 

Today’s set basically marks your first appearance at 808. What are your expectations and how do you think the night is going to go? 
It’s been 5 years since I’ve been here in Bangkok and I’m very happy to be back. I’ve got my guitar with me and I’m going to play a whole new set. I’m just very excited to connect to Thailand again.

So without revealing too much because you know we want the element of surprise, can fans anticipate any exclusive tracks or unique elements besides the mention of the guitar to your set?
So I’ve just released a new EP, it’s called ‘What is Life’ and I’ll be playing a lot of new songs from that EP. I’m going to try and speak a little bit of Thai “Phom Ruk Khun”. If anything, I’m just going to feel it out and see what the crowd needs and I’m just going to kind of feel the energy and play the best set that I possibly can. 

So you were talking about going with the rhythm and the flow, that brings me to my next question. At Lost Lands, you sort of introduced the concept of ‘Wholesome Riddim’, could you tell us a bit more about that?
So you know Lost Lands is a very heavy dubstep festival and I wanted to bring something more wholesome and beautiful to the festival so I kind of tried to invent something new and I actually made a lot of new songs for that festival and called it ‘Wholesome Riddim’. People really liked it. Even though dubstep is known to be very heavy and dark, I wanted to make it more vibrant. I tried to introduce my own little sounds and sauce into the genre. 

I think that’s what’s great about being a music producer in 2024 is that there is genre fluidity going on where you can cross between genres without the restriction of being tied to one particular genre compared to 10-12 years ago. 
Yep. I mean I’ve always said that San Holo is a feeling, it’s not a genre. Throughout my career I’ve made house songs, trap songs, guitar-based songs, ambiance songs, at the end of the day it’s all just love. That’s what I want to do with San Holo, I want to show people how I experience the world with my sounds and my songs. I’ve always just been doing all kinds of experiments. I’ve also always been a music geek, so I was always in my room making the beats and the music. I never really went to the clubs until I started doing the San Holo thing. Just besides the music thing, it also introduced me to a whole new lifestyle. I got to travel because of this and it’s been a beautiful experience. 

I wanted to go onto how you mentioned you integrate your guitar into your sets. How do you balance spontaneity with structure during your performances? 
I think the crowd offers spontaneity. I can plan everything but when I see that the crowd is not vibing or is extremely vibing with something, I’ll end up going more in that direction. It’s really dependent on the crowd. It’s beautiful. It’s always a surprise. 

Speaking of structure, this brings me to my next question..So outside the realm of electronic dance music, are there any artists you’d like to collaborate with in the near future? 
Yeah I want to do some crazy collaborations that no one expects. Like I want to collaborate with a crazy heavy dubstep producer and a trance artist. I just want to do stuff that you normally think wouldn’t go together and basically make it work. I also want to show people something new. The whole San Holo thing for me has always been about doing something new or introducing people to a new feeling. Back in 2014 trap music was really big and I wanted to make it more melodic and colorful and initially people thought it was weird, sounds different. Even when I showed my friends, they said it’s a little too exotic but it worked. 

My last question is that as you take the stage at 808 festival, what’s the core message you hope to convey to the audience besides “Thailand Phom Ruk Khun”?
The message is that it’s all love. Whatever genre you’re playing or whatever style you’re playing, it all comes down to love. It sounds very cliche to say oh it’s all love but truly it is all love. We’re all connected through love. 

Thank you so much again for sitting down with me on behalf of EDM House Network, 808 and all your fans. I look forward to your set tonight. 
Thank you very much. Thailand, let’s go!